#lensa ai

[mariluphoto]

Few of the artist affected by AI art thievery.

Posts by Jon Lam Art.

[caw4brandon]

How AI Kills Creatives

Human beings love to express themselves in many unique ways. From dance, to singing, to creative writing and of course, by art. Artists wrestle everyday to stay relevant to the masses while doing their favorite hobbies to earn a living.

This however may become null and void as the art community is facing another difficult challenge that could put them into jeopardy. The answer as to what can pose a danger to our beloved creative types is the hot topic for this Wednesday's piece. Let's discuss the complex situation of AI Art.

- Being a Creative Online -

For as long as I can remember, Creative work is either something industrial for advertisements or for entertainment, like comic books or animated shows. Often times, it involves expressive and also very dead people of influence like [Van Gogh], [Picasso] and [Da Vinci]

This however changed when the world was introduced to the internet. Allowing creative work to be presented to the masses, pass the borders and beyond. A timeless time capsule of creativity that can reach places traditional methods failed to do at rapid speeds.

Places like [Artstation], [DeviantArt], [Behance] and [Pixvi] are some of the most popular websites where aspiring artists can produce and express their craft to be shared and may potentially, give them the confidence to do commissions. These sites laid out a platform that can attract beginners and professionals alike for a chance to find an audience and develop themselves. This however, doesn’t mean an easy climb.

Creators need to combat against the algorithm and the occasional critics of these respective sites to be recognized. Creators need to claw their way out of the crowds to be graced by algorithm which means, they probably need to churn out backlogs of content to be seen and favored.

- Rise of The AIs -

A few years ago, I stumbled across a program called [Artbreeder]

Its a free to use program that allows you to create close to realistic portraits or stylized artworks by using a base picture and some photo manipulation for the desired effect. 

I myself have also used Artbreeder to create a version of my character; Sadie mac Lir based on the game version of her in HPHM.

Around that time, there was also the discovery of the mix and match dress up site by the name of [Picrew] which I too have used on more than one occasion. As time went on, better and smarter programs start appearing. Thus, allowing the masses to create scuffed or impressive images of whatever they so wish. From OCs to potential future babies to fiction turned real characters. 

At frightening speeds, AI programs created by intelligent software and application builders have grown to observe and steal from artists in various parts of the world to produce excellent works of art within seconds. Thus, threatening the very livelihoods of those who produce art as a job.

Enter the most controversial AI Art program [Lensa AI by Prisma Labs] Who is accused by multiple professional artists for committing art theft. Using the styles, compositions and signatures of said artists to reproduce works under the program's watermark.

- This is Art Theft! -

First, let's make a few things clear. I am not an expert to the subject of AI Art Theft but I highly recommend reading these few posts by better experts who can explain things better than me.

You can read [Megrae's Post] and [Jonlamart's Post] to gain a better understanding of the situation. From here on out however, I will be using my own words to breakdown how this can potentially kill the Creative community at large in the long run. Including us little guys.

To loosely summarize, the application takes a massive data collection of posts created by professional artists to be learned and recreated. Infamously, the application uses works of art by the late [Kim Jung Gi US] and others without the respective artist's permission to gain traffic and profit.

The disturbing factor in question, is that the developers of Lensa AI created this application with data that is NOT CONSENTED for such use. The program blatantly steals the artistic skills and styles of the Creative, allowing instant results via prompts which puts Creatives into obscurity. And, this is just the beginning.

Heaven knows, if the big guys in this industry are not safe from this AI. The time will come, where even small time artists will suffer such a fate.

Worst still, it places the general world view that the art community is an irrelevant industry. It takes away the trouble and cost of doing commissions and requests be a lot more to the AI's favor.

Looking into it further, a video essay by [Ana Isabel] (Which I highly recommend you watch as well) showed several other AI programs that has gotten better into writing articles via processing a database of samples and a few keywords. Thus, removing the need for a creative writer. (Like I am right now) 

What we are looking at right now is, for the first time in history. We are at odds of replacing Creatives from job opportunities. With these programs available, the phrase "Any Tom, Dick and Harry can do it" has gotten too close for comfort.

- Arguments Against AI Art -

Of course, the application can't work without us Creatives feeding the program samples and data. In some way, it still requires some form of human creativity to feed it data and develop and it also requires a little bit of luck to trigger the right prompt.

As stated in Ana Isabel’s video, some artists welcome the AI as an additional tool to help lay some groundwork for the artist to improve and build upon. Which creates a new label; [CyberArtist] or Cyborg Artist. 

Their argument is that the AI can be a helpful tool to conceptualize ideas as a first draft in productions or help with small time gigs such as promotional art or E-flyers. These Cyborg Artists also pointed out that AI Art will set a unique benchmark for what “good art” actually is, focusing more on the concept/ prompt than the process of creation.

Tempting as it may to say the world cares more about the idea than the craft. This is still detrimental to small timers or freelancers who want to pursue art as a profession with their own new ideas. It can discourage new and rising artists from chasing their ventures as they will be aware of the competition upon them.  

The comment; “it won't happen because, MY art is not that great" is not the point. If I were to guess. The AI will absorb any artwork that emits a large following and activity as food for the AI to feed and replicate which might even include doodles if left unchecked.

Although, not all hope is lost. As with these new improvements arise new problems. For that, new laws and new policies are being made to combat this troubling issue. Though not effective, it does raise the awareness. What is very important is that the general public must be made aware of such an issue. The world still looks down on Creatives, and sees their work as still "just a hobby" which is why this awareness needs to be raised and why we need to prove we are better.

On a hopeful note, AI is but an imitation of what is considered as great art but the one thing it can't ever do is produce Personal Art. It can't emote the hard hours spent, the process of improvement, the personalized charm, and the very heart that the artist cares about the audience.

