#no ai art just my shitty hands here

[burninblood]

SHE MADE HIM BLUSH ok?

[genericpuff]

completely off topic but regarding something that i saw pop up in my FB feed and i need to rant about

please do not fall for this shit

nintendo is NOT anti-AI.

it's really easy for them to say they're not going to use generative AI to create their games, because this statement has nothing to do with the very real issues with AI art such as the blatant theft of artists' work, environmental impact, replacement of humans in the industry, and just flat out unethical shit that AI has been designed around

it has EVERYTHING to do with their intellectual property rights, which Nintendo is NOTORIOUS for protecting with an iron fist even at their own expense. and i'm not talking the usual sensible argument shit like "ofc Nintendo wants to protect their IP's, they're a business!" i'm talking about the fact that this is the same company that just recently did a major takedown of the vast majority of Nintendo-licensed games on Vimm's Lair which aren't even being sold legitimately anywhere anymore-

i have so many fucking bones to pick with the flaccid bootlicking anti-piracy arguments out there but basically it comes down to this:

Nintendo is not a small indie company. They are literally one of the biggest, richest, most powerful gaming companies on the planet, rivalling Disney in just how many major franchises they own and profit off of. Many of their games are cultural classics, not just through the sentimentality and nostalgia of our childhoods, but also for all the innovations they made through games like Super Mario Bros, Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and many others that we, within the world of gaming, owe a lot to and should be able to access and play. It's not a matter of "wanting these games for free", it's a matter of wanting to be able to access these games, period, and Nintendo is deadset on making it as difficult as possible, even when it doesn't necessarily profit from them (need I remind you that many of the games that were taken down from Vimm's Lair are NOT available through their shitty, poorly-ported emulation subscription service - plus that subscription service can be altered and/or removed at any time, regardless of what you paid for, just like the Wii Virtual Console was, meaning you do not own any of the games you're paying to play on there.)

This isn't about being "cheap" or "not wanting to pay for games". This is about media preservation and the virtue of actually owning the things we pay for. If these games were resold at official outlets for reduced prices or made more accessible through e-shops that don't close down in between console generations or drip feed the odd legacy title every few months or release crappy ports on their outdated af tech for only a few months at a time for three times the price of their original value, people would gladly pay. It's the fact that people are having to put up with all of the hoops that Nintendo has put in place to prevent them from even handing them money to play their favorite titles that even drives them to piracy to begin with, and Nintendo will gladly shut those sites down to protect their IP even when it's an IP they're no longer profiting from and aren't making active efforts to sell.

Like, I would gladly hand over a reasonable amount of money (i.e. not the cost of a brand new triple A title in 2024 which is like $80-$100 here in Canada) for Diddy Kong Racing on the Switch, but ofc it's not on the fucking online play store and even if it was, I'd have to deal with paying an overpriced subscription fee for a port of the game that would undoubtedly run WORSE than it does on my PC, and that subscription service can be taken down at any time. But Nintendo wants me to not pirate the game that's not available on their shitty subscription service because... just don't do it, pretty please??

Nintendo is not anti-AI. They would gladly use AI in place of manual labor to scour the internet and dish out DMCA's to every emulation site, archived ROM hub, fan game, and artist alley creator if they could... oh wait, they already are.

Do not fall for the virtues of anti-AI when it comes to companies like Nintendo. They are not anti-AI. They're anti-ownership. They're anti-preservation.

[hatsunemiku-official]

ABOUT ME-KU

(+ FAQ / VOCALOID-OFFICIAL MASTERPOST)

hi! im miku and welcome to Internet! you can do lots of fun things here. like look at my blog! ok im gonna hand the mic over to the omnipotent being that watches my every move

thanks miku. here are some things to remember before you send an ask:

- I am not associated with crypton, sega, or the official miku twitter! im just a guy making funny post

- miku lives in a computer. i probably won’t answer anything referring to her doing things in the real world, since saying “I am in a computer what are you talking about” is only funny the first five times

- I use my askbox as a jumping off point for jokes! if I don’t answer your ask it’s not because I didn’t like it, I just probably couldn’t think of anything funny to respond with

- I love receiving art!!!!!!! please send me your miku art!!!!!!! you can even send me a link to your art posted on your own blog and I’ll reblog it so you still get the notes!!!! I LOVE ART!!!!!! (also the ai training toggle has been turned off for this blog so. you’re safe here.)

- there are some things you should speak to a mental health professional about ( ie “i just can’t go on” “my life is terrible” ect) and you should not send these things to hatsune miku. i understand and empathize with you but I cannot help you and it’s very upsetting to receive things like this !

- anything written in parentheses for the most part is an ooc comment from the person running this blog (that’s me!). I don’t like doing this very often though, so if you have a question that can only really be answered ooc then please ask it off anon so I can respond privately!

- please remember I am just one person and sometimes I make mistakes! im a pretty busy person and also disabled so sometimes things slip through the cracks when im low energy. I do my best though so please let me know if you think i’ve made a mistake and i’ll do my best to fix it :]

- sometimes I like to reblog miku art from other people! please be respectful in these artists notes. I know this is a silly jokes blog but these people have not necessarily signed up to be goofed at on their posts. please be kind and keep the clowning to a minimum on posts that aren’t made by me!

- no TERFS allowed. hatsune miku loves trans women

FAQ

Q: can I make a vocaloid-official blog too???

A: yes!!!! anybody can!! please let me know if you do so I can add you to the masterpost and interact with you! I would check the masterpost first though to make sure there hasn’t already been a blog made for that character :]

Q: do you also run [insert other vocaloid-official blog]?

A: no! I can barely think of funny things to say here do you really think I could manage being funny on two blogs at once. I am friends with the people who run the teto, luka and una blogs so if our posts seem coordinated it’s because I asked them really nicely

Q: who runs this account?

A: secret

Q: miku what’s your opinion on [insert queer identity]

A: I don’t like answering these because I don’t want to open myself up to shitty comments and I can’t think of anything funny to say that wouldn’t just sound like “ally twitch streamer smiling at the camera and saying trans rights”. this blog is run by a queer person and miku is whatever you want her to be, if that helps.

Q: i made a vocaloid-official blog! how do I get added to the masterpost?

