AI vs Artists - The Biggest Art Heist in History #yesimadesigner

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Generative AI can be called many things depending on your point of view: machine, thief, tool, medium, collaborator, muse and even artist. In this video, I will try to find answers to a lot of complex things and I will attempt to judge this technology with an open mind. In the last couple of weeks, I spoke to many amazing artists and scientists about my mixed feelings about generative AI. Join me to hear their thoughts, my advice to creators and predictions on what’s to come.

This video is NOT monetized. I didn't make this video to profit from it. I put a lot of effort into making it and hope to bring more awareness to this issue. I really appreciate it if you can share it with your friends/followers!

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Videos & Podcasts:

00:00 Introduction
00:59 AI Potential
01:40 Data Set / Image Generation
03:44 Text to Image Models
08:29 AI Style Mimicry
13:07 Intellectual Property
16:16 Nightshade
17:27 Commercial use of AI
22:48 Industrialized Art
26:44 Artists vs AI artists
32:06 AI Copyright
33:44 Ethical AI
37:24 Future in Art

#yesimadesigner

[YesImaDesigner]

Thank you so much for watching this video and sharing your thoughts about it. There are many insightful and intelligent points raised by both pro and anti AI groups. I am aiming to read and digest everything and use these valuable comments to produce more content about this topic in the future. Thanks again for your input!

[artmirka]

I'm a self taught digital artist, who can't paint traditionally due to severe allergies. I started to paint close to my 30s and spent last 10 years learning and studying arts, while my main job has nothing to do with it and I'm the only breadwinner in the family. It's been such a long journey, full of literal pain and sleepless nights. But it finally started to pay off, when I got at least a bit close to the techniques I pursued. And sometimes artwork takes months to be done due to the thinking process, re-sketching, re-compositioning etc. All that only to recieve comments like "oh, what was the prompt? It's obvious, realistic digital art is AI generated". Can't fully describe how down I am rn. But I decided to proceed with my studies. And come what may.

I do envy traditional artists though. Their art will become more and more valuable over time, I believe.

[markghammartist]

"Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." Ian Malcolm Jurassic park

[StudioHoekhuis]

'Adobe is undeniably the more ethical model' ... that's aged poorly

[sunderark]

The fact that I can't even do a reliable google image search for reference material without going through a MOUNTAIN of bullshit AI images just spells the end of using the internet as a library.

[bmljenny]

I share the pessimism around the future for artist-made art. In a time when companies will prioritize cutting costs to the point of jeopardizing workers' physical health and safety, it's hard to imagine they would go "oh yeah, obviously we need to pay a real artist to do that" vs telling the intern to whip up something in one of these tools for pennies.

[SaintMatthieuSimard]

"Transferring value from artists and other creators to megacorporations using massive amounts of energy is not the AI that I dreamed of" -Gary Marcus
Dang... That's very telling. I have the same point of view. In the end, the only ones that really benefits from this are big corporations and other nerdy opportunists, scammers, and so on. That's such a shame. It should empower creative minds, not drain them dead.

[Mad]

1950s: In the future, machines will do all the hard work for us so we can all be painters, musicians and actors!!
The actual future: Machines do all the art so you can flip burgers.

[justdangelo]

Wow! You managed to talk about all my fears and discomfort I have been internalizing. As a photographer, AI generated art has been devastating to my moral. Thank you for saying what is needed to be said, in a articulate and well researched way. It may not help to stop the train, but at least it makes people aware of how destructive AI art actually is.

[besanayan]

Great analysis and points. Most of beginner artist like me who lost all hopes and vision for future this video is great and understandable.
I hope in future my art and many artist's art remain protected and flourish for better.

[Ironwill_Games]

Akira Toriyama died today. His world and vision shaped millions of artists and their visions as well. We know these names not solely by their art but by their contribution to the now culture because they are a product of culture themselves. AI art does none of this! They’re not a product of any culture, vision, emotion or world experience, they’re just images based on other images. That’s why I feel that, just like in music you always value the artist more than the art, pictures, paintings, drawings will always have more value if done by a human being with who you share a connection than an overglorified algorithm. Great video! Agree 100% with everything in this.

[ManENames]

Midjourney: "If you create AI art based on copyrighted materials that may cause us money. We will find you and make you pay up the infringement."

So much for democratizing art for everyone.

[Pryvyd]

In 20 years, people will be amazed at how some people can generate images without using a computer.

[KoongYe]

The fact that MidJourney hasn't been put under some kind of restriction yet is baffling. Goes to show no country is willing to shut down an unethical company as long as they give them some money.

