#i can't make support myself with my art but open ai wants to come in and train their ai on my art? fuck that

[thegayestminotaur]

This Blog is Anti-AI

I know I have very few followers, but as more of you become aware of new setting allowing AI to scrape art from blogs and reblogs, I want to make my stance on the issue extremely clear: If I wanted to feed an artificial intelligence algorithm my art, I would have done so myself. Until the AI is fully removed from Tumblr, I will not be hosting my art here. Until the AI is fully removed from Tumblr, I will not be using the site or the app. Until the AI is removed from Tumblr, this is not a safe place for me to exist or express my ideas. I'm sorry if this inconveniences you. I genuinely appreciate all the follows and reblogs y'all have blessed me with. I still have art available on my Patreon, Ko-Fi, Discord, and Twitch. You can find those sites in my pinned post and you can follow my Patreon for free. I'll be restructuring my Patreon in March to allow people to access my SFW art for free, so if that's an option y'all are interested in, feel free to drop a follow there. This is a topic I feel very seriously about. I always said that I wouldn't leave Tumblr no matter how bad things got, but I guess I'm eating my words now. To me, the ability to create art is a quantifiable aspect of the human soul and to have it stripped down and sold for corporate use like this (specifically: without the consent of the artist for data mining and ai training) is indescribably vile.

I think that AI can be used ethically, but this? This ain't it, chief.

[practically-an-x-man]

ahhhhh fuck the anxiety might be winning this one boys

My joint issues are getting worse. My eyesight is getting worse. My fatigue is getting worse. I deal with constant microaggressions from my mother about everything from my job to my gender, while she in her mind still seems to think she's an incredibly supportive empathetic person. I'm only working four days a week and I still come home in pain and so exhausted I can't think and barely want to move. Pay is shit and it's supposed to be just a temporary job in the hopes and prayers that my "real job" will get an opening soon. Even if things go perfectly I'll be saving up to move out to the third most expensive city to pursue a career that's incredibly demanding, unstable, and is in constant danger of shrinking due to CGI and AI technology. Even if I made it into the industry, I'm afraid my body might not let me stay in it for long and I'll have to give up all of those ambitions. One of my favorite writers, one of the people whose work inspired me to start writing in the first place, is at best a creep and at worst a downright predator. I've hardly been able to work on my own writing and I feel like I'm letting people down because of it. I already live in a state where my existence is threatened and though I fully plan to do my part and vote, there's a decent chance that by January I'll be even more threatened. Hell, I might not even make it that far. I'm in a state with a lot of casual gun use. There's a nonzero chance I could be shot by one of his followers before we even get to the polls. Things could absolutely spiral out of control and even if they don't, even if every single thing in my life goes as smoothly as it possibly could, even if I get my dream job and make good money and don't have to live under a fascist tyrant... I'll still be tired and in pain because my body is broken and will only get worse from here. What the fuck do I even do. I know I can't let this existential dread win, I have to keep going because I have an audition next week and there's so much art I want to make and my pets rely on me so I can't leave them and so on, but I just wish I could see a future that I could just be happy with instead of having to prod myself forward like this.

And even writing this hurts me, because I try so hard to be this kind and supportive person and wallowing like this is neither kind nor supportive. I'm absolutely terrified, exhausted, and on top of that feeling guilty for even writing out these feelings.

Idk. I have work tomorrow. I'm going to bed.

[stranded-ziggy]

Some more thoughts on AI art because God knows we need more of that...

I want to preface this by saying that if you have or are currently making art by prompting AI I wish you the best in your creative endeavors but hope I can make you consider the value of learning any skill that requires patience and dedication.

Learning a skill is hard, perhaps one of the hardest things anyone can do but here's a little tip: You do not need to 'master' anything to enjoy doing it.

I'd consider myself a fairly skilled artist, I can have an idea for a painting and complete it with some accuracy and style at least. It's taken many years to come to this point yes, but I would not consider my journey as an artist to be anywhere near an end.

In fact, I look forward to a year from now when I look back on the work I'm creating these days and realize how far I've come. Sure, there's days when I'm frustrated with how I'm lacking skill in certain areas or how I wish I could paint the way [artist] does but I know in time I'll get there and I also know that my art and my ideas and stories I want to tell aren't going to be told by anyone else, not in my unique voice.

It took a long time to build that mindset but that's why I write think pieces like this, to try and prompt people to start thinking in healthier ways about art and creativity rather than obsessing over how far they still have to go or things like attention online.

Back to AI, I assume this isn't the case for everyone but it seems pretty obvious to me that for a lot of people the appeal of AI is the ability to skip the cue, to skip right to getting the same amount of attention (and profit though trust me there isn't as much profit in art as you think at least not for most of us) as artists they admire. A lot of people don't want to admit this but it's pretty goddamn obvious.