A: adding people to the masterpost has gotten really overwhelming for me so I won’t be doing it anymore. sorry! feel free to still make a vocaloid-official blog and interact with me if you want, I just won’t be updating the masterpost anymore. the current list will stay up as it is as sort of like. a memento or something.

Q: do you know anything about PJSK???

A: no <3

OFFICIAL VOCALOID-OFFICIAL MASTERPOST

these are my Official Friends! go say hi to them!!

🥖 @kasaneteto-official

🐟 @megurineluka-official

🐙 @otomachi-una-official

🍷 @hanakomeiko-official

💛 @neruakita-official

🍌 @kagaminelen-official

🍊 @kagaminerin-official

🍦@kaitoshinon-offical

🐢 @ryuto-official (RESURRECTED)

💜 @vflower-official

🥕 @gumi-official

🖤 @zatsunemiku-official

🍡 @tohokuzunko-official

🩹 @fukase-official

🔌 @utatanepiko-official

🐰 @yukari-official

🩵 @ringsuzune-official

⚓️ @oliverv3-official

🌷 @nekomurairoha-official

🥢 @vocaloidcul-official

☕️ @rukoyokune-official

🥂 @meiko-offical

👑 @galaco-official

🐱 @seeu-official

🌸 @meikahime-official

🪻 @meikamikoto-official

🍆 @gakupo-official

🎀 @utanekoe-official

🌹 @sakinemeiko-official

🔪 @mayuofficial

🛰️ @moonbase-alpha-tts-official

🍺 @yowane-haku-official

🪐 @ia-official

🎹 @namineritsu-official

☁️ @tone-rion-official

🎤 @maika-official

🌈 @kawaiine-official

🍏 @macnenana-official

🌻 @dex-official

💗 @garnetvocaloid-official

💿 @yohioloid-official

🌺 @zhizidongfang-official

🤍 @kokone-official

🐸 @vocaloidrana-official

🌟 @xingchen-official

🍎 @yuki-official

🌿 @fionetheutau-official

💫 @sfa2miki-official

[katiekatdragon27]

Sorry for being cringe, it will happen again.

In the Flatland discord (and on Tumblr in general lol), I've been seeing a lot of gjinkas, and as someone who made gjinkas a while back of A. Sphere and A. Square, I decided to revamp them for fun plus my oc. Also, now the name reveals are in a drawing now! Live laugh love Angelica, Abel, and Anthony <3

I kept Anthony the same. Still the silly amoeba guy. He just got another arm. Abel got a little wider and rounder in general, he's actually wearing the suspenders this time, gave him his bowtie back, and the glove is on his right hand so he can hold A. Square while doing other things (he's left-handed cuz I said so). Angelica is just based on really shitty AI art but done artistically. I'm so cool guys, reclaiming AI art one 4D gjinka at a time.

Below is progress photos and a sketchy comic:

Here's the old ass comic that I still find funny (it's like almost a year old):

Transcript: A.S: Madam, may I ask something of you? A.T: Sure! What’s up? A.S: Is it possible that I could maybe see your ina- A.S: -aaaa… (A. square’s speech thing) Square: PLEASE SIR LET ME SEE YOUR INSIDES!! A.S: Uh- Never mind. A.T: Oh. are you sure? A.S: Positive *shutters*

I thought I was so funny for this but I'll let the council decide.

Have a good one guys!

[mandareeboo]

TADC Drabble: After episode 3 I have a mighty need for a sleepover inside Kinger’s pillow fort. I know you just wrote the chess game in there but please. Make them do slumber party activities

If there's anything to be grateful for here, it's that Zooble has become the circus's homebody. Pomni was pretty sure they did it out of boredom rather than actual passion, but, regardless, they had plenty of time while Caine was throwing them through adventures to tidy up, help Bubble set the table, and scour the playground for pillows. All of said pillows went immediately to Kinger's fort, which was both bigger on the inside and the softest place in the digital hellscape.

Pomni was never a fan of the dark, but she is a fan of Kinger in the dark. He's more himself. He's happier. Sometimes he just seemed so frustrated with himself, like his actions in the daylight were a fault instead of an actual mental illness.

"I took computer science," he says conversationally, fingers clenched together over metaphorical knees. "It doesn't mean much now, but... on nights like this, I can help explain the circus to you. There's actually a lot of math involved."

"You remember your major?" Pomni replied, snacking on a cheez-it that was both double the intended size and lacking any textures. The food here didn't taste right-- the same way everything smells weird. AI can't perfectly mimic what a mashed potato is supposed to be because it, itself, has never had a mashed potato. You really only eat to have something to do. He'd mentioned it earlier, but she'd brushed it off as ramblings.

"Oh, yeah," Ragatha chirped. "We all remember stuff like that. You'll get it back eventually." She waved her hand vaguely. "You won't remember faces, or bodies, or names, but you'll remember stuff you liked, stuff you did. That sort of thing."

Jax, propping his paws up on a bump in the blankets, added his two cents. "Pretty sure I was in a band. I'm real good at the bass."

"Same," said Zooble, with a wince. "I hope I'm not a shitty soundcloud rapper or something."

"I think I was in sales." Ragatha chewed on a string of yarn with an awkward face, like she was trying to smile but couldn't muster it up. "I think I was pretty awful at it."

"You're so honest and naïve." Jax rolled his eyes. "Sales eats suckers like you for breakfast." He flexed his fingers, one after the other, and tacked on: "I think I vaped."

"Oh, I smoked a lot of weed."

"And you say we aren't destined for each other, Zoob-Zoob."

"I did my art professionally," Gangle chirped, showing off her newest sketch of Zooble yeeting Jax into a pit. "And I never walk when I remember things, so I think I might be paralyzed."

Normally, that would've made Pomni say something sympathetic, but Gangle said it with such longing she really didn't think she could begin to cover it. The air in the room was sad and stifled, but their voices were so fond. They were happy to remember.

Maybe a little more prodding. Just to keep them smiling.

"Well," Pomni said, tapping her knees. "I dunno what I did yet, but I think we can cross horror gamer off the list."

"I dunno, Pom. I could see a fanbase of nerds who like to watch girls freak out over monsters."

Her face did a little scrunch at that. "I'm not good at video games, though. I'd never finish anything."

"I think," said Kinger, and everyone fell quiet to listen. People rarely interrupted Kinger, Pomni found. "I think I was designing a computer game."

