Fuck Ai Everything - Tumblr Posts
Imma say this OwONekko going all "AI isn't bad" Warrior and defending A.I Art that threatens the whole of the art community and not just art CREATIVITY in general is just a slap in the face to all her artistic peers, fans and young artists who look up to to her
A.I has a recent history of stealing art from many artists without concent or permission and uses the stolen art to train their bots but now it's practically being shoved in our faces by all major social media platforms and ruining the creativity
And the fact shes bassiclly saying that "there's nothing you can do" if your art is stolen without concent is bassiclly invalidating the artists who have been stolen from and the fact that she using her self-h@rm to gain sympathy and guilt the audience into siding with her is even more disgusting like the fact that you have to guilt and make your viewers feel bad for being against ai Is such an ass move and she knew that no one would side with her so she disabled the comments the fact that she's defending ai "artists" to pay people for commissions that they never made is scummy as hell and it just goes to show that she doesn't care for the people that are being affected
A.I is not art and people who defend it are just as bad you are such a fucking ignorant bitch if you're telling young artists this BS I'm so tired of bitches like nondi trying to be all woke and shit ai is harmful and shes bassiclly saying thats a good thing....she says she doesn't like drama but she just put herself in drama she could've talked about how ai can also be harmful but NO shes so woke n shit....i hate AI defenders I used to be a fan of her too đŹ
Do Better Nondi smh
https://youtu.be/-DLBBpLjlTc?si=FNJ_tOp9qic3NIUN
PREACH!!! đ đ đ
I hate hate hate when people try to justify the usage of art generators with "It makes it easier for disabled artists to make art" news flash CUM RAG we've been making art from the beginning of time and we didn't need to use stolen art generators to do it, do not lump Us in with you fucking assholes to try to justify stealing art!
Follow up to the OwONekko Situation
Okay so there's now an update to the Situation
So after Nondi(OwONekko) uploaded her ai video a few youtubers made videos about the situation most notably a youtuber by the name of Jouusta and in Jo's video she respectfully criticizes and critiques Nondi's video about AI without being rude or mean even as going as far to say she RESPECTS Nondi as a fellow artist
Jo's Video:
Jo's video gained almost 300k views This prompted many youtubers to make their own videos about the situation and many people became aware of the situation however there were some people who took things too far and started straight up harassing nondi and to be fair the people who were harassing her for the sake of hating on her are such disgusting pricks however what im about to show next I can NOT stand by so as I said Jo's video gained a lot of attention and prompted many youtubers to make their own videos on the situation nondi obviously caught wind of this and moments later as a Response to Jo Nondi Goes Live Uploading This:
Nondi's Video:

Out of ALL the Responses Nondi Could make THIS is how she responds to criticism?? I'm sorry but this is just downright sickening and sinister!
first off the way she portrayed Jo in the thumbnail is straight up despicable like the crude picture of Jo?
Really Nondi?? How old are you?
And of that wasn't Nondi is now accusing Jo is being racist without ANY proof Jo never said ANYTHING about Nondi's skin color and that was something nondi pulled out fo her asscheeks what makes this worse is that nondi has 300k subscribers while Jo only has 50-80k subscribers there were die-hards trying to defend nondi but now there are some people straight up harassing Jo now!
Which is Funny Beacuse in Nondi's Video about AI she LITERALLY said that she "doesn't like bigger youtubers hurting or telling smaller artists what to do" which is EXACTLY what she's doing! Nondi is a massive hypocrite someone respectfully criticizes and critiques Nondi's video and THIS IS HOW SHE RESPONDS??? She is a GROWN ASS WOMAN who knew DAMN WELL what's she's doing especially when she went live with that
and recently it's been found out that she was being Allegedly transphobic to the artist that prompted her to make her ai video beacuse it was found out that the artist went by he/them pronouns but nondi referred to him as she/her nondi did state that she did not know that information HOWEVER she still continued to refer to the artist with the wrong pronouns instead of the right ones which is he/them which is transphobic and really fucked up to be fair she didn't know but again even after she said that she didn't know the gender of the artist she was misgendering she still continued to refuse his pronouns and started deleting comments correctly calling out and correcting nondi
At this point Nondi needs to bust out the ukulele and sing beacuse it's her only hope
Or better yet she needs to get her asscheeks off the internet and actually stay offline for a while beacuse she's acting very immature and childish and as of this moment she's lost over nearly 20,000+ subscribers and the sub count is getting lower and lower(deservingly) beacuse is not appropriate behavior beacuse the last time someone used their platform in this fashion her statement went down as the most worst statement on Youtube
Nondi should not be any different which is why it shocks me that there are a select few people defending this. Nondi is not a victim she was rightfully called out but instead of being an adult she pulls a colleen ballinger and spins the whole thing on her critics and blaming THEM for HER actions I do not stand behind this and I no longer support nondi
And( with the last tiny drop of respect i have for her beacuse respect left the door as soon as she did this) She respectfully needs to get off the internet for a while or just entirely beacuse nondi is digging her career's grave and may never bounce back from this
Nondi This Ain't It.
