Paper Type
Complete
Paper Number
1438
Description
Recent AI technologies can perform highly creative tasks once exclusive to humans. This development lowers entry barriers in creative fields and intensifies competition, raising questions about how humans respond to this new AI-driven competitive landscape. We examine how human creators in an online art community respond to competition from text-to-image AI tools. We analyze human responses regarding both the quantity and creative direction and employ a difference-in-differences approach that leverages AI’s differential impact across genres. We find that affected creators reduce output quantity and focus more on the production of original and niche content. Our results show significant heterogeneity in responses based on creators’ skill levels. Creators’ skill levels are positively correlated with their output levels and the focus on original and niche content. We also find low-ability creators reduce engagement with audience more. These findings are consistent with the theory that competition affects individuals differently based on their abilities.
Recommended Citation
Kwon, Ohchan and Zhang, Yue, "How Do Human Creators Compete with Art-ificial Intelligence? An Empirical Analysis" (2024). PACIS 2024 Proceedings. 16.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/pacis2024/track01_aibussoc/track01_aibussoc/16
How Do Human Creators Compete with Art-ificial Intelligence? An Empirical Analysis
Recent AI technologies can perform highly creative tasks once exclusive to humans. This development lowers entry barriers in creative fields and intensifies competition, raising questions about how humans respond to this new AI-driven competitive landscape. We examine how human creators in an online art community respond to competition from text-to-image AI tools. We analyze human responses regarding both the quantity and creative direction and employ a difference-in-differences approach that leverages AI’s differential impact across genres. We find that affected creators reduce output quantity and focus more on the production of original and niche content. Our results show significant heterogeneity in responses based on creators’ skill levels. Creators’ skill levels are positively correlated with their output levels and the focus on original and niche content. We also find low-ability creators reduce engagement with audience more. These findings are consistent with the theory that competition affects individuals differently based on their abilities.
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