The quote "good artists copy, great artists steal" is often attributed to Pablo Picasso, but it is actually a paraphrase of a statement made by T.S. Eliot, who said, "Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal." But what is the difference between stealing and copying in creative contexts? One interpretation is that to steal is to be inspired whereas to copy is to imitate. Another, and according to artist Adam Kurtz, is that the difference is intent: ”Imitation is laziness or refusal to accept your influences. Inspiration is recognizing that influence and turning it into something new". So, you may copy, or steal an idea, perhaps change it a bit and then claim it as your own. But also, there is a difference between imitation and best practice. Because learning best practice may involve copying, say, traditional techniques or methods used and handed down by masters of the past. So, paradoxically, to generate and develop your own ideas in order to innovate you may both copy and steal from what already exists. And potentially more so with help of artificial intelligence, AI, that is, using generative AI as a powerful ideation tool for "appropriating" others' ideas. But also using AIdeation to explore further or be inspired by others' ideas. So the notion of "idea theft" seems distorted. That is, culture, both material and non-material has largely evolved through the borrowing and reinterpretation of previous ideas. Moreover, AI is not capable of stealing ideas in the same way that a human can. Idea theft, then, highlights the ethics of ideation. That is, for creatives to give credit, proper attribution or reference to someone or something that has influenced their creations.