"Like the ones in cereal boxes?"

"Big ones. Massive ones." He held out his hands as if to show distance. "I just... can't remember if we finished it."

"Maybe it's a hit," Ragatha suggested.

"Maybe," he said, and sighed.

[drawnfamiliarfaces]

Since this is currently my most active blog with some followers, just wanted to say a few things:

It's so incredibly depressing to see tumblr sellout to the whole AI shit and try to pacify users by the opt-out toggle option when it mostly likely won't do jack shit. Tumblr has been doing shitty things for awhile now, but out of all old social media it was a last shabby bastion for various weirdos, including a fandom weirdo like me.

I'm just an old silly hobbyist artist who badly draws fanart of old cartoons, but even the idea that my stuff will help train AI to be better to stealing desirable art of actual artists, whose work is their livelyhood is fucking maddening. Opting out won't help (Sources say data is already available to companies). Deleting stuff won't help (tumblr have access to deleted blogs and reblogs put your stuff in reach too). Using Nightshade and Glaze is not a viable option for me (my old laptop's specks is not up to support those programs, and I'm too afraid to try and accidently fry it and than all my shit would be lost) and even those doesn't solve the problems of all of my old stuff across like 7 sideblogs+my old tumblr account's 2 blogs.

Of course, maybe all hope is not lost for tumblr. There may be solutions and decisions later down the line. But for now I probably won't be posting any new stuff for a bit while I decide if I want to stay on tumblr and be complicit in feeding the insidious and insatiable AI machines.

And as alternatives, I created new account for bluesky, and consider pillowfort and cohost to share my random silly art. Even dusted out my old tapas and newgrounds accounts, and consider webtoons and comicfury to post and archive my few comics. Hopefully I will share links in my pinned post when I set whatever I decide up, even if all of it is so exhausting and depressing.

And hey, if you read this so far - just a reminder:

Opt out on that 'share with third parties' toggle like explained here! - it may do jack shit, but its better than nothing.

Write a polite disagreeing feedback to staff like suggested on this post. - remember not all staff had a hand in this, so no need to be rude, but make sure to have your voice be heard.

Use Nightshade and Glaze to poison your art - if you are an artist and are able to do it unlike me. It may not be sure proof way to stop/kill AI, but it sure shows that artists will fight back.

Use ArtShield - an online lowtech alternative to Nightshade & Glaze, puts a stamp/watermark on your art, invisible to humans but supposedly makes AI think its unsuitable to train on. (edit)

And please, take a moment for yourself. Because it fucking sucks.

So, I'm gonna go take a step back and burrow into some hole and cry for all of those who AI fucks over. I won't be gone forever, but for now I'm too frustrated and dissapointed to do anything.

and ALSO just to be fucking clear

🇺🇦 I STAND WITH UKRAINE 🇺🇦

🇵🇸 FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE 🇵🇸

🏳️‍⚧️ TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS 🏳️‍⚧️

🚫 AI CREATIONS ARE NOT ART🚫

fuck you shitty side tumblr I wish you all a fucking hammer car explosion

[arianimates]

So I got an ask (that might be a troll) saying that my art looks AI generated. And I just gotta ask, how??? First off, I'm kind of offended that my art was compared to the shitty abomination that is AI. Second, why would I waste my time feeding the Ai when I can just pick up a pencil and draw?? Third, at least my designs don't: - have inconsistent patterns - have fucked up looking hands - have stuff clipping into each other - have next to zero emotion Finally, I don't support Ai works of any kind here. And I like to think my art is actually good sooo Fellow artists, if you think that my art is AI generated, at least point out how it looks that way. Also Ai artists are not real artists. Ai is theft.

Fuck off

[tequitoclown]

Hey guys what do you think my of my new watermark?

[Image ID: White text on a transparent background reading: "I made this artwork myself for myself. I made the artwork on my PAID copy of Clip Studio Paint 3.0.4. I really don't fucking care if nobody likes it, really, I'm not even here to get famous, This is my fucking life and I'll draw whatever the fuck I want. Download it and scribble over it just out of spite, I really don't care. Just don't fucking scrape this shit into your half-asses "AI" bullshit. Like are you fucking kidding me? Your dumbass can't draw, so instead of going to look at some tutorials for FREE on Youtube, developing your goddamn skill, you take MY hard work, put it into some fucking machine, and make it spit out garbage so you can giggle and said "I did it!" Like no you fucking didn't. That's like going to Mcdonald's, ordering food, and telling everyone you cooked the goddamn burger yourself. No you fucking didn't. You're standing on the back of someone else's work. You typed some tiny words in a box and got a busty woman with fucked-up hands. You've created a machine that just spits out garbage with the same art style. Have you considered just trying to draw yourself? Yeah it's gonna look like shit. If you want artwork immediately you can pay a fucking artist to draw your weird fucking idea. Go ahead, do it. Go tell an artist to draw a hot MILF or whatever the fuck you're typing into those fucking generators. They'll fucking do it. Just give them money, an idea and they make something beautiful, unique, and something you'll appreciate. But no, not you. You've got a plan to take the shitty 30-minute piece of art that I shit out and put it into a goddamn machine so you can make better shit. What the fuck is it going to help you with? You think taking artwork of my dumb fucking OC is going to do you any good? He's literally just for me. Like 4 people even knows he exists. Want my fursona too you little fuck? Or are you too much of a coward? Go ahead. I don't give a shit anymore. FUCK YOU. Your whole, FUCKING, EXISTENCE. Fuck. you." ./End ID]

[tendermiasma]

I Hope this question won't attract unwanted crowd, I'll try to type it in a way it hopefully will prevent it, but I have a question. As a professional artist, do you have any advice on how to not feel discouraged by A /i g3 ner*a/t3d images? And what to do to protect my art from being stolen? Recently I discovered one person close to me, also an artist, started incorporating that into their works and got into selling stuff assisted by it, and I feel kind of... heartbroken, betrayed? I don't know what to do, it makes me not want to continue the relationship, because this stuff is, in my opinion, actively hurting artists, but on the other hand, I don't want to lose a friend over it. Also, I am afraid that the only way to prevent what I create from being stolen is to not share it online at all, which is also heartbreaking, because one of the biggest part of creating (at least to me) is a form of dialogue with fellow humans, sharing emotions, and interaction between the creator, the art and the audience. I just feel lost. Also, I really admire your art, your skill, and you inspire me in a very profound way, just wanted to say that. Hope you have a good day!

