How To Tell If Artists Are Selling AI Art On Etsy

It's been almost 20 years since Etsy opened its doors as a creator-friendly online marketplace, and over that span, it has transformed from a small-time e-commerce retailer to one of the major players in the arena. The site also remains a veritable one-stop shop for consumers looking for unique artifacts, including handmade jewelry, crafts, clothing, furniture, and even gaming-inspired messenger bags. Yes, original works of art fall into that broad final category, and they are prevalent, to say the least, among the hundreds of storefronts on the site.  

Of course, with the advent of Artificial Intelligence, it's increasingly difficult to know what is or is not an original work of art on Etsy, and with AI advancing at an astonishing rate, that will likely be a problem for the foreseeable future. A quick look at some Etsy message boards will make clear that buyers on the site are both well aware of and increasingly frustrated by the presence of inauthentic and often unethically sourced artwork in certain shops. More importantly, they're looking for ways to avoid AI-generated artwork when searching the site.

Unfortunately, those users aren't finding many practical solutions as Etsy currently does not offer a way to filter out AI-generated works during a search. With no such filters in place, some users are having more success with keyword specificity, noting that adding phrases like "handmade," "human-made," or "non-AI" can dramatically reduce the amount of AI art that turns up in your search.   

Even getting hyper-specific with keywords in your Etsy search likely won't prevent AI artwork from turning up on the results page. Since there's no way to weed AI art out with 100% effectiveness, you might be wise to begin training your eyes to spot mistakes many AI programs make when replicating artwork. It may not be as easy to learn how to spot those mistakes, however, as Google Creative Lab artist Ari Melanciano recently told Wired, "I can barely tell the difference now." Difficulties aside, several artists claim there are a few specific things to look out for in AI art on Etsy and other online retailers.

First and foremost, it seems AI image generators have problems rendering human hands and tend to position them in unusual configurations on finished works. Concept artist Logan Preshaw told Wired that eyes in AI artwork are often noticeably off too, claiming, "The eyes can be a little bit funky as well," he said, going on to add, "Maybe they're just kind of dead and staring out into nowhere, or they have strange structures." Meanwhile, some other artists claim AI-generated works tend to lack narrative logic and intent as programs have no practical understanding of design, functionality, and, perhaps more importantly, humanity.

Given the speed with which AI programs continue to learn and adapt, it may not be long before even those tell-tale signs are eliminated. For now, Etsy shoppers will simply need to remain hyper-vigilant in seeking out authentic works of art on the site.