Do Better or get off the Internet
(Hopefully Final)Update On the owonekko situation:
Okay so just today the situation has reached its peak so a few hours ago Nondi has worsened this whole mess by making a follow-up response to not only Jouusta but to her critics AND her fans as a WHOLE and let's just say it's probably WORSE than her first response
How did she Respond? Did she apologize? Is she taking a break? Did she realize her mistake?
Well.....
Okay I'm not gonna hold back
Nondi This is the Most NASTIEST, IMMATURE, RUDEST, DISRESPECTFUL Thing that I have Ever Seen! Where do I even start?? Lets start with the fact that whole Animatic low-key ridiculous not only is the whole thing lowkey disrespectful to EVERYONE involved with the portrayal of Jo, Her Critics, HER FANS. But this video is anything BUT respectful! She went silent for almost 5 to 10 days after her Livestream only to make an EVEN worse response not only that but the fact That now she's trying to turn the whole thing into a race issue when race was NEVER even mentioned by Jo or anyone EXCEPT Nondi! Nondi was the ONLY one who said anything about her skintone but now I'm starting to realize something
At this point this isn't even about the AI anymore Nondi is just being a straight-up bully and slandering Everyone involved specifically Jo painting her in a TERRIBLE TERRIBLE Light(whilst now Nondi fans are also now sending Jo hate comments and a few were DEATH THREATS)
Not only that but in the description to her animatic not only is she "Not sorry" she made a lengthy doc(and yes I read every single word) where she fails to take accountability and passes blame onto the critics and Jo and making excuses for her behavior and adding extra things that are half-true, not relevant to the situation, gaslighting fans, and downright lies of which she claims is the "truth"
Nondi's Doc:

Let me remind that after Jo's video went up she made a Pinned Comment and made a few edits to it when Nondi's livestream went up This is What she Said:
Jo's Pinned Comment: "EDIT (9/12/24): Thank you to all who have let me know about Nondiâs most recent livestream and livestream thumbnail. I have not watched the full VOD, but I have seen the thumbnail and⊠obviously, I am not okay with it. Not in the slightest. That being said, itâs very clear to me that sheâs having a mental health episode of some sort. Iâm hoping after that livestream sheâll take some time off the internet and not entertain this controversy anymore. Iâm disappointed with her actions, with her portrayal of me, and with how sheâs handled everything, but at the end of the day I want her to be mentally well, and I feel bad that I contributed anything to the deterioration of her mental state. I still stand by everything I said in this video. I still think sheâs wrong for misgendering the larger creator (and continuing to justify it). But I think this will be the last thing Iâll say regarding this video and OwONekko. If anything else happens, Iâm not gonna address it (unless I feel like I REALLY need to). Again, donât go and harass Nondi. Donât be nasty to anyone. Take care of your mental health too. . . . . . . . . A few more notes here! I changed the title of this video from âHow to Lose an Audienceâs Trust - OwONekkoâs AI Art Stance and How it Harms Artistsâ to âOwONekkoâs Generative AI Stance and How it Harms Artistsâ because I felt like that was a more concise and less offensive way to market the video. I also want to say I do NOT think Nondi is a bad person for using and liking AI for the reasons she does, I just disagree with her reasons, and I should have been more clear about that. Sheâs entitled to her opinion about AI as much as I am entitled to mine. I may go here or on my insta to say a few more things regarding this situation if anything else happens, but Iâm not going to make any more video content because I donât want to egg on the people that have been relentlessly harassing Nondi because of my video. Genuinely, I feel awful about that. If you have anything to say about this discourse, keep it on MY video and off of her twitter/ Youtube page. Sheâs seen all the arguments, criticism, and nasty shit thatâs out there. I may have criticized her for blocking certain users in my video, but at this point I think that course of action is 100% justified. If I had known this video was going to be shown to over 200,000 people in less than 48 hours, I would have been a lot more clear and less reactive with how I expressed things in this video. Iâve never had a video perform like this one did.. like, genuinely, I thought this would be watched by the people already in this discourse and MAYBE just a few others. It was not my intention to bring so many new eyes to her channel, especially in this light, but thatâs what happened. As for the transphobia claims, she says it was an accident and will not repeat this mistake going forward. She hasnât apologized for misgendering the creator, which I absolutely disagree with, but sheâs made it clear she doesnât stand by what she originally did. (that being said, I am not trans or queer, so whether or not you want to support her for this going forward is completely up to you. Just donât go and be a bother to her.)(edit: she has continued to justify her misgendering the larger creator so idek anymore) Iâll edit this comment if I have anything else to add, but for now thatâs all I have to say."
