#the AI battle

[blue-kyber]

I don't think AI is going to replace us completely.

(essay incoming under the break. Not a rant, but it's long. There is no TL;DR)

I've used AI image generators to get ideas, because NONE of them have been able to replicate what I see in my head, no matter how much I vary the description of what I want. Not once had I received an image that made me go, "That's it! Perfect. Cut. Print. Time to moving on." ("Time to moving on" is an inside voice acting joke. :) )

The closest was with Artbreeder. Even then, you take a base image, and then spend time as an amateur geneticist splicing genes together to create a specific, unique face. I've even had to take those images and tweak them slightly in photoshop to get what I want that none of the AI options could give me - eye color, hair color, complection, jaw shape, skin markings, minute details, ect. It could get close, but never exact.

What I'll do for locations is search through AI images until I find some that can work in the context that I want, collect a ton of them, and then spend hours in photoshop morphing, recoloring, splitting, cutting, altering, and then gluing the shredded bits together to create what I see in my head.

The two projects that I did this past year both consist of 90+ layers. A lot of those layers are my lighting and art from scratch - from my hand (mouse) - to fill in the blanks of what I couldn't find. I can't draw. This is the only visual art tool I have.

In the end, AI is a tool to help artists create what they could otherwise not achieve. For those of us who can't draw, Artbreeder became the only way we were able to look into the eyes of our original characters. Without it, their faces exactly as we imagine them would remain locked in our minds. We can hire artists (and should), but an external source can't see exactly what we see. They will get close, but it won't be a reproduction of what we see.

Yes, AI will take over some aspects of creative jobs - and that is scary - but it will also give artists the ability to create more with their talent, skills, and training that AI can never replace.

What scares the sh*t out of me is how corporations will use it to get what they want without paying a human for the work. They can use AI to skip to the end product. At this point in AI development, it shows.

It's what happened with the WGA, and with the Christopher Paolini incident.

I was on the picket lines for a while until my restaurant job made me work during strike hours. While I was there, I heard the fears of the writers, directors, and actors. One of the writers said there is a real possibility that production companies will hire writers to write 3 scripts or so, train an AI to study the writing style, then fire the writers and have the AI "write" scripts from then on.

It's when corporations think they can erase a human from their ledger books for an AI that only needs to be maintained by a programmer.

They are willingly taking food from people's mouths. They are negatively impacting the livelihoods of living beings. They are shamefully throwing away the years of training these artists went through as though they were used sugar packets - drained of everything they have to offer, then tossed into the trash, never to be thought of again. They disregard the thousands of dollars in debt artists put themselves in to hone their skills.

Yes, even writers. This sh*ts not easy. And living with ADHD makes it harder.

In the case of Christopher Paolini's latest book, he used AI to create his cover art. That's fine if the AI isn't stealing from an artist. In this case, it did. The AI stole the image from a real artist, and recolored it with some slight changes. Put side by side, you can clearly see the altered image isn't much different from the original. What makes this even worse is that Paolini didn't credit the original artist whos work he blatantly stole. AND he's defending his actions.

I am a writer. I'll admit that I'll probably use AI to create my cover art. HOWEVER... I will not use existing art. If I do, the original artist will be credited, and paid with the same respect as if I'd hired them personally. I'd actually prefer to hire them personally rather than go through an AI and spend time fixing the AI problems in photoshop. You can collaborate with a person. You can't do that with an AI.

Being seen, being validated, and knowing your work has value is an INSANELY IMPORTANT aspect of the mental health of an artist. We create for ourselves, but no matter how much we say "my art is for me," we want our efforts to be noticed, shared, and to be told, "You're good. This is great! I love it." It makes us feel like we've used our gifts to contribute to society. It makes us feel like we've affected people. We've made them feel, we've taken them on adventures, we've given them something that they can hold onto as a life raft to get them through hard times when they can find nothing else. Art has kept people's souls alive.

Yes, we will also learn from our mistakes through feedback (not bullying or canceling) to better ourselves.

Artists are so integral to the mental health of humanity, it's nuts. When peoples lives were thrown into chaos by the pandemic, where did they turn to for relief?

Art.

In all forms.