I won't lie, I see very little value in doing anything solely for profit, so maybe I can't appeal to those of you who do. But for those of you who think more like me and see value in art by itself I'd like to say there is also value in failing at art or enjoying making humble art. Lessons to be learned that can be applied everywhere in life.

I learned this lesson through taking up guitar a few years ago. I got so far that I could strum along to and sing most Beatles songs and then I was happy. Maybe I'll never apply myself to guitar the same way I have art but that's fine.

There is nothing wrong with that...I do not need to master guitar for it to teach me something valuable.

I'm not lazy or lacking in energy I'm just happy to have fun and play songs for myself and my friends and family. I admire people who do decide to master it but that's not a part of my story at this point in life and that's A-OK.

If that's what your journey with painting or drawing looks like try and see the value that has for you. Don't use your time trying to defend something that disregards human creativity as something of the past, something that is built on the backs of real artists by taking work they put their lives into and spitting out a lifeless version of it, something that has caused artists so much fear and doubt...

Instead, put that time into creating, really creating, learning from the ground up like I did with guitar. Teach yourself if you don't have time or money for lessons (I taught myself to paint!), reach out to artists for resources.

My ask box is always open if you want recommendations for resources or even tutorials on how I do things! LMK if you are an absolute beginner and I'll adjust for that.

I would never turn anyone away from rejoining the human art community no matter how staunchly they supported AI.

[mikeatarms]

The Theft of the Journey

You may have seen this shit on Twitter. In summary: a milquetoast tech-bro used AI to generate art and text for a children's book, got it put together in a weekend, and put it up on Kindle. He thinks this is a win, as tech-bros are big on output and streamlining production. The focus is on the product, not on process, which is like wanting to eat spaghetti every night and relying solely on Doordash to get it you instead of taking the time to learn how to cook it yourself and improve the recipe over time to your liking at a greatly reduced cost.

Anyway: AI-created art and text is theft. It's built on the uncompensated work of countless creatives, put into a machine-learning blender and spit out for profit. That's bad enough, and reason enough to side-eye any AI-produced work until someone comes up with a more ethical way to feed the machine. It also steals the journey from aspiring creatives by circumventing the learning and improvement process.

My example: I grew up fairly poor. My parents spoiled me when they could, but what they always had plenty to give me was support. They believed in me and backed any dream I had, including wanting to work in the game industry some day.

I went to college later than most, focusing on professional writing, as that was how I was going to make my career writing for games and about games. I had been writing my entire life, and it seemed fitting. In the end, all my work landed me a QA job, which lasted about a year. For the next few years, I worked service jobs while doing bits of game writing here and there, some paid, some not, all in an effort to get back in.

Around 2015, well into my 30s, I got a job at another studio doing community and support, which would eventually turn into roles in writing, narrative design, and game design. Before that happened, I set my targets elsewhere. I looked at BioWare's hiring requirements. They were looking for writers with traditionally-published fantasy novels under their belts. I had a concept I had been wanting to explore for the better part of a decade, but it was a lot of effort, so I tried to figure out what else I could do to break in.

In 2017, I had managed to become a game writer and narrative designer at my studio without realizing it by contributing when asked and being handed more and more responsibilities. I had broken in through the window, but I was still focused on the front door. That, in my mind, required a novel to open. I revisited my concept and over the next two years, I wrote one of the finest trunk novels in existence and half of a sequel.

I had worked on several gamest by this point. I realized that you don't need a published novel to be a game writer or narrative designer. That was just BioWare being weird. But I still wanted to put a novel out into the world. I caught the itch. I spent the next year writing what would become Scarlet & Sunder, my upcoming self-pub debut, and three more years editing, refining, and producing it. I'm also 100k words into another novel, started in that same timeframe.

I can't tell you how much I've improved, as a writer and as a human being, from the experience of creating these books. I've learned a lot about myself, from what work flow is best for me, to the times of the day I'm most productive, to what I'm capable of. I've gone further than I ever imagined, and I carry that confidence and skill forward into future projects and endeavors.

Now, imagine if I had sat down one weekend, thrown a few phrases like "Sentai" and "Magical Mecha" and "Tokusatsu" into text fields, pressed enter, did the same for cover art, and hit "Publish." Not only would I have a much worse product, but I would have denied myself all of that growth. I would have stolen that journey from myself, and learned nothing. I would have gained nothing.

I'm not saying artists need to struggle, or that creating art should be more difficult than it has to be. Art is for everyone. Tools exist to make your life easier and increase productivity, and many of them don't steal from uncompensated artists. You also don't have to do everything yourself. I'm a writer by trade. I can't draw for shit. Does that mean I should learn digital painting, as the only alternative to theft, if I want cover art?

