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My Hot Takes on A.I.
2 years ago
General
★ It's a bit of old news at this point, but since it's an ongoing topic around... I don't do this very often but I'm gonna give my 2 cents on this topic about A.I. Art and stuff. I'll break it down into topics, some points I've seen some artists making and some general thoughts about it. Don't expect a long in-depth analysis of the economic, socio-political impact or deep philosophical argument about it, that just my laymans opinion about it
Raw A.I. Art
I think the best way to put it it's just lazy slop content, NOT ART, CONTENT, just way to entertain views and get favs. Most cases there is no creativity behind, not even to try to create their own OCs with it, it's just people pumping fan art of popular IPs for engagement and money in some cases. It looks good sometimes, I do like some McDonalds some times, but I can't say that it's fine cuisine as an example :U
A.I. as tool to ASSIST Traditional Artists
I think people that uses A.I. to assist on the making of their own pieces are still artists no less than anyone else, like using filters as a way of enhancing it's vision instead of doing all by hand. You're still an artist even if you don't know how to make some elements, like background, shading, texture or whatever, whatever assists you into make your vision come to life.
Why I don't want to use A.I.
Because I already know how to draw!
I can see it could help me to finish faster some ideas that would take a while to finish, but for me it's just easier to do everything by hand, I feel like A.I. would just get in my way and I would waste more time correcting the mistakes and trying to get it right so I don't think it's worth it.
Also I just like to draw, I like the journey, the feeling of improving bit by bit at every piece you make and the feeling of know what ur doing~
"A.I. is Theft"
Now that's a point that a lot of people bring that I see where I get and don't get at the same time. I get the "it source art from other people without their concent", but for me it fits the category of "Fair Use" the same way I see people who makes SFM stuff, YTPs, Shitposts or most Fan Arts in general due it being transformative.
For me it just seems hypocritical getting mad and attacking people for using it for any reason, when me and most artists use other people's IPs to do our things without the owner's permission, in case of Fan Arts, or for example 3D artists rip models from games to use them. This discussion is another can of worms and I don't want to stray away too far from the point I want to make.
I'm not saying you shouldn't do Fan Arts, SFM with models from popular IPs, YTPs and stuff, but be aware because what we do could also be considered 'leeching' at best or 'stealing' at worse... And be careful artists using others IP to SELL merch of it without permission.
A.I. Impersonation
Now this one it's complicated...
I'd say most our artists style are copies of someone or something else, what makes us unique is what do we do with them. I'm not of the opinion of "gatekeeping styles" what I'm trying to say. HOWEVER I can get an idea of how problematic it can get, specially if both share similar interest, I can't really put it into words, but one I can think it's like 'Art Tracing' xwx"
I think it depends on the intent of the person doing it... I can see someone being malicious trying to scam people by impersonating other artists, or an unethical way of trying to compete against someone, like he's not doing his thing, he's trying to undercut you and push you out of the market.
A.I. in the Art Industry
Now THIS is what I really get bothered about when comes to A.I. because it's part of bigger picture, big companies in general screwing over it's workers in order to concentrate profits at the top. Most companies if they could bring slavery back they would do it in a heartbeat, and they try little by little by trying to take away any labor and consumer rights, trying their best to leave you exposed to their exploitative and predatory behaviour and using "economic freedom" as a front. The strong push for A.I. in movies recently from big studios it's just companies being greedy and a way to not give in to their demands of better pay by trying to "automate entertainment".
Hysteria
I don't like the "techbros" as much as any other traditional artists, but publicly seething at them is counter productive, they don't care about it and they are just trying to rile you up for engagement on social media. Going around harassing random people for using A.I. to assist on their pieces or just doing it for fun, looks petty and screams insecure for me.
Helping Traditional Artists
There is always going to be a place for us despite everything and no matter what techbros will tell us to get under our skin, but there are some things that we can do than looking down on others that uses A.I. to make art. One being by just doing your own thing than just commissions, show that you like doing the art that you do. Try building connection and doing something together to help each other, make your own little studios since big studios are so eager into screwing us over.
Something I was thinking that would help artists visibility in websites that don't want to ban AI, instead of leaving the page, was to give it it's own category on image search instead of lumping us all together so traditional artists don't get their content burried and it's easier to find them.
Closing thoughts
I think that's all I've wanted to say, tried to condensate everythin in a single journal cuz I don't want to keep coming back trying to long journals about it over and over.
I don't really care about A.I. art itself, nor feel threatened by it. I don't really want to use it because I already know how to draw and because I feel like it will get in my way more than actually help me and the time it would take for the A.I. to get what I wanted right, I would have already learned and done it by hand.
It can draw just like or better than you, faster than you, but it's not YOU. It's not just the art style that got me to you, but what you do with it.
If you genuine like doing what you do and drawing what you draw, there will always be people there to support you in a way. Personally, I don't like very much people that are only in for the money, no matter how talented. I see it as dishonest as a corporation trying to appeal to LGBTQ+ causes.
Anyway... Enough playing devil's advocate. I'm a bit afraid, but I want to hear your opinions about my hot take.
Wish u all well
It's hardly a hot take -- it is one of the most level-headed and nuanced analyses of the AI menace that I've encountered, and I agree with all points stated.
As with any technology, the harmful and exploitative aspect of it is how people use it.
Sourced from consenting, compensated artists' portfolios, as well as the pool of public domain classical and modern art, the art generators could have been nice entertainment and art assistance tools, but because of the way tech industries treat publicly available data and intellectual properties, and how the companies that employ artists tend to think about art, the current revolting state of affairs was inevitable from the start.
It's okay to use AI art (both words in quotes) individually, for fun or utility, but it would be nice to see some regulations imposed on how larger organizations apply that technology.
And it's always good to be supportive of both the artists who feel threatened by the AI stuff, and those who want to incorporate it into their work. But "raw" AI art cannot be viewed as something on par with the creations of actual artists, clearly -- just like you said.
People don't realize that anyone "can" steal or source my art and there would be nothing I can do about it.
I don't know much about other countries and their laws, but here in the USA you cannot make any claims to your own art unless it's been Copyright Protected.
What people don't realize, is that process costs money to make a registry for your work.
Simply posting your art to a website, like FA, doesn't automatically give you any sort of copyright protection to use in court against the offender.
Unless your with some record label or media platform that you have a contract with, only then is your art and content under copyright protection thanks to another company's help; like music especially.
So yeah, of course AI is going to automatically source whatever I may post on the internet.
Seems other artists think I need to be mad about it, but I'm not.
Only time I'll be upset, is if they use AI Art to sell that NFT or Crypto bullshit.
Other then that, I'm not upset at all with where the AI stuff is going.
https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/......html#register
"Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement"
note that DMCA takedowns generally don't involve lawsuits [citation not needed?]
as for registration costs, it's as low as $45 for a single "work", which might be a "collective work". but i am not a lawyer and i have not registered any of my copyrights, so check somewhere more authoritative than "some random person who's citing official sources".
fees: https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ04.pdf
collective works: https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ34.pdf
as for "theft" beyond outright copying, it's arguably "fair use", which is complicated. https://copyright.gov/fair-use/fair-index.html