DeviantArt’s new ai software 👀

[Legendofgenii]

I see DeviantArt art are launching their own ai image generator (DreamUp).

There are more details here:

https://www.deviantart.com/team/journal/Create-your-own-AI-generated-art-with-DreamUp-933537821

I’m a little confused by it, but it sounds like you can opt out somehow (so the ai won’t use your deviations/artwork).

[aqua03]

Suddenly, the mass and seemingly random censoring of seemingly innocent pieces and tags the other day makes a lot more sense.....

Also at the risk of sounding like a tool, I honestly feel that if done right and regulated, AI Art can be a good "springboard" for creativity if that makes sense. (I.E. using it to inspire and get ideas for an actual art piece if that makes sense.)

[bulgariansumo]

but it sounds like you can opt out somehow (so the ai won’t use your deviations/artwork).

You have to go into the edit settings of each individual deviation to opt out of it, including deviations made before this was announced.

[Legendofgenii]

I’m clueless about it all to be honest.

I’d be concerned if it weren’t for the fact that other ai generators are probably using art we’ve submitted there anyway.

[nofacedrawer]

I wonder why DA is encouraging art smuggling, did Musk bought it?

[Legendofgenii]

Ouf! That’s gonna take me a while.

[bulgariansumo]

Same here, I've been there for 10 years. It'd take forever.

Then there's this (taken from this tweet) which is basically what you said about other AI generators using art we've submitted there.

I'm also hearing some things about a Google form you have to fill out to opt out by username, but I haven't looked into that thoroughly.

[NickRowler]

DiviantArt said they will add a features to make it easier to opt out of the AI. It is strange how impulsive people get about deleting their accounts and telling others to do the same. It just sounds like a nightmare. I wish people would at least wait a while and see if DA listens to feedback.

[Legendofgenii]

@bulgariansumo The site went down for a bit, and now there is a box you can check to opt out for all your deviations

(General settings)

[BlairFujin]

which doesn't seem to do anything, as if you check your work that didn't have the "Not authorized for inclusion in third-party AI datasets" ticked in, it still doesn't

[Zugaikotsu]

I already marked everything, deviations and my profile, and sent that lame form. The question is: will it work?

[BlairFujin]

so... it seems that what it will do is add an html tag to all your works there that says "please, don't use me in an ai generator, deviantart won't do anything if you do, btw" that they came up with and no one uses and after they accept the form entry, asking deviantart's ai generator for "am image in style of Zugaikotsu" won't work - but it won't delete any of your works that have already been included in any ai learning database

[rajillustration]

So it's fine that they're letting us opt out or whatever but the bigger question is why the hell are they doing this at all after all the beef that went down this entire year. Like wow read the room, DeviantArt.

Anyway, I don't think I'll be returning to DA, and I'm kind of frustrated that I have to log in again just to say "wtf no."

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

It is strange how impulsive people get about deleting their accounts and telling others to do the same.

Same deal with twitter, lately. It's undergoing changes but so many seem to think it's automatically THE END. They might be right but it seems worth waiting a bit before abandoning ship.

[VibrantFox]

i could bother to argue why this is dismissive of valid frustrations towards a platform that honestly has consistently failed, betrayed or ignored the userbase it relies on but this thread explaining why the opt out is junk does so in better terms than i have to offer

https://twitter.com/TheSnowFinch/status/1591201698051428357?s=20&t=62PtreUhdduMc67ecbgDWQ

like maybe from some perspectives it is impulsive but you can only give the benefit of the doubt but for so long

[TroyVSTheWorld]

I'm a punk rocker, so, if my artwork ever gets stolen, I'm winning

[rajillustration]

Same deal with twitter, lately. It's undergoing changes but so many seem to think it's automatically THE END. They might be right but it seems worth waiting a bit before abandoning ship.

speaking as a Bay Area native who's seen exactly how Musk operates, which is not great, I will be surprised if twitter doesn't file for bankruptcy. Like the only way they make money is through advertisers, and many advertisers are straight up pulling out of twitter because of Musk being unhinged.

But as for DeviantArt, I don't think it's as bad as a situation for their company as it is for Twitter, it feels like they knew they weren't the site for professional concept artists like ArtStation, and they're trying to shift their market to profit off of AI art under the guise of saying it's for "AI protection" although our copyright upon creation should already be doing that. So if you're an artist that wants nothing to do with that, and no longer trusts DeviantArt with your images (which I SUPER don't. They did opt in as default, remember?) then I understand why people delete their accounts. Hell it's why I did.

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

I will be surprised if twitter doesn't file for bankruptcy

In the last 10 years they only turned profits for 2 years. Maybe it should have failed before now or maybe it's "too big to fail". Over 200M users daily seems a rather foolish market for advertisers to walk away from. Time will tell.

[Zugaikotsu]

Welp..... I suspected it would be like this. Thankfully there was just some lame old art in my DA account, and my name means another whole thing that has nothing to do with art. Hoping my Exu friends will "take care" of them...

[Calculus_Homework]

Yeeaaah, I'm not on dA and haven't been since 10 years ago, but that would be the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I don't blame people leaving for this, because having that on a site that's supposed to be an artist community is pretty insulting. Especially after all the hullaballoo it's been causing everywhere on the internet for the past few months now. I don't know what the dA staff was thinking.

As much as AI generated images could be used as an initial tool for creatives (and I'm sure that might've been the simple intent for it at the start), it is of course not being used as such. Non-artists are using it and calling themselves artists because they can type in words to a computer that pulls in imagery from various artists' works. The fact of the matter is that art and artists have always been exploited in various ways. Amalgamations of artists' works fused together into some weird bastardization of actual art... Like, that's a bool art piece as a statement, but that's not its purpose at all.
You could argue that AI generated imagery is like a collage--it objectively is not, though. And people are now claiming their AI generated images as their own work and selling it for huge dollars. No surprise that art-illiterate people are taking huge advantage of it. And with a site like dA adding it on as a feature for people to use and take from the community? What is the purpose of this sort of thing in that community? It is just totally bizarre imo and doesn't make much sense.

It's been a topic amongst the entertainment arts industry for a bit and, frankly, I'm tired of hearing about AI generated "art." I even had a person reach out to me for a job saying that they were gonna make a game with only AI generated designs because they literally didn't want to pay an artist to conceptualize designs for them (I kid you not, they said that out loud), and I refused to work with them. Tactless.

Sorry I sound so salty and ranted for a bit. I just can't standddd this stuff. It has, so far, done more harm than good. I still cannot fathom why dA is making this a thing on their site.