Not necessarily. It's a good skill to have, but I poured my points into the written word, and have no interest in a re-spec. I could have used AI to generate a cover, like Tor recently did (that's a whole other can of worms). Instead, I put aside money for production. I hired Felix Ortiz to produce my cover art. I contracted Charlie Knight to handle editing. I'm tentatively working with Shawn T King for design (fingers crossed he has time for me!)

You may or may not know these names, but these folks rock. It took time and planning to save up the thousands of dollars I needed to hire the exact professionals I wanted so I could do the job right to my personal standards. Not everyone has that privilege, and I recognize that. Self-pub, and art in general, shouldn't be as expensive as it is.

People should also be compensated for their work, though, and there are cheaper ways to create. There are ways to get access to the content you're not able to create yourself, from budget options, to crowdfunding, trades, and more. There are other options to explore before resorting to theft. Your work deserves to exist and be seen, but not at the expense of other working creatives.

Develop your skillset in your chosen discipline. Create wonderful things. If you need content that falls outside of your wheelhouse and circumstances keep you from learning how to make it yourself, you should be able to have it, but you're not entitled to it. Collaborate. Work on smaller, simpler projects while you save up for the magnum opus. Whatever you need to do to get there.

Just don't cheat other creatives, and don't cheat yourself.

[batch83]

Well done, you!

An LSE Journey Essay

Looking deep into ourselves to find our real motivation can be hard especially when everything around us have been going by in a blur. Our true purpose, should we ever find it early, tend to get lost somewhere between making a living, paying the bills, raising kids and running a hundred different errands. Before you know it, you're well into your middle age and wondering where did the last 10 years go. It is in this age that I started to question what my endgame is.  

I was born in the North to Ilocano parents, raised in Metro Manila and educated in both private and government institutions.  I majored in Architecture but majority of my work is in another discipline.  For the past 13+ years in Singapore, I worked, and mostly enjoyed, working in Civil Engineering specifically in Geotech where we do a lot of underground works for tunnels and transport structures.  Such a badass feeling for a female to actually do this in a predominantly male field! I left the Philippines not because there was a pressing need to provide. On the contrary, I have a stable but boring job in the city. I was surprised when I got the call from a foreign headhunter that, at the prospect of new adventures and since there's nothing to lose (they paid for all the expenses anyway), I relented and went along to see where'd I'd end up. Fortunately, fate has been good. 

Being a migrant worker for most of my youth can be quite unsettling.  I have all the time in the world in a new environment full of possibilities, earning a decent disposable income and not saddled with pressing responsibilities. When you're new in a foreign land, the allure of all things shiny are very tempting. It's these times that I went on a spree, a moderate one by standard, but to an Ilocano it's a spree nonetheless.  Year in and out, I accumulated stuff that I liked and like to share with my family. But as my belongings grew and lugging them from one rental house to the next becomes harder, I thought "there must be more to gain in living here than this".  

Enter social media.

I spent numerous hours scrolling, clicking and just wasting time away but it's an upside that I saw an A-LSE sponsored seminar on one of the shared posts. At this point I'm already indoctrinated in the concept of financial management by another OFW (also an admirable Fin-Lit and Social Enterprise advocate) and seeing the A-LSE program page with all the bright faces of the students, my curiosity was piqued. What is this group that makes people come together and learn new stuff to improve themselves? The FOMO (fear of missing out) is strong and I had to join in on the fun. I finally got in a year after putting my name down on the waiting list.

 And so, the grind begins.

 The program started with self-introspection -- who are you, what makes you get up in the morning, what's your mission -- its wading at the rubbish and finding the bits that radiate sunshine. It's the equivalent of doing the Marie-Kondo in your life and removing the clutter.

As a parent, my goal is to give my child the tools and opportunities that will enable him to achieve good things in life. Not great, but good. I can only lead him to the starting line, I will leave it up to him to finish it in ways he sees fit.  Of course, to be able to do that I will need the financial capacity to provide for his primary needs but also to be there emotionally to support and guide him in his decisions. My goal is to show him the dignity in working and the joy of doing good, to impart the values I've learned from my parents, to have fun and appreciate the arts.

As a sibling, my goal to help them finish their tertiary education has been fulfilled. My siblings are now enjoying their chosen professions and has now embarked on new pursuits to ascend to the next level. Next is to help them map out their financial plans for the future -- that's a tactic to make them financially independent and not borrow money from me.

As a daughter, my goal is to see my parents enjoy the latter years of their lives and to help them come into terms that they need to step back and let their children take on the responsibilities on managing their estate.

