Asymmetry of Ethics in AI Creation: Visualizing Creative Circulation through NFT and DOI Provenance

Abstract

The ethical tension surrounding AI-generated art often arises from misconceptions that anthropomorphize the algorithmic process. The accusation that “AI steals human creativity” overlooks the mediating role of human design and data literacy. This paper reframes the debate as a problem of informational asymmetry rather than morality. It proposes that Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) can visualize and authenticate the flow of creative tension within a transparent ecosystem. NFTs serve as formal anchors—recording authorship, signature, and temporal origin—while DOIs preserve the conceptual framework and creative process. When linked, these two systems transform authorship into a traceable circulation of knowledge, allowing the boundary between plagiarism, homage, and originality to be objectively determined. This dual-layer provenance model presents an ethical infrastructure for creation in the age of generative AI.