Hi! It's a really shitty situation and I also often feel really doom and gloom about the whole thing. But the reason I keep making art is simple: It is my greatest joy to communicate through art and with every piece I make I continue to assert over and over that my human soul and the expertise that comes with it is a thousand times more valuable than a machine, and even though a lot of people wouldn't give a shit if a person or AI made it, there are always people out there who will care. I just really, really love doing it even while capitalism and our culture of consumption is taking on new and terrible forms. If we stop making art, what's left? Just the machine and nobody to speak up otherwise. Do nothing and lose everything vs keep fighting and something else, something better by some measure happens. Action is always the cure. I'm a big believer in that because I've found it to be true.

We're at a crucial time in the entertainment and arts industries. We all have some measure of power we can use against emerging policies and trends that don't benefit/actively hurt us. The WGA is currently striking in part to make AMPTP reconsider their AI policy of essentially just updating the WGA on the technology's progess annually. Other organized labor in entertainment and visual arts can negotiate anti-AI clauses into their contracts to make it less acceptable as a practice overall. You can use Glaze on your work to confuse AI engines and they just came out with a new version that I hear is a pretty nice jump in how detectable the texture is to your eye in the images.

I'm sorry you're going through that with your friend, though. It's hard and messy and there's no set way to go about it. It all depends on what you value most and what your own moral compass is telling you what you need to do here. Personally if it were a close friend of mine, I would talk to them about it. Depending on how they respond, your decision still might be a hard one or they could make it very easy. They will absolutely tell you how much time you should invest into this. Even if their attitude is clearly signaling that they do not care about you here and that you should move on from the friendship, it's probably still going to be painful and you'll grieve it for a while. Surround yourself with friends who understand how you feel and time will do its thing.

I think you should take comfort in that if you continue with art, this won't be the hardest decision you'll ever have to make. You'll have to make harder ones and will still come out on the other side. Even if you choose not to share your art on the wider internet and keep it as a precious thing among a smaller group of friends, it still has just as much worth and as you go along you will naturally find a balance between risks and reward. Don't forget that speaking out does actually have power in itself. Remember we've been able to bully a few companies into rolling back harmful practices in the past year or so.

I hope that was somewhat helpful. We're all trying to figure this out together and there's always going to be a future for artists as long as we keep pushing back hard. Capitalism takes a mile when you give an inch so it always, always matters to be vocal, spread useful information, use anti-ai apps on your art etc. It takes more energy to stay away from something you really want to do so I'm sure you'll find a way to share your art in the capacity you're comfortable with.

[justahopelessaromantic]

Upgraded Voices In My Head (Ch. 5: Michael makes an entrance)

Fandom: Be More Chill: The Musical Ships: Boyf riends and Squipemy Links to Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4 Summary: Jeremy, for the most part, was okay with the effects of accidentally drinking Mountain Dew. Having an upgraded Squip that's no longer a complete douche-bag (okay, he was still a little shitty, but nothing too unbearable)? Cool. Squip playing matchmaker for him and his multiple crushes? Awesome. Falling in love with said Squip? Not exactly ideal.

Dropping down to the final step, Jeremy swiveled around to awkwardly lean against the soda-stained arm of a battered sofa (the Squip would have to convince him to dispose of that later), all while never taking his eyes off the rather uncomfortable advanced AI. He stared the boy down for a few moments in a (successful, if his host’s increased fidgeting was any indication) attempt at intimidation before shuddering, a wave of cold electricity running up his spine, and snapped back in hopes of distracting from his darkening cheeks, air sudden too hot and room too cramped (especially with the gremlin huddled in one of the couch’s corner and gripping the controller so hard his nails were digging into its plastic sides, music blaring from his oversized headphones so loud it was audible even from where they stood as glossed over eyes fixated themselves on crude low poly pixel art). 

“What?” He sneered, practically baring his fangs and catching the human off guard before he mentally scrambled for a reply that didn’t reveal how shamelessly he’d been checking the computer out.

“I, uh, I was just wondering why, um, why you’re human form still looks kinda like Keanu Re-oof!” Before Jeremy could finish, his guest ripped off his headphones, threw them on the woolen carpet, and tackled him in a warm hug, flinging them both into the sofa cushion and wiping the hostile interaction clean from the host’s mind. The Squip, eyeing the home intruder visitor cautiously, silently slipped behind the stairs as Jeremy reciprocated the hug, burying his face in his friend’s soft shoulder for a soft moment before beaming a warm smile at him. “Michael! Holy shit, it’s so good to see you, man. How come you’re home early?”

“Our flight back got cancelled so we took an early one home. The trip was still hella gnarly though. God, you woulda loved it, man! We’re taking you with us next time, I promi...whoooooa, wait...” Eerie silence pierced through enthusiasm to reveal concern as he finally took in Jeremy’s new apprentice in full. The gamer gently cupped his reddening face with one hand, gingerly thumbing over the fresh scar, along with a few stray acne bumps, on his cheek and brushing the soft curls dangling in front of his bandages out of the way. “Dude, what...happened?” Startled by the sudden intimacy, he bashfully turned to the side to avoid his friend’s intense stare and explained what led to the mess that was last night, taking particular care to leave out the face planting like a moron bit and being practically coddled by his dotting Squip before standing back up and bracing himself for Michael’s reaction.

“...Well,...yeah, but...you’re good now, right?” He pried, poking and prodding a now heavily flustered Jeremy’s face in search of any \ injuries he might’ve missed. “‘Cause I don’t think I could ever forgive myself if something serious happened just ‘cause I wasn’t here to, like, nag you about taking care of yourself n’ shit.”

Jeremy's eyes widened before they shifted to the floor, his hands beginning to fidget again (Squip would have to deal with that later). “Aw, c’mon, Micky, y-you know you don’t have to worry about me.” The jet lag from his wonky trip hours ensured that Michael did not have the time, nor the energy, to explain why that sentence took the prize for Biggest Understatement of the Decade. ”I’m totally fine! I mean, my head is givin’ me hell and I’m fucking starving, but, like, besides that Squip says I’ll be fine, so, uh, yeah.” He spat out, earning an overly drawn-out sigh of relief from his player 1 who slumped back into his seat.