We devoured videos on YT.

We took up painting, or drawing, or writing.

We buried ourselves in fan fiction, original works, movies, and sometimes just stared at a piece of art to let it absorb us away from everything for a while.

We sang musicals from our balconies when a lot of people had to stay at home.

We sang along to music by musicians we found on Spotify, or YT sharing their original works - songs we otherwise may not never heard.

We learned to dance to those songs, and made tiktok videos of it.

We latched onto sea shanties for a while.

We laughed at comedians who made us happy, and escaped into the world through sports using clothing and equipment designed...by artists.

That busker you passed by playing the guitar healed you a little with their chords.

For those of us who had to risk our lives everyday and still work - who didn't get quarantined because were were "essential workers" - escaping into someone's creation, and also creating art kept US sane.

Me, I worked in a restaurant. To stay sane, I started writing a book. I'm editing it now, and it's free to read until I publish it...maybe. I also took up roller skating for my physical health, which affects my mental health.

I probably wouldn't still be here if it wasn't for the lifeline of art. Even before the pandemic.

Artists are far more necessary than society wants to admit. We are far more important and essential than society wants to admit. We should be celebrated and given chances to succeed in what we are born to do, instead of having our natural gifts insulted, belittled by people calling it 'easy,' or 'hobbies,' and constantly telling us we've failed at life if we can't get "A Real Job."

For artists, society's idea of a "real job" is a soul-killer.

If scientists are the brain of humanity, tradesmen are the blood, and those in the medical field are the heart, then artists are humanity's soul.

Take away the soul, and you're left with a zombie shell.

AI can keep the shell going, but not matter how much it advances, it will never replace its heart, its brain, its blood, or it's Light.

What the production companies tried to do in the name of Greed, and what Paolini did to avoid paying an artist by stealing from them and insulting them at the same time is what makes the advancement of AI so terrifying.

AI in itself is not bad. In the end, it's just a tool.

It's how a consumer-based world will exploit it with their sights glued to a bottom line, and the cost being human life.

[cephalosaur]

This isn't all the recent game-released characters since Forces, but I wasn't thinking much about Dodon Pa.

[gawki]

I felt the need to share here as well—

Say no to AI art. Please read before commenting. Fan art is cute, putting my art into a parasite machine, without my consent, and throwing up horrifying monsters back at me is not.

We are not fighting technology in this AI fight. We are fighting for ethics. How do I say this clearer? Our stuff gets stolen all the time, we get it, but it is not an excuse to normalize the current conditions of AI art.

These datasets have >>EXACT<< copies of artists’ works and these parasites just profit off the work of others with zero repercussion. No one cares how “careful” you are with your text prompts when the data can still output blatant copies of artists’ work without their permission. And people will do this unknowingly since these programs are so highly accessible now. There are even independent datasets that take from just a handful of artists, that don’t share what artists’ works they use, and create blatant copies of existing work. There’s even private medical records being leaked. Why do you think music is still hard to just fully recreate with AI in comparison? It’s because organizations like the RIAA protect music artists. Visual artists just want similar protection. So, wonderfully for us, Concept Art Association has started working towards the steps of protecting artists and making this an ethical practice. I highly suggest if you care about art, please support. Link to their gofundme here. One small step at a time will make living as an artist today less jarring. Artists will not just sit and cope while we continue to get walked on. For those who apparently do not get it, it is about CONSENT. Again, the datasets contain EXACT copies of artist work without our permission. Even if you use it “correctly” there’s still a chance it’s going to create blatant rip offs. This fight is about not letting these techbros take and take and take for profit just because they can while ignoring the possible harm and consequences of it. This is just ol’ fashioned imperialist behavior with a new hat and WE SEE IT. Thanks for reading!!! Much love!

Here’s the link again to support the gofundme.

[thegodemperorsmycopilot]

Sister Elysia, Hospitaler

A friend's character from our group's Wrath & Glory campaign.

