On the Friday prior to the opening of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, OpenAI released its new image generation technology integrated into GPT-4o, which introduced advanced multimodal capabilities, allowing users to create highly detailed images in various artistic styles. Among the first things that users did was create images in Studio Ghibli’s distinctive aesthetic, and experiment with classic styles of children’s book illustrations. The accuracy of the results and ability of the technology to mimic famous illustrators sent a shock through those gathered in Bologna.
Among those expressing concern about these new developments was Turkish illustrator Nurgül Senefe, founder of the Turkish advocacy organization Illustrator’s Platform, and the ZNN Network, a literary and illustrator agency, and secretary general of the European Illustrators Forum. Senefe told PW that “cognitive laziness” threatens to make humans AI-dependent.
“The biggest weakness of human beings is the feeling of the joy of the convenience that comes with AI,” said Senefe, who oversees an organization with 400 members dedicated to protecting illustrators’ rights and creating sustainable business practices.
The ZNN Network operates as an intermediary between artists and commissioners, helping establish best practices for the industry while monitoring commissioning processes. Their work has taken on new urgency as AI increasingly impacts the creative sector.
“Especially with artificial intelligence, we’re trying to create a platform to represent the rights for illustrators,” Senefe said.
In surveying members of her organization, Senefe typically poses a question referencing the film The Matrix, asking which pill they would choose—red or blue. “Everybody says, ‘I will take the red one,’ ” she noted, using the metaphor to emphasize the importance of remaining “cognitively aware about what is happening today.”
Senefe’s primary concern centers on human nature itself. “If you are not consciously aware of your behavior, it becomes your character.” Despite resistance from many creative professionals—“People say we are not using generative AI, we are against generative AI”—Senefe observes ongoing experimentation with the technology, noting that some find it “quite convenient.”
This convenience factor represents the crux of the problem, according to Senefe, who offered several real-world parallels: “When you look at real life, I’m sure you see people at Metro or train stations, they line up for meters and meters and meters just to get on that escalator, but why not just climb the stairs?”
Other examples included society’s dependence on fast food despite known health risks, and parents using tablets as “the new babysitters for the children” when overwhelmed or distracted.
Senefe expressed concern about a potential future where creators might end up “working for the machines,” with publishers potentially choosing AI over human creation because it’s “so convenient, cheap, efficient, and fast.”
“After a certain amount of time, we’ll get used to ‘not enough’ is enough, ‘not beautiful’ will be beautiful, ‘not art’ is art,” she warned. “It drives down the value level of common sense, understanding and acceptance of societies, field change, and we won’t even notice.”
To illustrate this gradual normalization process, Senefe commissioned an illustration based on the metaphor of a frog in slowly heating water, unable to detect the increasing danger. The illustration posed a stark question: “Use AI consciously and get machines to work for you, or become dominated by AI and work for the machines?”
“Our biggest challenge against AI is cognitive laziness,” Senefe concluded, suggesting that, like addiction or harmful habits, AI dependence might take hold gradually and imperceptibly if creative professionals don’t maintain vigilance.