“Oh, thank god!” Shoulders dropping, Michael leaned back against his friend and let out a sigh. “Man, you are so fucking lucky you’re not hurt for real, Jer. You pull a stunt like that again and I won’t hesitate, bi-wait did you say squip?” The other nodded casually before Michael shot him a curious look.

“Oh, right! Okay,..” He shot up out of his seat and swiftly grabbed Michael’s sleeve, ripping him up from the couch to reveal a stone-faced, cleanly dressed man that the player 1 could only describe as a stylish and almost threatening version of “chill” personified practically staring into his soul, while Jeremy hooked himself onto the man’s arm, vibrating with an almost childlike excitement. It vaguely reminded him of the joy that the player 2 radiated after finally asking Christine out or finding out about how to silence Squip's excessive internal nagging with a Mountain Dew red binge (the irony between that last example and the situation at hand did not escape Michael) “So! This is my-”

“Squip.” He interjected, extending an arm in search of a handshake while silently bracing himself to touch a most likely greasy and calloused hand. “Shorthand for super quantum unit Intel processor. You must be Michael. Truly a...” Closing his eyes and grimacing, he forced out his best, almost like the words stung. “...pleasure...to meet you, sir. Jeremy has told me many oh, for god sakes, why do you humans insist on throwing things at me today!?” The hologram groaned, bending over to pick up the thrown Xbox controller that had phased through him and place it back on top of its console while Jeremy ran to Michael’s side.

Failing to apprehend his friend due to his less-than-stellar strength (see: noodle arms), he opted for a more reason-based persuasion, muting the voice inside his head nagging on about how the emotion-driven best friend would probably just dismiss anything he said when dealing with something this serious.

“Dude, what the hell is your problem!?”

Micheal gave his friend a baffled look before pointing at the hologram. “That! That thing is the source of like...85% of all my problems.”

“I assume the other 15% stem from your raging idiocy, correct?”

Before Michael could bite back with a “Fuck off, you satanic tic tac!” or something equally unclever, Jeremy glared at his Squip before overprotective wrapping his arms around Michael, whose eyes widened at the sudden contact, and pulling him close, taking a half step back from the program. “Hey, cool it, dude! That’s, like, my favorite person you’re talking about.”

The Squip cringed at the young adult’s poor taste. “That’s your favorite person?” Clearly, he didn’t have much competition for the title.

...not that he wanted it, of course.

“Oh, yeah, uh, sorry about that. I swear, he’s usually not...” Jeremy studied the almost bloodthirsty look in the eyes of his kicking and screaming friend as he clawed frantically at the offending Intel processor. “...like this.” 

“I should hope not. Spending too much time around someone so...” The computer program circled around the calmer yet still scouring teen, combing over every inch of him with his electronic scanners. “...juvenile would hinder my objective.” 

“Suck a dick, asshole!”

The Squip only blinked. “I hope you know you’re only proving my point.”

“I hope you know you’re a defective piece of shit.”

A harsh, palpable silence fell over the room as Michael slumped into his player two’s arms in gradual exhaustion, and said player loosened his grip subtly and unwittingly leaned toward his Squip, his wide eyes frantically picking apart each pixel. Simulated breath hitching, the Squip froze for so long, Jeremy had time to toy with the idea that he might be glitching. The last time Jeremy saw him project glossy, shifting eyes, shaky hands, and a loss for words (God knows that thing never shut up) was during the glimpse he caught moments before passing out from the shock of The Play™. Back then it’d only been there as a last-ditch attempt to draw sympathy out of Jer in vain hopes of reactivation, but there was no reason for it now, considering the lack of real, high-stakes threat (Unless you counted Michael and, quite frankly, he knew the Squip was smart enough not to). The first time was a dull shock to Jeremy’s system.

The second only stirred up a vague sense of concern he was sure the Intel processor saw.

The Squip, of course, couldn’t have that.

[yournewfriendshouse]

I feel like it’s probably time to explain my real art tag again, seeing as AI stuff is in conversations and stuff, and as some people use others’ tags and stuff I just want to be clear what that tag on my blog means…

it’s art, guys. it just means art.

so like I’ve been using that tag and that phrase for years and it has nothing to do with AI

the thing is even before AI there has always been a very very irritating conversation being carried out, often among people who aren’t artists, about what constitutes real art. and I just find it really aggravating. we saw it recently with those tiktockers standing in front of yves klein and mark rothko paintings saying they could do it. I used to get these dudes trying to be cool and pointing at shit and being like *I’m being smart face* ‘but is it art?’

and every time I’d be like…yes. yes, it’s art.

the spray painted little guy putting rubbish in the bin on the bin is art. the coka cola ad is art. the hgly cactus sculpture is art. the spaghetti lights on the freeway ramp are art, yes, it’s art!

if you have to ask that question or can conceivably ask that question then it’s probably art. it’s possible that even if it wasn’t art then you asking that question MADE it art! if you looked at something someone made and derived meaning from it then it is, arguably, art.

in 2011 I finished art school, where I was given so much shit for the emotive, sentimental kitsch, small art I was making, and was just so sick of that shit, man. The painting and sculpture staff got the ceramics studio shut down arguing that ceramics was craft not art which was SO much bullshit and just absolutely aggravating, and I was and am still genuinely so pissed about it.

so I would go around calling things ‘real art’. the shitter and less art-object-seeming it was the more likely I would call it ‘real art’. the first show I did outside of school (where I worked in black and white for like two years) involved hand cut confetti and glitter paper, lmao. it was process art it was performance art, i cried when one morning I came in and one of the studio residents had a private confetti party and made snow angels overnight in the pile of confetti that coated the floor. that was real art.

I was just so frustrated. Art doesn’t have some magical sacred meaning, or divine limit on what can be art. art is just stuff humans make for all kinds of reasons. and that is what makes it magical and sacred and amazing. That’s why I love it

elephants can make art! kids can make art! humans who don’t really know what art is have made some of the most wonderful art in the whole history of humanity.

