#ai and art

[cricketcat9]

☝️☝️☝️

Looking at some of your work, it is stunning but it is very similar in style to AI artwork, do you have any recommendations for how to tell apart photography like yours from AI.

I've been thinking about this. And this may sound controversial at first, but I'm hoping people will hear me out.

We should stop trying so hard to detect AI art.

I think we should all lift that burden from our brains.

I have often talked about "woke goggles." Where conservatives have lost the ability to enjoy anything because they are hypervigilant about detecting anything woke. They've cursed themselves into just hating everything. All they have left is the "God's Not Dead" Cinematic Universe.

And I worry people are getting AI goggles now. They are so concerned about accidentally enjoying robot art and hurting artists that they have overcorrected to the point where they are hurting artists.

One cannot say "AI is all soulless slop that always looks bad" and then accuse a real artist of making something that looks like AI and not hurt them. By doing so, it includes the baggage of all of the "slop" comments along with it. This crusade is having collateral damage to the very artists we are trying to protect.

Yes, we need to be cautious about malicious AI images. Misinformation and deepfakes are going to be a big problem. People using AI imagery for profit is already a mess. But if you are cruising your feed and like a cool sci-fi robot gal or a photo of a waterfall and it turns out to be AI... that's fine.

It was trained by real artists and AI is going to create some cool shit because of that.

Honestly, I think a lot of the worst slop is because the dipshits creating the prompts have no artistic taste. People keep blaming the AI for how bad it looks and often don't consider it is a product of the loser who published it.

There is plenty of non-slop out there that has fooled me. And, like it or not, it is going to get harder and harder to tell what is AI. Until there are better tools or better regulations, I don't think there is much we can do to avoid enjoying AI art every once in a while. If only by accident.

Current "AI detectors" are mostly a scam. Even the best forensic-level AI image detectors struggle to stay above 70–80% accuracy across a wide range of models and image types. And that's in controlled lab conditions.

Free online tools often drop to near coin-flip accuracy (50–60%), especially with newer image generators and post-processing applied.

The best way to avoid AI imagery is to look at an artist's body of work. It's much harder to create consistent, non-obvious fake images in a large sample size. That is usually enough to have confidence in authenticity. Plus, if they have posted similar art before 2022, you can pretty much rule out any shenanigans.

Otis literally died before genAI was available.

But images you see in the wild, just let yourself enjoy them if that is what your brain wants to do. It'll be okay.

I just think we are attacking this backwards. If we want to protect artists, we need to support them.

Calling out random AI art does not support them.

It does not put money in their pockets.

It does not grow their audience.

Over a decade ago I tried to lead a fight to create better systems of attribution on websites like Reddit and Imgur. I even spoke to the Imgur team after an article was written about me.

I asked them to allow sources on their posts and to develop tech that would help people find where an image came from. They said they were "working on it" and it never manifested.

IMAGE SHARING SITES STEAL MORE FROM ARTISTS THAN AI.

But we just kind of accepted it. No one really joined me in my fight. The prevailing defeatist attitude was, "That's just the way it is."

I think now is the time to demand better attribution systems. We need to be vigilant about making sure as many posts as possible have good sourcing. If an image on Reddit goes viral, the top comment should be the source. And if it isn't, you should try to find it and add it.

Just to be clear, "credit to the original artist" is NOT proper attribution.

And perhaps we can lobby these image sharing sites to create better sourcing systems and tools. They could even use fucking AI to find the earliest posted version of an image.

And it would be nice if it didn't require people to go into the comments to find the source. It could just be in the headline. They could even create little badges "made by a human" for verified artists.

Good attribution helps artists grow their audience. It is one of the single most effective things you can do to help them.

I literally just got this message...

There are maybe 10 popular artists who I helped grow their audience early on. Just because I reblogged their work and added links to all of their social media. I even hired my best friend to add sourcing information to every post because I believed so much in good attribution.

Calling out AI art may feel good in the moment. You caught someone trying to trick people and it feels like justice. But, in most cases, the tangible benefits to real artists seem small. It impedes your ability to enjoy art without always being suspicious. And the risk of telling someone you think they make soulless slop doesn't seem worth it.

But putting that time and effort into attribution *would* be worth it. I have proven it time and time again.

I also think people should consider having a monthly art budget. I don't care if it is $5. But if we all commit to seeking out cool artists and being their collective patrons, we could really make a difference and keep real art alive. Just commit to finding a cool new artist every month and financially contributing to them in some way.

On a bigger scale I think advocating for universal basic income, art grants for education and creation, and government regulation of AI would all be helpful long term goals. Though I think our friends in Europe may have to take the lead on regulation at the moment.

So...

Stop worrying about enjoying or calling out AI art.

Demand better attribution from image sharing sites.

Make sure all art has a source listed.

Start an art budget.

Advocate for better regulations.

[cambion-companion]

I really think a major problem with the whole AI debacle is it feeds into this cultural shift where everyone needs instant gratification.

Don't want to wait or pay for an art commission? Feed a prompt to AI.