[hotwaterandmilk]

Battle Girl Ai by Iisaka Yukako (Vol. 4, Shougakukan, 1993)

[yurianimemangaworld]

Vill protecting Komari

[aytonai]

The Battle for Babel

[heretodefyfate]

Variya: who needs pokemon

[gender-trash]

incredibly funny how a bunch of people interpreted “ao3 was almost certainly scraped as part of the gpt training dataset because it’s a big easily accessible body of english language text, so you can prompt gpt with surprisingly vague stuff and it will autocomplete with snarry underage or wangxian a/b/o” as “elon musk Personally is Currently scraping ao3 and training an ai to plagiarize fic, going to go lock ALL my works on ao3 IMMEDIATELY”

its. its already in the dataset. how do you think these things work. “locking my works to registered users only until after the scraping stops!” my dude the ao3 team just needs to like add a robots.txt and check the useragent and stuff to prevent this from happening in the future*, and theyre already on it, but not only is the existing body of work presumably In the Dataset, the model has ALREADY BEEN TRAINED. that omelet isnt going to get unscrambled

(*im assuming that everyone gathering datasets for large language models is being reasonably Polite about it bc these are both very simple to circumvent — if this assumption is false then ao3 might need to graduate to Offensive Measures but also we would definitely need to bully the culprits off of hacker news)

anyway im not taking any Stance one way or the other on the “ai art debate” (other than maybe “none of you know what the hell you’re talking about”) but we’re definitely going to see a whole new world of copyright claims against the big art models and ml researchers developing new tools for “removing” stuff from a trained model, and i for one think that it will be SO entertaining to watch

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

[akkivee]

UNAUTHORISED PROGRAM DETECTED — UPDATE REJECTED

⚠️MAJOR ERROR DISCOVERED ⚠️

all users are prohibited from logging out during metaverse maintenance

1️⃣: you fakes…….!!!!

————————-

E…..EVIL ICHIRO???????????????????? 🥺👉👈

[bubbysbeachparty]

IM JOIN THE WAR ON HLVBRAI... half lif heads ROLL OUT!!!!!!! #antiblvrai

surpid hlvrai gans are always tagging there posts as half life well lets show them!! post #antihlvrai if you are AGAINST HLVRAI!!!!!

[robsheridan]

BATTLE SANTAS trading cards were all the rage of Christmas 1988, hyping kids up for a toy line and film franchise that never came to be after Christian protesters halted production.

The cards, produced before the first film was finished, tell the story of a multiverse of cosmic Santas who arrive from across time on an array of Battle Sleighs to help Earth’s Santa save Christmas future from the forces of Hell. On Santa’s lunar battlestation workshop (where he relocated after the North Pole was ravaged in The Santa Wars), his elves built armed vehicles from old toy parts and the re-animated corpses of reindemons, the hellbeasts of the demon army unleashed on Earth after a portal to hell was opened in the North Pole when oil companies drilled near Santa's Earth Workshop (thanks to Reagan’s deregulation of protected lands).

The early release of the trading cards was meant to generate buzz for the film’s funding and toy licensing, but the plan backfired, as the cards revealed a controversial plot point: Mecha-Jesus, the Cybersavior, a towering robotic kaiju Jesus built by the Battle Santas as their last stand against Satan. Mecha-Jesus is piloted by the real Jesus, who the Battle Santas summon back to mortal form. When Christian groups heard about children trading cards that depicted Jesus eviscerating enemies with Nazareth Napalm missiles and shooting Light of the Lord laser beams from his robo-eyes while shouting “The Power of Christ compels you to DIE!” over heavy metal music, a firestorm of protests made the entire BATTLE SANTAS property toxic to investors, leaving the trading cards the only glimpse of a Christmas epic that never came to be.

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NOTE: This alternate reality story is part of my NightmAIres narrative art series (visit that link for a lot more). NightmAIres are windows into other worlds and interconnected alternate histories, conceived/written by me and visualized with synthography and Photoshop.

If you enjoy my work, consider subscribing to my free newsletter to stay up to date on my projects, or supporting me on Patreon for frequent exclusive hi-res wallpaper packs, behind-the-scenes features, downloads, events, contests, and an awesome fan community. Direct fan support is what keeps me going as an independent creator, and it means the world to me.

[almaadst]

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[vellichorom]

walk walk fashion baby

[caffeinated-chaos-bean]

@kazekothestrange