top of page

ART FROM HERE

WHAT TO DO ABOUT AI AS AN ONLINE GALLERY

Writer: Andrew Rinke
Andrew Rinke
Sep 1
4 min read

In building an online gallery, I’m concerned about limiting the amount AI has access to artists’ works, specifically for training. Because there’s no going back to a world without AI, I have to focus on how to move forward with my eyes wide open.


The Quick TLDR Summary

  • We have to be online

  • Our work has to be found and shopped

  • Let’s add what protections we can



“Off-the-Grid” and “Marketing and Operations” Have very Little in Common

We have to share our work online if we want to become known, followed, or shopped. I see it as a reality. Our patrons are shopping on websites and browsing on social media. It’s good business to meet them where they're at and how they expect. They want our work! 


Without protections, what the public sees online, AI sees.

Even beyond what’s public facing, the way we operate may be exposing our work to AI. I just learned my Google Drive likely already indexed my digitized work for AI training, before and after Adobe indexed them while I was editing the files. 


Yikes. I have an option for better storage and settings on Adobe, but what about when someone takes a photo of my work in a gallery and shares it as a Story? I want that for my business, but I have to understand there is an inherent trade-off doing creative work in 2026.



Moving from Search Engines to Answer Engines with AI

I remember the first time I told my dad about texting. He questioned, “Why would anyone want to do that?” Obviously things have changed. While AI is far from the marvel of T9 texting, it’s a reminder that the way people communicate, use technology, and accomplish their goals is always evolving. 


Instead of rejecting anything AI, to best serve our patrons and artists, I have to learn how to work with AI.

Here’s a way to categorize the functions of AI and how Art From Here will plan to use it:


  • Discovery:  We need to be discoverable to AI agents, and unfortunately, metadata and SEO best practices are not enough. My hope is the correct use of NLWeb protocols along with Cloudflare AutoRAG will set us apart and increase our organic rankings.


  • Training:  We have a firm anti-AI training stance. The below section outlines steps we are taking to protect against the use of artists’ content for AI training.


  • Operations:  Art From Here operates without AI dependencies. AI exists within our tools and may be used sparingly to scale computational work. Storage of artist imagery will be stored on Proton, an AI-free digital drive.


  • Generation:  As an environmentalist and artist, I cannot justify the broad use of AI to generate content. Any generation of reports, recommendations, or process will be done sparingly.



Some Armor Is Better than No Armor

My goal with Art From Here is to do as much good for artists as possible. I see it as my responsibility to protect artists’ digitized work so that it’s not scraped by AI and reproduced without consent as much as possible.


After doing my research, I’m learning how to strive for that standard while being honest about the limitations.

According to Reddit, there’s no use in trying, but I found some recurring suggestions and tools. This guide from a Proton blog post written by a cybersecurity expert summarized the consensus well. I’d like to employ a number of his suggestions including the following best practices:


  • Copyright Your Work:  While legislative protections lag against our current experiences, it’s highly recommended artists go through the process to copyright their work. It’s a proven method to legally claim our work as our own. You can start the process at Copyright.gov.


  • File Size:  The higher the resolution, the more data AI can scrape, and the easier it becomes to reproduce your work. We’ll reduce resolution on website and marketing files, and your full-resolution image files will be used and accessed in the following ways:

    • AI-free and secure file storage and transfer

    • Editing on Adobe Creative Suite with AI turned off

    • Sent to printer who has confirmed they are AI free in their printing process


  • File Storage: After learning our Google Drive is subject to AI indexing, we have opted to use Proton for storage and transfer of artists’ image files.


  • Cloudflare: This tech company creates a separation between the website content and AI models and agents interacting with our content. AutoRAG and other settings are a way to allow AI to retrieve our site’s data for queries and not for training.


  • Website Platform Settings:  Internal website platforms’ settings have AI turned off


  • Public Sharing: Outside our website on Instagram and in marketing, our rule of thumb will be to share enough to attract interest but not enough to supply a copy.


We can’t stop AI and its advancements from continuing to be a threat against creators. However, we can keep ourselves aware of potential risks and mitigate where we can.


I hope the thoughtfulness and transparency I can provide creates the best experience for patrons and the most security for artists.


There’s no simple answer to complex issues. If you have questions or suggestions, check out our AI policy here and reach out to info@artfromhere.com.

 



 
 
bottom of page