Fuck AI

Seen this myself.

I just semi-retired after 10 years of writing My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fanfiction. It was a nice little side hustle that brought in 1-2k a year and I enjoyed learning how to write stories.

In the past I would write a story and then either commission an artist for some cover art, or find some that suited the story on one of the many MLP art databases and ask permission to use it. In 10 years of writing over a million words I was never once refused my request to use someone's art, and I always made sure the artist was credited.

But, in the past year or so the primary website for MLP fanfictions (fimfiction.net) started allowing AI art for covers which like the OP, I feel to be a betrayal of our fellow creatives. We definitely need to stand together against the tide of AI slop, no matter its genre.

I think a big part of the problem is that most people just can't afford each other.

Sure, you can do "paid in kind" (which has it's own complexities) but mainly there's so many overheads in life, as well as middlemen extorting out their cut that hiring a creative is cripplingly expensive.

It's something only affordable to either those with a lot of disposable income, or those who are planning to make a hefty profit from it (and won't be worrying about money in the meantime either).

Even in times when I was making the same income as a plumber, the idea of hiring one was deeply financially intimidating. Even an independent one. The way it's stacked, you can only afford to hire people in a lower class/caste/tax-bracket than yourself.

Realistically a lot of the people who are using AI for these were previously just ripping them off the internet and hoping nobody would notice...

I'm just going to take a moment to appreciate that they considered software development an art. It's a rare moment.

The reality is that almost no self sustaining artists can afford each other's work. Instead artists are forced to charge prices other artists would consider their entire grocery bill. Instead they have to hope they can either get patronage from the wealthy or some sort of corporation.

The human brain always picks convenience.

We simply cannot help ourselves.

I’ve grown immensely cynical about that this past decade. Like, literally every chance we get to take a less destructive path, I observe people skip it because it’s slightly less convenient… that’s why they use AI.

They could give another artist $20 for something important, but the monkey brain picks the 5 second solution instead. I bet they don’t even look outside ChatGPT.

…So yeah, I think we’re in trouble. As this is not going to stop.

Everyone thinks AI can do everyone else's job except their own.

I personally don't think so, and will not disrespect people by using it. It's just amazing how the fad at work went with everyone posting how they were going to automate away every other job responsibility but theirs. The crazy part is how eager they shared their concepts with the very people they were basically saying were obsolete.

If everyone were angels we wouldn't need money and the issue is that struggling artists have none to spread around. Collaboration is not the answer. Ending the oligarchic kleptocracy so we can afford to pay artists their worth is.

So they're actually not anti-AI art. They're anti AI-art in their field, because they (rightly) percieve it as direct competition.

But if a visual artist uses it for music, how can he sleep soundly and claim a musician using it for visual arts is inethical?

That's just slandering competition tooth and nail, all the while proving it's good enough by using it yourself. Not an ethical stance.

Stop it. Get some help.

Edit: image for clarity

solidarity brother! im a visual artist, and i deleted spotify in solidarity with musicians. i download from bandcamp now.