Don't want to wait for your favorite fanfic author to update? Feed their fic to AI.

It's truly unfortunate how greedy, selfish and impatient people are becoming.

In so doing we lose a crucial aspect of art. The heart and humanity that colors the passion behind such beautiful human-made creations.

When you rely on AI for your media content, what you get is a hollow replica of others' hard work. And you're doing everyone, including yourself, a disservice.

[wiserebeltiger]

AI might destroy technological art (film, tv), but lead to a revival of non-technological art (poetry, novels, music).

Technological art forms are more at the whim of ever-changing technology, and are more likely to be outmoded, it turns out, than timeless, unaffected-by-technology mediums like poetry (carried by oral tradition, expression of individual without technological aid).

Of course, every art form is indirectly technological. Novels needed the steam printing press. Music needs the instrument. Poetry needs all the technology that maintains a literate, functional society (no poet without windmill or bus).

[ktficworld]

Yep yep yep

[444m777]

MICHAEL vs MICHa.i.L

With the (questionable) rise of Artificial Intelligence (which honestly feels more like an algorithm than what AI was/is supposed to be now) I wonder how fans feel about usage of AI when generating MJ content?

I’ve been living under a mental rock so maybe this discussion made its rounds before but I’m really curious to hear from fellow fans what their stance is on using AI.

Personally, I’m split in the middle. I’ve seen it being used in tasteful ways such as the AI Bad Attitude song and really nice and heartwarming ASMR videos (but the script was written by a human, just the audio was funneled through AI program).

But then…. There’s the other side of it where I’m like

He stressed so much about how the entertainment industry was not up to standard. People creating “crap”. And I don’t want to be judgmental but fam I’ve seen some crappy stuff and when I say crappy I also mean tacky explicit stuff.

Hold on… I’m not saying explicit content (done tastefully) is wrong/bad. Especially when it comes to fanfics and animation. However, there’s tasteful and then there’s straight up 🌽 with all the deepfake stuff floating around I’m concerned about (more) videos being altered or created with audio to imply things he’s never said/done.

I know we’re not all video editors, animators, writers etc. but the pure JOY of creating something, pulling it down from the realm of imagination and making it manifest in the 3D (yes, even if it’s not amazing by your standards) is one of the WONDERS of being HUMAN!

Like I said I’ve seen it done tastefully in videos where certain parts of his book Moonwalker is read out loud using AI. Again, that Bad Attitude song by Motif lives RENT FREE in my mind buttttttt I worry about the future of his music. AI is “wonky” now but so many things started out wonky and was perfected. I’m afraid of what the estate (or other people in general) might do with AI. I mean they used an MJ impersonator for certain songs on the Michael album and that left a very nasty taste in my mouth and it sucked that so many fans/non-fans could not tell it wasn’t him singing (on all the songs) when it first came out. I remember feeling like people’s hearing got altered😔 I remember his nephews going on twitter and tweeting about it. *shudders*

Chile, anyways…

I just don’t know where we draw the line because the person who should have a say (Michael) isn’t around anymore 😕

What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear your opinions whether you’re for or against it or neutral. I’m really curious.

Hugs & Heehees

[retroamaraceleste]

Frieren somewhere in our world, remembering the good old times. Character fanart by me | BG with AI

[xlntwtch2]

did not know this before, but "prompters" tell AI how to make art

...badly

This machine kills AI

[jasmineandpepper]

Appreciation post for all the beginner artists who work hard despite the AI ​​looming over us. You are fabulous. You are precious. Keep up the hard work, you are needed.

[cellspex]

Normalize this response

[olsonshroom]

Lots of thoughts recently. Everything feels plastic.

I could go on and on about why all that AI "art" is bad. I could mention theft, lack of creativity, it's impact on the work field and environment, but countless people have already said all that. I wanted to touch on something that to me is the most utterly wrong about all of it.

Art is more than just something pretty to look at or listen to. It's therapeutic. It's a form of communication. A tool for human connection. It's a pure, human need.

Support real artists ☀️

[salmonella-destroyer-of-worlds]

We all making grandpa cry btw

[wiserebeltiger]

Maybe with AI everything swings back to small meaningful “in kind” connections. Folk music written for a friend. An audience of one or two, which is what most human-made art deserves. Also who wants the craziness and danger of running a mass audience. Leave that to AI.

Folk art rejuvenation?

Small scale art markets? Like how paintings were commissioned by aristocrats? Ie among small closed circles of connected artists?

[kalichi09]

Sonic approves

[arson-jellyfish69]

AI disturbance overlays for those who don't have Ibis paint premium. found them on tiktok

[bixels]

As gen-AI becomes more normalized (Chappell Roan encouraging it, grifters on the rise, young artists using it), I wanna express how I will never turn to it because it fundamentally bores me to my core. There is no reason for me to want to use gen-AI because I will never want to give up my autonomy in creating art. I never want to become reliant on an inhuman object for expression, least of all if that object is created and controlled by tech companies. I draw not because I want a drawing but because I love the process of drawing. So even in a future where everyone’s accepted it, I’m never gonna sway on this.