I would hear my nurse friends say they aren’t creative and I’d sit them down with a piece of paper and ink and make them draw dots about it. nurses are problem solving constantly lmao. draw some dots, you’ll feel better.

so like don’t think that I’m like checking art for AI and then marking them as real art if they aren’t AI. firstly I have severe brainfog so I can’t always pick it, which is awful but I’m defs not going to put my hand up as some AI spotter. I’d suck at it.

secondly, I consider AI art to be art (by the way I personally define art). I just find the current means of making it to be repugnantly unethical and shitty (and pretty much all of it is ugly also, but that isn’t like…some barrier to it being art. it’s art. it’s just shithouse, lmao.)

so yeah. art is art is art is real art. make some art, look at some art, enjoy art or rag on art if you think it isn’t succeeding as the artist intended; just don’t take my tag to be some kind of sticker of authenticity or somethink. I’m just on here to destract myself from constant pain by looking at cute animals and cool shit, telling blue jokes, and enjoying tits and butts

[walks-the-ages]

Here's a rebloggable version, since Cryptotheism blocked me, and any one else in the reblogs calling them out for using AI!

Apparently local Tumblr Funnyman can't handle it when people don't find their "jokes" funny when it's at the expense of artists:

[ID: A screenshot of a tumblr post by user cryptotheism , marked green in shinigami eyes, where they have posted AI-generated art of Goku from Dragonball-Z speaking to two men in turbans, with various AI-glitches in the photo, such as a random pumpkin with slashes on the front, Goku only having 4 fingers on one of his hands, and extra turban floating in the background. Cryptotheism has captioned the image "Rabbi Moshe De Leon Discusses Theology With Goku - Coño Culo, 14th century". Below Cryptotheism's original post, a blog, censored for privacy, has responded "Ew this is plagiarism algorithm, not real art". Below, in response, Cryptotheism has responded with "This was painted in the 13th/14th century by celebrated Andalusian artist Coño Culo. It is one of the earliest historical examples we have of Goku interacting with Spaniards." End ID]

Here's the response I posted, which they blocked me for less than an hour after I made it:

This type of post is especially heinous of OP, because using AI "because its funny" is literally a tactic to normalize AI art -- aka, art theft.

"no one was going to be paid to paint this!!!" The replies cry over and over again; "therefore its fine for me to use AI bullshit that steals the work of thousands if not millions of artists to make it, instead of putting any effort into it myself via a simple photo edit, or actually commissioning/requesting it of someone!"

"there's ai databases that are trained only on public domain images!!!!" Okay so why is Goku there? I kinda doubt Goku is in public domain art. That means this scraped art from non-public domain images, and is stealing from fan artists.

It's especially shameful for popular blogs to do it, because you've got people rabidly defending it as a knee jerk reaction.

The fact Cryptotheism had to restrict the replies of the post, because so many people were calling them out for using AI art, and even went as far as editing the original post to be a shitty Dark Souls thing to hide what they'd done-- stealing art for the sake of a joke?

I hope every single person sees this version, and realizes just how low Tumblr Funnymen™ are willing to sink for the sake of a """joke"""

-- even if it means directly contributing to the normalization of artists, writers, voice actors, and more losing their work and livelyhood to AI-generated bullshit.

Because that's what you're doing here. You are actively contributing to the normalization of AI bullshit.

Its literally an alt-right tactic to recruit people via memes and "jokes" for a reason.

If you claim to support artists and writers and actors against losing their jobs to AI, only to turn around and reblog "funny memes" literally made by AI "because no one was going to get paid to paint it", then congrats! You don't actually care about protecting hardworking artists!

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-67922303

https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/midjourney-ai-art-image-generators-lawsuit-1234665579/

https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/27/the-current-legal-cases-against-generative-ai-are-just-the-beginning/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ai-stable-diffusion-stability-ai-lawsuit-artists-sue-image-generators/

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-66866577

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/famous-artists-trained-ai-generator-viral-list-rcna131995

"I usually hate AI art, but I'm reblogging this because its just too funny!" = "I don't actually care about artists having their work stolen as long as it's palatable enough for my tastes"

Not only did Cryptotheism block me, they're also blocking anyone in the reblogs who points out that their post has been has edited to be a Dark Souls meme, with the replies restricted, because they apparently couldn't stand people in the replies calling them out for the AI and wanted to try to hide it to prevent further backlash:

https://www.tumblr.com/original-post-locator/740713306199818240/tumblr-user-cryptotheism-posted-an-ai-generated?source=share

^ try to find the above post in the notes of the original post, and it will not show up at all, meaning that Cryptotheism also blocked this blog to prevent this from showing up in the notes.

When asked on their blog about why they are using AI art generators when it's widely known (and in this case, they're literally blocking anyone who offers proof) that it harms real world artists, actors, and writers, Cryptotheism continues to double down that it's somehow harmless because it's a joke--

-- when as my original post points out, and other people in the replies and reblogs of the original post (if they're still visible and haven't been blocked as well by the OP) : turning AI art into memes and jokes is literally how AI art is going to be normalized.

In real time, January 2024, Voice Actors are already losing their jobs to AI. Writers and artists were on strikes for months in 2023 to fight to protect their livelyhoods from predatory AI-- (and even then, the Union decided Voice Actors were expendable and didn't consult them when signing a predatory deal that resulted in the current cases of game companies being able to "hire" AI voice actors)

If you knowingly reblog AI Art uncritically simply "because it's funny" or because "no one is going to get paid to do this obscure, wacky art for me", you are literally contributing to art theft and the entitled culture of AI Art Bros, who think because they can't afford to commision someone, and because they're too fucking lazy to draw/edit something themselves, that means they're entitled to stealing the art of anyone who's ever posted on the internet.

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/robin-williams-ai-voice-daughter-b2422506.html

Robin Williams' daughter has had to speak up about how people have been using AI to recreate her father's voice after his death from suicide in 2014:

Sunday (2 October), actor Zelda, 34, posted: “I am not an impartial voice in SAG’s fight against AI. “I’ve witnessed for YEARS how many people want to train these models to create/recreate actors who cannot consent, like Dad. “This isn’t theoretical, it is very very real. I’ve already heard AI used to get his ‘voice’ to say whatever people want and while I find it personally disturbing, the ramifications go far beyond my own feelings.” She added: “Living actors deserve a chance to create characters with their choices, to voice cartoons, to put their HUMAN effort and time into the pursuit of performance. “These recreations are, at their very best, a poor facsimile of greater people, but at their worst, a horrendous Frankensteinian monster, cobbled together from the worst bits of everything this industry is, instead of what it should stand for.”

