I disabled this blog almost exactly 5 years ago.
I’m not precisely sure why, though I’m certain that from the date and time of my last post, a busy schedule dove-tailed into the pandemic and then the pandemic had its own challenges. Writing and sharing just seemed like another chore.
Having not written formally in a long time this will probably be riddled with errors and grammatical abominations. However, I’ll make the argument though that these days, I think that’s okay.
In a fashion, at least it shows I’m human. Allow me to explain…
Meta (via Facebook, Instagram) has decided that as of June 26th (and let’s be honest, they’re probably already doing it) they will start harvesting user imagery, specifically with AI training in mind. What will the AI do? Hard to say. But we’ve got image data. They want image data. They would very much like to get their hands on/use our image data. At least, before they’re told not to.
Europeans and residents of the UK have an opt out form in their Privacy Settings (legislation can work reasonably well if enacted). North Americans, it seems, do not.
I may get some things incorrect about the exact nature of what occurs within the process of training and image recognition. However, what I’ve been reading inspired me to delete all posts from my grid and get rid of affiliate accounts. This oddly excluded ads which Meta seems reticent to let go... But I digress. Many digital creatives are currently following suit, though many have already ditched the platform, generally fed up with Meta’s operations failing to serve their interests.
I know I’m not the first to say this, but it’s clear enough that AI is here to stay in most creative processes. Having acknowledged that reality, do we really need to make it so easy to learn how to do what makes us uniquely human?
This comes on the coat-tails of Adobe announcing that, under its new terms, it has been accessing existing work to train its own Ai via individual user accounts. That situation is still evolving story, and I’ll definitely be writing about the blowback and subsequent Adobe apologies/rewrites in future posts.
Screen shots of my last posts - 1304 was a lot to delete. Images from the Big Black Clouds music video, Slime Merch and Wind & Waterfalls.
But what does this Meta image harvesting mean for digital artists and designers? Well it means that if you keep your posts on any of their sites, they reserve the right to use that work to train their algorithms to, well, make more work that looks like yours.
I’m a “slashy” meaning I make a lot of different kinds of work. Some art. Some design. Some motion design. I think for now - motion is the most difficult to scrape but you know, give it time.
For many, this means a few things…
1) If you’ve posted client work, that could now be tricky grounds. You should check with your past clients if possible to ensure that they’re still okay with your posts. This is especially true if i) they did not know you typically post work or ii) they do not have a public presence/are only B2B/etc.
2) If you’ve posted your own work, I suggest a few things (my first post likely brought you here) to help make it at least harder for Meta bots to do what they’re going to do.
I am literally asking myself: “How Do I Work This?”
This could include:
a) Severely cropping your digital work, giving a teaser and encouraging your community to head to your website for full imagery. Yes, I appreciate that work can be scraped from websites, though keeping work away from Meta platforms is a good first step.
b) Use heavily textured overlays. Covering your work with fonts will also make full/complete images more difficult to harvest.
c) Place a watermark over your entire work - Admittedly, this is less appealing, but could be a good call if you want to ensure that the whole image is seen.
d) Check out alternative apps. Many have fewer features, lower traffic, or are still in their infancy. Interesting alteratives like Cara may be an option in the future.
My love for grid remains - From the Tea With Me poster concept (with Ghibli Inspiration).
I’ve had the song “Once in a Lifetime” playing on repeating in my head for the past few days. There are multiple interpretations of the song though at its core, it’s essentially a song about uncertainty.
This isn’t a post against AI - it’s a post against unfair use. It’s also a post about companies with large wallets and larger legal teams Red Rovering creatives out of the conversation about what can and cannot happen with our own pieces.
And now I am literally asking myself: “How Do I Work This?”
In the age of AI, neat little ideas like creative consent or even the joys that come with being creative seem quaint. It’s true that if you’re a creative person, perhaps you’ve simply come to expect that your work will be harvested.
This isn’t a blog post about against AI - it’s a blog post against unfair use. It’s also a post about companies with large wallets and larger legal teams Red Rovering creatives out of the conversation about what can and cannot happen with our own pieces.
I’ve often heard… an expression repeated over the last few weeks, “I want my AI to do my laundry and chores so I’ll have more time for my art… Not AI to do my art so I’ll have more time for laundry and chores.” Honestly, I couldn’t agree more.
It’s okay to not be okay with what these companies are doing. It’s okay to make it at least a bit more difficult to discern what an algorithm can learn or not learn about our hard earned methods.
I’ve often heard different iterations of an expression repeated over the last few weeks, “I want my AI to do my laundry and chores so I’ll have more time for my art… Not AI to do my art so I’ll have more time for laundry and chores.” Honestly, I couldn’t agree more. Coming for creatives is easy, and the small victories folks have accomplished so far have been hard fought.
I know I’m not the first to say this, but it’s clear enough that AI is here to stay in most creative processes. Having acknowledged that reality, do we really need to make it so easy to learn how to do what makes us uniquely human?
Until there is meaningful and consistent legislation about fair use of imagery, authorship claims are tricky, especially when we’re posting on a social media site and are technically consenting to their terms and conditions.
And so, my own “caro_tripp” account that I’ve had for a little over a decade will start from scratch. I hope you’ll be inspired to do something similar to help keep your work just that - yours.