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https://theconversation.com/we-studied-what-happened-when-financially-struggling-artists-received-1-000-a-month-no-strings-attached-for-18-months-280799>
"Though artificial intelligence is making it easier than ever to produce
images, music and text, the technology is also making it harder for the people
who have traditionally produced this work to earn a living.
A photographer who once was commissioned to make art for an advertising
campaign is now competing with graphics produced by the AI image generator
Midjourney. A novelist who used to make money on the side as a technical writer
is seeing that work be replaced by a series of prompts in ChatGPT.
The extent to which AI will upend creative work remains unsettled. But that
uncertainty has made guaranteeing income for creatives a more viable policy
idea.
In fact, creatives in New York recently participated in the largest basic
income program for artists in U.S. history, the Guaranteed Income for Artists
initiative.
Spearheaded by Creatives Rebuild New York and primarily funded by the Andrew W.
Mellon Foundation, the program gave 2,400 artists across New York state
US$1,000 a month beginning in June 2022. There were no work requirements and no
restrictions on how the money could be spent. The program sought to improve the
financial stability of artists and encourage the public to see them as workers
who deserve a stable income and social support.
As researchers who study artists, cultural work and public policy, we evaluated
this program to see whether it achieved its stated goals. Our main finding was
simple: Artists did not stop working. Instead, they changed the kind of work
they did."
Via Kenny Chaffin.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
