Kelly McKernan (born 1986) is an American artist based in Nashville, Tennessee.[1][2][3]

Kelly McKernan
Kelly McKernan in their studio, 2023
Kelly McKernan in their studio, 2023
Born1986
EducationKennesaw State University
Website
www.kellymckernan.com

Early life and education

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McKernan joined DeviantArt as a high school student in 2002.[4] In 2009, they earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Kennesaw State University.[5]

Career and activism

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McKernan teaches at the Nossi College of Art & Design in Nashville.[5]

On January 13, 2023, McKernan, Sarah Andersen, and Karla Ortiz filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Stability AI, Midjourney, and DeviantArt, claiming that the generative artificial intelligence tools used by the companies have infringed the rights of millions of artists by training on five billion images scraped from the web, without the consent of the original artists.[3][6][4][7][8] On July 19, Judge William Orrick III stated he would dismiss most of the case, requesting they elaborate on issues and "provide more facts".[9]

Honors and recognition

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In 2023, Time Magazine named McKernan to its list of Most Influential People in AI.[10]

Personal life

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McKernan is nonbinary,[10] and goes by they/them pronouns.[1][3] They are a single mother.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b McKernan, Kelly. "About". Kelly McKernan. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
  2. ^ Dixit, Pranav (January 20, 2023). "Meet The Three Artists Behind A Landmark Lawsuit Against AI Art Generators". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Noveck, Jocelyn; O'Brien, Matt (August 31, 2023). "Visual artists fight back against AI companies for repurposing their work". AP News. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c Ta, Amy (July 10, 2023). "What happens when AI creates art that looks like your work?". KCRW. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  5. ^ a b "Kelly McKernan". Nossi College of Art & Design. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
  6. ^ Vincent, James (January 16, 2023). "AI art tools Stable Diffusion and Midjourney targeted with copyright lawsuit". The Verge.
  7. ^ Bearne, Suzanne (July 31, 2023). "New AI systems collide with copyright law". BBC News. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  8. ^ Chayka, Kyle (February 10, 2023). "Is A.I. Art Stealing from Artists?". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  9. ^ Brittain, Blake (July 19, 2023). "US judge finds flaws in artists' lawsuit against AI companies". Reuters.
  10. ^ a b Chow, Andrew R. (September 7, 2023). "TIME100 AI 2023: Kelly McKernan". Time. Retrieved September 13, 2023.