TL;DR:

User Cryptotheism made a "joke post" using an AI-generated image of Goku in a classical painting style, then edited the original post to something completely different and blocked anyone in the reblogs who criticized them for using AI after receiving backlash, and has continued to insist it's just a funny joke and not a big deal that they are normalizing art theft.

[pan-pushkin]

Stable Diffusion for Idiots (me)

I'm no good at drawing. Trying this thing for over a decade but I've never had enough patience to perfect the skill. So. I can draw sloppy portraits and still somehow I want to create a comic book.

I have an idea, a plot, characters, all pack, except the crucial part where I can draw. It would be a very tragic story but I thought wow, wait a minute. Thank Merlin, we have AI now! That can do things for us.

So when I dropped the idea of actually drawing myself I started to explore Stable Diffusion. It turned out that that shitty stubborn thing understands concept art even worse than me. But I really hope it's just a start and we will find the right level of connection and understanding.

Currently, I barely understand how to launch SD, what models are and how to install them, and how to write simple prompts. You have no idea how long I read all the code and tried to grasp it. So when I got my first worst image in the world I was freakingly happy.

Here it is. Just look how perfectly dreadful these men are but they are holding hands 🥰

Today I learned useful settings, how to get more accurate images, how to fix faces merlin this part was killing me. But look! This young man already looks like a human being after just one try!

And so I continued to prompt something more interesting just for the sake of experimenting with the model. That's how it sees da Vinci portraits of a blond-haired man.

This was a pretty one. We also have something that looks like Igor Nikolaev by da Vinci and it wasn't intentional I swear 😂 (on the right is actual Igor Nikolaev's photo)

The last funny beat for today, I was trying to do something with Daniel Bruhl without any understanding of what I was doing (I had 3 minutes till the end of my VM session so I had to work quickly. Do not repeat this at home, kids 😆)

Thank you for reading this for some reason.

I'm really excited to continue my journey with Stable Diffusion and I have huge hopes on what I can eventually get with some amount of determination. And so here will be The History of this journey.

Wish me luck and inspiration 🤞🙏

[rraaaarrl]

Remember when "AI" was seemingly some fun, innocuous tool that you could use to either generic weird memes or just absurd ass shit that bordered on nightmare fuel. It doesn't seem that long ago, that I was feeding prompts about Doctor Doom for shits and giggles.

So, around that time, I was following a twt account that posted stuff from their machine learning tool, some of it was memes at peoples' requests, some of it was just obviously them playing around or whatever, to see if they could generate some dystopian horrors (seem appropriate now, wouldn't you say?)

But as "AI" gained traction, it became less about the lols and more like, how can this be made profitable, as the megacorporations and techbros rubbed their hands in glee. It was no longer a fun little game, when it was revealed just how much these machine learning tools were dependent on actual artists' work, in order to keep doing their thing.

I was still following the account and checked them out every so often, seemed like they had moved on to some kind of worldbuilding or character creation, tbh I thought little of it. "AI" had soured on me but I am lazy about unfollowing people.

The "AI" discourse ramped up, and this being Twitter, naturally, shitty takes and insults came into the equation. Around that time the account took personal offense to not being called an artist, insisted what they was doing was art, the usual stuff about AI just being a tool. It seemed like every day this account went on the offensive about how persecuted they were for creating and using a tool, and how dare everyone question their Art. One of their excuses was that they were disabled so they just didn't have it in them to learn to draw and that was pretty much it for me. I unfollowed and blocked, I had enough. I guess they wanted more clout, and found it by calling themselves an Artist.

I'm actually not sure what my point is with this post tbh. Other than capitalism ruins everything, and why couldn't have machine learning remained some fun little game, I guess.

Anyway, here's Doctor Doom in a trailcam shot.

[northwest-cryptid]

I cannot express this clearly enough so let me say it as best I can...

The reason I don't go off about "AI is bad AI is scary!" is not because I condone the use of AI to steal people's art, writing, voice, or likeness; because I don't condone that at all. The reason you don't hear me go off about "AI is bad AI is scary!" is because AI isn't actually the problem here... The people who use AI for these things are the problem and I refuse to let them get away with their horrible shitty behavior by letting them scapegoat lines of code that we've literally had for decades but haven't been usable for the common individual due to a lack of understanding, an understanding that the common individual STILL lacks.

If you actually care to know my thoughts past that summary I got you fam. All that I ask of you is that you have the reading comprehension level to understand that I do not condone theft in any form, outside of shoplifting necessities from specifically large chains (do not steal from mom and pop shops or small chains like mall stores it impacts the workers on the lowest rungs of the ladder.)

I literally expressed to a good friend of mine not too long ago that I had used an AI to generate a reference image since I'm trying to get better at art. Without so much as any understanding of my process he began to shame me for it, which made it very hard to explain to him that I had actually trained the model in it's entirety myself; on my own art so that it would produce reference images closer to how I actually draw already and thus make it easier for me to understand how the drawing would look in my style. He then went off about how even if that were true, it wouldn't know what common things are, like how it knows what an owl looks like; to which I had to explain to him that stock photos exist and how I have literally done photography as a hobby for years so most of the images were literally my own photography (most of my family are artists whether that be photography, writing, music, or painting and I grew up in this environment) the only images used to train the AI that weren't literally created by my hand were legally owned stock photos that I used to help round it out a little since obviously I don't have great photos of everything ever that I might want to try my hand at drawing. This explanation literally took me hours, and the actual explanation would have taken me about 5 minutes but we couldn't get past "AI bad AI scary!" to get to "actually you can ethically train an AI to use art, photography, and images of your own creation and not have to steal anything from anyone; ever. All of the images, and art that are used by my AI are used with permission of their original creator, because I am that creator." The AI doesn't even run on the internet or connect to the internet, so it's not like it could pull results from some secret third party or website or something. It's just a huge help as someone who suffers from ADHD, I can't very easily keep an image in my mind and remember the finer details as I draw, and I am not a skilled enough artist yet to know how things should look in relation to other things just yet. However despite all of this I still have had a lot of people get upset with me simply for even USING an AI in the first place.

