--- title: "Guy Puts Artist Back Into AI System After He Begs to Be Removed" description: "Artist Greg Rutkowski has made it clear that he doesn't want his art in AI. Someone made a Rutkowski-specific image generator anyway." date: "2023-08-02" modified: "2023-08-02" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/ai-artist-stable-diffusion-removed" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai" - "ai bros" - "image generator" - "stable diffusion" --- # Guy Puts Artist Back Into AI System After He Begs to Be Removed ![Artist Greg Rutkowski has made it clear that he doesn't want his art in AI. Someone made a Rutkowski-specific image generator anyway.]() *\Image: Greg Rutkowski\* Last fall, the popular fantasy artist Greg Rutkowski — whose name had been included in more text-t0-image AI prompts than the likes of DaVinci and Picasso — teamed up with other artists to ask Stability AI, the company behind the popular open source image-generator Stable Diffusion, to remove his and other artists' work from their models. "I probably won't be able to find my work out there because \[the internet\] will be flooded with AI art," Rutkowski told the [*MIT Technology Review*]() last September. "That's concerning." By November of last year, [Stability AI had responded to Rutkowski's concerns]() by, amid a slew of other product changes, "nerfing" users' ability to generate images in the style of specific artists. Of course, that's a few steps below removing his work from training materials entirely, but it's something. Unfortunately for Rutkowski, however, it appears that he's run into a new problem: [open source AI](). As [*Decrypt* reports](), a version of a smaller model [called a LoRA]() — basically a resource for Stable Diffusion that [gives it specific areas of training]() — has now been made available to *specifically* churn out AI-generated work inspired by Rutkowski's work. "Since this artist name was one of the most used in 1.5 prompts and now it's *mostly* gone, I thought it was a good idea to train a LoRA," the maker of the Rutkowski-"inspired" AI wrote in the [model's description](), as seen on the AI image generator-sharing [CivitAI](). "This isn't perfect but it's close enough." "Enjoy!" they added. Considering that Rutkowski has been quite vocal about his AI objections, this seems wildly uncool. If there's any bright spot for the artist, it's that the developer behind the bot says he'll take the model down *if* Rutkoski requests it. "If he contacts me asking for removal, I'll remove this," the developer, who goes by just "Lykon" on CivitAI, told *Decrypt*. "At the moment I believe that having an accurate immortal depiction of his style is in everyone's best interest." Still, even if Lykon removes *their* model from the platform, there's really no way for the artist to protect against the creation of similar open source bots in the future. Open source models are incredibly hard to police, and at the end of the day, the cat is out of the bag. Without draconian regulation or legal precedent to force their hand, any requests by artists are going to be almost impossible to enforce. It's also a reminder that, like it or not, [the Pandora's box of AI is open](). Even when bigger companies like Stability AI and others make some retroactive moves to make amends with the humans whose work was used to train AI models, much of the damage has already been done. And with open source models in the hands of developers across the web, it's likely we'll see similar bots to come. "All that we've been working on for so many years," Rutkowski [recently told the *BBC*](), "has been taken from us so easily with AI." "It's really hard to tell whether this will change the whole industry to the point where human artists will be obsolete," he added. "I think my work and future are under a huge question mark." **More on AI art:** [*Fully AI-Generated Influencers Are Getting Thousands of Reactions Per Thirst Trap*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()