That is something the AI CAN’T ever do. Its easy to feel fear knowing that the days as a Creative is numbered now that everyone can have access to such a program and to some, it may even be disheartening. But be aware that the True Value of an artist is the heart they have to share their craft. To show the imperfections and to do so anyway because they believe it inspires people. That is perhaps, what AI Art can’t ever kill.

To give because they enjoy the fun of it.

Thanks for reading

- Caw4B -

[nosferaboo]

Not all Fae are beautiful women beckoning you to the light, some are creatures in forgotten corners of the earth with knowledge you never wish to know,

[bittersweetlikecoffee]

My boyfriend and I made into gorgeous AI art...

[anishiftan203]

Just got off of ArtStation's Explore page and it saddens me. I found at least ten goodbye messages in the last five minutes. A lot of them hid their gallery...

I also saw some comments from the pro-Ai art idiots. I just want to ask them one thing.

What are you gonna take from when all artists have stopped making? And I mean ALL artists. Graphic designers, animators, traditional artists, digital artists, etc etc.

Your database is only just those images. If the artists stopped making, your databases stop growing.

Meaning every prompt you put in, no matter what it is, will still give you the same image. No matter how many attempt were made to change it.

And I can't wait for you guys to come crawling back screaming and crying because none of you know how to create the images a computer does for you.

So keep going, for however long this lasts. Because your days on art theft are numbered.

And to all the artists saddened by this too, just post a singular image. No matter what it is, it can be your worst work or even the no AI sign.

Let's limit the databases of these so called 'AI artists' and let them know the struggle of being artblocked.

[hyperallergic]

Read This Before You Jump on the Lensa “Magic Avatar” Trend

It seems like almost everybody jumped on the Lensa AI “Magic Avatar” train over the weekend. Magic Avatar is an artificial intelligence image generation tool that is a new feature on the original Lensa AI photo-editing mobile app. Pay a fee ($3.99 for a trial, $7.99 for one-time use), provide between 10 and 20 selfies, and sit back while the feature generates dozens of digital portraits of you across different illustration styles such as manga, sci-fi, fantasy, and the like.

The images look like they’ve been commissioned by different digital artists, prompting immediate concerns that the convenience and affordability of AI generation will prevent existing artists from making money off of their skillsets. Many have criticized the dataset Lensa AI employs to inform and train its AI neural network to generate such stylized imagery, as well as the exploitative terms and conditions section users must accept in order to access the feature.

Read Rhea Nayyar’s full article.

[therozpoz]

Fun with the Lensa app

[astroartmuse]

🎊 🎆 ❄️

[abuzd]

AI doesn’t know what to do with cigarettes so i’m eating my skin in that last one

[littlefeatheredindians]

got curious. what AI made of my selfies

[mariluphoto]

Why real artists NEED to be protected from AI.

Full article here.

[secretmellowblog]

[caw4brandon]

- Addressing Some Corrections -

Its been a couple of days since my post on; 

[How AI kills Creatives] Read it here. Artwork credit: [Anjin Anhut]

I figured I should address some corrections and bring forth some updates on the situation. First, I have to apologize for lumping Picrew with the likes of Lensa AI as I am very kindly educated.

Picrew is a fun mix and match site that heavily involves the respective artist's involvement in terms of the pose, style, alterations and colors. Looking into it further, the site is also [strongly against repost without credit] for that misinformation. I am very sorry~

On the other hand, Artbreeder involves real-life photographs of people but the site expressed that [the samples are for free use] While I have used both sites for my own nefarious plans (just kidding) I am personally a bit taken aback with my own ethics using Artbreeder.

Onto main topic at hand, I hear quite a number of arguments stating that this is just how things are supposed to be for the creative industry. That it's inevitable for the requirement of fast art by the masses, to enquire such a program and we as the "traditional" artists should work with the program instead.

Again, tempting as I am to say people care more about the idea than the craft. Part of the idea is in the craft itself. Its an intense and vulnerable labor that makes humans unique to other animals. To express our emotion, share our experiences and perception on the world. Imperfections and biases included.

This concern and protest is NOT the case of gatekeeping art, rather a genuine response of disapproval to such blindsided degradation towards artists and it's just blatant theft. While you can argue that "artists steal all the time" This is NOT the same case for AI as clearly stated. I want to do one final highlight on [Mochosum’s Post] and [Jojoesart’s Post] as it takes a more aggressive shed of light on the issue.

Its not the same as say, an amateur artist tracing the pose from some popular pop culture icon, maybe change the character then posting them online for entertainment purposes. (Which is a whole other can of worms I need to address) AI Art is stealing the owner's properties, selling them in broad daylight then beat up the owner. Claiming they (The Cyborg Artists) are the rightful owners.

Its even more infuriating when you read the news that the platforms for artists is not entirely “for nor against” this movement. This is still an ever growing case and I am very curious to see where it goes from here.

Personally, while I try to stay unbiased. I am NOT for AI Art. Its a major insult to artists big and small and it insults those aspiring to learn the craft and develop their own. With that in mind, it's a proper close to this dark story and my thoughts on it. So, its back to work for me and my silly little project and...I'll see you lads soon~

Thanks for reading

- Caw4B -

[rae-gar-targaryen]

I let some app generate pics that tangentially look like me (if you squint), all to comport with the name of trend. Enjoy the many fake faces of Rae, all with their own backstory--

big city lawyer, or Star Wars rebel captain?

sketches by the FBI artist who has become obsessed with me whilst I'm under investigation for the mysterious death of husband number three.

lord of the rings elf.

cyberpunk streetloser.

Dolores from "Westworld," or art deco muse who just realized she's forgotten her coffee at home.

fairy princess picrew.

[caseyiscalico]

I make a hot space cowgirl.

[gibsalad]