[SandyButchers]

Let's say five years ago, whenever I would show someone my work, I'd get responses like: "Wow, that looks great! You are so talented!". These days, the responses are more: "Wow, that looks great! Did you make that yourself or did you prompt it?"

Every time someone asks that, I feel a small part of my soul dying inside. I have spent decades developing my style and skills. To this day, I am STILL working on trying to achieve perfection in my style within the skills that I have. It is absolutely devastating to see so many people instantly assume what you make is fake, and it breaks my heart.

[chasebros]

This is by far the best video I have seen that outlines all the ethical issues surrounding generative AI. Very well done. Thank you for making this.

[chrisstahl]

As a creative person, designer and design teacher I am trying to get familiar with how generative AI works and how to use it. I find it difficult to control and to me the only thing it is useful for is to see what kind of crazy stuff it can come up with if you write vague prompts.

I do not think it can ever replace art. Generative AI is only for the masses who have no understanding of or passion for art. And I will tell you why: Because it takes away the joy of creating yourself. No one can take that away from you if you are an artist.

For lack of a better analogy: You spend hours to climb a mountain, and then arriving at the top you come across all those tourists who took the cable car. Will you feel disappointed and frustrated? No, because you know what you have achieved. It's the journey that matters, not where you arrive.

[bryansyme]

Thank you very much for doing this YouTube video! I'm a freelance illustrator with more than 20 years of experience in the business and I really appreciate your support and consideration. Just wanting to add my two cents about AI Tech pros and their behavior. I think they're lack of respect and empathy stems from the very fact that they never had to work for it. Only by studying and working at something can you truly understand what that thing is. They have no respect for art or the process because they have never done it.They don't know the work that it takes to understand Concepts like perspective, anatomy, color theory, composition or lighting. They put the same amount of work into these images that you do when you order a pizza over the phone. And they have no understanding of what comes out the other end. therefore they have no respect for it. Nor do they have any respect for the people whose shoulders they're standing on that make those images possible. If the epitome of entitlement.

[ScratonMusicOfficial]

Thank you! An actual sound mind with a proper research behind it all. People deserve to know what all this mess is about, cause i get it is easy not to care but in the end, it affects everyone.

Just to put my take on it all as an artist - I am grateful to be in a frontline of those who are passionate about their craft. Love my fans and i wouldn't be where i am without dedicating my life to it all and their support. Truly happy to be one of many beacons of hope out there for those who are upcoming and curious about the landscape of art. Be it Music, Visuals, Cinematography, you name it. There are so many ways we can translate our emotions and stories with everyone and i would dread a future where nobody appreciates that and rather simply faces an empty void that hungrily stares back asking for more in exchange of a little bit of cash, only feeding the already ultra rich that came up with it.

Art is to be enjoyed, not consumed and thrown away or forgotten without a second thought.

Also, i have zero tolerance for AI and there is nothing that will ever change my stance on it as i do not even see myself ever using it to begin with. After the intense 6 years of seeing countless artists struggle against it, i have not seen a single positive thing come out of it, so i am very confident about my stance against that excuse of tech and i will gladly fight it till it either disappears as fast as it was brought on surface in a first place, or at least be illegalized. Because we've seen what happened with the likes of NFTs and it is not a coincidence they both were made for one purpose "quick cash, no effort". Seeing how easy it is to rebrand and start a new scam in modern times is just further reason to be careful about what company we should really give so much power to. It all lies in the users in the end, if nobody used ai, the company is bankrupt under one day ( which honestly it should be regardless )

and the only reason this time it is taking so long to get rid of it compared to NFTs, is because it successfully disguises itself as somehow "useful", but reality is, it will slip. In fact it already did many times and i guess it takes a huge irreversible slip to make people realize it isn't here to stay, but only to screw up the last remaining good side of humanity we have.

I think it goes to show how important art really is when it goes all the way back to cave paintings. Nobody asked anyone to do it, there was no monetary gain, no reason, other than expressing life in the best way we can for others to be impacted by.

Take care and keep heads up, you are so valuable u got no idea! Never doubt yourself, never bend down to this. Your worth always resonates longer than a 10 second generated gunk.

Stay safe!

[starsnoireart]

This is why I hope that programs like Glaze and Nightshade become more widespread — maybe even integrated into digital art softwares like the Adobe suite and Clip Studio Paint in the future. We can’t do anything about the work that was stolen, but moving forward, we can take back a little more of our agency when we create things.