As a person, my goal to become an instrument of change in however small way I can manage. Running for public office seems the easiest route but as I have no death wish and plan to live a longer-ish life, that's a no-go for me.

My goal is to achieve financial independence in the next decade, to establish my own enterprise, have enough to sustain my health coverage and retirement in the later years and leave a worthy legacy to my family. Lastly, I want to travel every year or every other year to places that are culturally rich and ‘gram worthy.

The 10 sessions have brought immense knowledge and insight about the core competencies of the LSE program. Journals have been written to provide a deeper insight for each session.

For Leadership, I find Tina Liamson's lecture on Migration & Principles of Leadership enlightening. The most fascinating has got to be from Dr. Juan Kanapi's Appreciative Inquiry. This is the first time I've heard of it and it's quite difficult to grasp the idea and can be easily confused with positivity. But at the end, It shows that if practiced AI is not just mind tricks but a powerful tool in realising your full potential.

The best lectures for Financial Literacy are the split sessions of Vince Rapisura and Edwin Salonga. (Edwin's lecture is about Social Entrepreneur but I remembered a lot more on his lecture about Finances, hence…) Who knew studying finance concepts could be this good? And most definitely not boring! I now have a deeper understanding about managing my finances better and learning that my current insurance is shit, which I really need to rectify soon. I can't tell you enough how the things I've learned from these wonder duos are gold. Call me by any other name (read: biased), but Ed's lecture is my most favourite of the lot.

The Social Entrepreneurship sessions have the most gravitas for these lectures carry the main core of the program. They're not all boring, mind you, but can be a bit challenging. The lectures on this series provided many useful tips for future entrepreneurial endeavors and is a big help in formulating our business plan. Other insights for the SE series can be read here and here.

At every journal writing, I try to reflect on what I've learned and think of ways to apply them in my daily life.  Most often I find things and events that need to be tweaked or heavily redesigned in order for it to be aligned with my future goals. Most pressing of these are the consolidation of my assets and liabilities, and making a clear plan on mapping out my finances that will include my son's future education.  The next point is to work on myself and how I carry myself as a leader starting at home. What better place to practice than to apply these learning in the household first? Hopefully, I will be able to improve my inability to forge meaningful connections to people by the time I have to build my own enterprise. I am not aspiring to be Miss Friendship, I'm ok with Miss Effective Boss or even Miss Influencer-For-The-Greater-Good. Tall order, I know, but we're allowed to dream and dreaming is free.

Joining the program made me realise the answer to my question, "So what happens now?" 

During my first few years as a migrant worker, my goal is to save so I can buy gadgets to connect me home. After having a mobile phone, a laptop and the ability to call home any time, ano na? As I enter my 14th year of being a migrant, I've somewhat been able to achieve the things I hoped for. Not the millions of dollars in bank account **fingers crossed**, but a comfortable life. But that restlessness persists. Learning that there are available avenues to pursue these in the Philippines is a big help in making me step into the right direction closer to the things I wanted to become. Programs like these give hope.  With that, I realise that there is more I can do back home than where I am currently at. I have the knowledge; I can share it -- starting with a small group of like-minded people who are willing to help themselves. Acquiring and sharing knowledge is free so I may as well start with that. 

All the sessions have been audio recorded and kept in a cloud that I shared with family members. Many of the things Dr. Kanapi said are the things I so want to say to my father. Sharing it is just a click away, let him hear it straight from the board-certified horse's mouth.  

I also plan to lead the residents in our small sitio towards a better understanding of financial management which can be instrumental in their livelihood. These people have been known in the family for decades. They have worked alongside our grandparents in tilling the land and their children continues to do so. While there have been advancements in their lives, I believe there is more to be done -- better education for their children/grandchildren, opening bank accounts, accessing government programs, using tech etc. I am excited to share with them the different concepts we have learned in the program, and also a good training ground for me to improve my leadership skills.

I highly commend the A-LSE program for striving to make the Filipino Migrant Workers' quest for relevancy and better lives. Much appreciation to A-LSE founding Team and the current secretariat who makes it run smoothly. The past month has been very trying but everyone has been great in providing feedback and extending their hands.  For that, a big Salute! to everyone -- for the team and the speakers who traverse the globe every year. 

As a program alumnus, I will most definitely uphold the values of the LSE in the best way that I possibly can. Sadly, my physical involvement with the LSE will not extend to the volunteer work for the next batch as  I have made plans for the next year that will make it impossible to fulfill my duties on the site . However, I am willing to extend my skill/expertise in whatever way I can as long as it is done remotely. 

Thank you, A-LSE.

Congratulations, Batch 83!

2019 will be remembered as the year I turned another leaf over.