It's honestly as if people forget what "AI" really even is, it's code. That's it; that's the end all be all of it. Every video game under the sun that you love uses code, and I'm willing to bet good money it uses AI, it's own AI; because a lot of shit has for a long, LONG time. We're only seeing a problem with it now because it's finally being made open source, brought to the masses; and in those masses there will always be people who use it for the wrong reasons. I've been told that my thoughts on AI sound like some 2nd amendment right winger talking about guns and gun laws, which is honestly just annoying because I cannot in my right mind think of an ethical use case for a gun. The best case scenario with a gun is that it's a waste of money you never have to use. However when you break down what AI really is, it's just a bunch of code that can use the knowledge given to it (by a human being) to discern patterns and calculate what mathematically should happen next based on the parameters and then do that thing. There are so many use cases for that, everything from simply trying to calculate a minecraft seed to stuff as complex as surgery (although I would probably still feel more comfortable with human surgery lol)

The only difference between AI and say a basic start up sequence for a computer is that a sequence like that is pre-written by the programmer, it's a line of commands the computer will just follow; while AI has a line of commands that tells it to basically write it's own code and execute it based on the commands that give it "knowledge" of how to do everything. There's no "thinking" there's no "consciousness" it's all calculation and mathematics; which some may equate to consciousness and thinking; but like at that point I think you're just getting into the weeds about it.

What I'm trying to say with all of this is simple though, the tl;dr is this:

That age old saying of "a computer should never be put in a position of power because a computer cannot be held accountable for it's actions" is how I feel about AI, people want to point the finger at AI saying that it stole someone's art or voice or something; and no it didn't AI didn't do that A PERSON DID, BLAME THE PERSON; DO NOT LET THE INDIVIDUAL GET AWAY WITH USING A TOOL TO MAKE THEIR THEFT EASIER, THE PERSON IS STILL THE ONE AT FAULT.

Ai has no conscious thought, it cannot do anything it is not explicitly told to. If I go out and use an AI to generate art or to steal someone's style, that's on ME not the AI; the AI is just a tool, I could have just as easily gone about it some other way. I view AI as a sort of accessibility tool, it makes a lot of lives easier it can make everything from hobbies to jobs easier WITH PROPER USE, but the lazy idiotic assholes who don't bother with proper use and wish to abuse it should be the ones being held accountable. If a studio uses an AI to steal someone's voice and likeness then blame the studio for misuse of their tools!

If I run over 20 people with my car, the car is not at fault; I am. Rightfully so! If I generate 20 images that uses art from various photographers or drawings from artists without their permission or knowledge well, I guess the AI did it; can't blame me right? When people aren't held accountable, they'll just go do it again.

[sparatus]

11, 16, 26 and 40 for the fic writer asks pls?

yessss thank you!!

writer asks

11. Link your three favorite fics right now

hfsdlfh i dont read fic very often but let's go digging. gonna challenge myself to find some NOT written by my friends cause otherwise it's too hard to pick favorites :lmao:

No Love, No Comfort by NoCoincidence [Stellaris] is a "i dont go here but this fucks severely" stellaris fanfic that @lightspeedpowerpunk recced me a while back and i inhaled the whole thing in one go, it's about an emergent AI that learns to be aggressive and eradicate organic life as an act of self-defense because its creators tried to kill it first and oh my god it's just so fucking good trust me

To Ourselves and Our Posterity [Mass Effect, orphaned fic] is an old favorite, shakarian childhood friends au where hannah dies and leaves custody of young jane to cnclr sparatus, it was never finished and im obviously no longer onboard with the hannah/sparatus among other aspects but it was one of the first fics i ever read that cast sparky in a genuinely kinder more sympathetic light and honestly i would love to give rewriting it a shot it has a spot in my heart forever

The Wedding Crashers by DasMervin, MrsHyde [Twilight Saga, Supernatural] is a spitefic originally posted on livejournal moved over to ao3 to dodge lj's posting limits, leah clearwater has broken free of jacob's shitty awful pack that's shitty to her and fucked off to go hunt sparklepires, unfortunately renesmee's wedding to jacob turns up and she's forced to attend so she brings the winchester brothers. shenanigans ensue. it's tongue-in-cheek and one of my favorite fun goofy rereads just trust me bro

16. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?

well right now i'm thinking about a short "same scene, different pov" thing for the climax of itlog feat. garrus and tasora, mostly for the comedy of running into garrus's parents (because of course castis got an invite to the anniversary gala, and asadia isn't a frail delicate thing that will shatter if she thinks about leaving the house castis vakarian of course they should go don't try to use her condition as an excuse to be a recluse), because naturally garrus HAD to latch onto the ONE person in the whole embassy who would think his dad's nerdy poindexter routine is attractive

tasora, comfortable enough around garrus to go a little feral: hey blue guess what garrus, literally just got back from not dying horribly on omega: if you say my dad is kind of a dilf i'm walking into traffic

26. Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

blood in the water? blood in the water. it's got half-mad cyborg salarians, it's got batarian worldbuilding, it's got transformers expies, it's got balak, it's got hegemony conspiracy bullshit, what more do you want from me

40. If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

i mean ok i know the cool dramatic action scenes and climax bits are always what people want to see art of but honestly i think my strength is more the somber poignant moments that are quiet but still carry all the weight - The Man in the Mask would be a really good one that i'd love to see art of, with all the symbolism of desolas hiding in the shadows and valis only just able to see a small piece of the whole, or on a similar note ch2 of The Weight of Memory has some really good imagery with the arterius clan watching the sunset from the porch while they talk about the horrors of war, esp this bit:

“We’re ninety, Val.” Desolas didn’t get up, just faced forward and settled his elbows on his knees and chin on his clasped hands. Trebia had fallen low enough to kiss the tops of the trees far across the yard, and as its rays traced over the crags and cracks in his brother’s face, Saren could almost see the ghosts of the man he’d met above Shanxi tracing their hands over his plates once more. Shadows turned to bruises, old scars glittered blue, a weary half-lidded eye swelled shut, teeth disappeared from bloody gums. “We haven’t been young in a long time.”

.... basically any of my shit with the arterius bros, huh. especially desolas. be kind to my big brother he's been through a lot he can have some beautiful but melancholy imagery