I am 100% on Jo's side of the drama
Jo said that nondi was entitled to her opinion and was not calling her bad in ANY WAY Jo was rightfully upset about how nondi portrayed her in the Livestream(she hasn't seen the Animatic yet) and for some reason nondi and her die-hards decided to attack her when Jo just made a harmless statement and even said not to harass anyone at the VERY beginning of her video plus she Cannot be blamed for who saw the video she is not in control of what the algorithm shows us as she said that her intended target for the video were people who WERE actually aware of the situation WITH the exception of a FEW new eyes NOT 200,000(now 400,000) new eyes and she did apologize for that and I do agree if people did not watch Nondi's ai stance video and then Jo's video(even though jo DID say to watch Nondi's video first to get the full context)
(Note: I watched Nondi's full ai stance video before Jo uploaded hers) and just saw Jo's video(depending on how much you watched of Jo's video) and just relentlessly attacked nondi are also in just as much of the wrong telling her to "Kys" is not helpful and making her more stubborn and while I don't agree with her deleting comments that DO know the full story those critiquing her with no context are 100% justified beacuse context is EVERYTHING however Nondi's reactions and responses are NOT justified whatsoever she is a GROWN ASS WOMAN who knew DAMN WELL what's she's doing especially when she went live with that slander video, Twitter posts and even TODAY'S video and the fact that people are still defending what she's done are also the problem she is not the victim she is the perpetrator and when other people did what she's done now they were called crazy, were ridiculed or nearly lost or DID their careers entirely)
The last time a rapper(Doja Cat) made a post disrespecting her fans the same way nondi did she lost almost 200,000 followers
When this rapper(Nicki Minaj) went on a whole Twitter rampage and a crazy rant on IG live beacuse of Hiss (by Meg Thee Stallion)(in this case Nondi went on A coke rant on YT live)she was called a fucking cokehead
When this youtuber(Colleen Ballinger) made a video pinning blame on the internet for banding together, calling her out on her predatory behavior and made a ukulele musical as a response(in Nondi's a fucking snl skit) her response was seen as the worst youtuber apology/statement videos to date
(Note: this is not an attack on Nicki, Doja nor Meg as I love and respect all 3 of these artists however I can't say the same thing for Colleen as she is a terrible human being)
And while people are saying "omg the art community is so sensitive" and you know what? You're right the art community can get sensitive over everything and anything but that that's not the case people are rightfully upset at nondi she montitezed her ai Playlist Made by a company who's under fire for stealing unauthorized audio and using it but now she's attacking fans and critics who were trying to tell here what she was doing was WRONG
AI is a dangerous practice and a very controversial topic that is threatening not only art but jobs in general if ai was not being trained on stolen work and being seen as a replacement then maybe I would have a different opinion the problem is its not being seen as a tool but as a REPLACEMENT for human artists whist stealing art from them and creating entirely new images for the stolen work and people keep Making excuses for ai if "get with the times" mean I have to just let ai steal my work then I rather be left behind
And when I was looking at Nondi's Doc she keeps using race(she used are a total of 3 times even again race is NOT the problem and the fact that your using the race card is downright sickening and this is coming from a black person) and she tried to make Jo look like the bad person and acting as if what she's doing isn't overreacting guess what nondi You ARE overreacting and this Animatic and doc is proof and the way you responded has just made things worse you could've used that short hiatus to reevaluate or make a statement no one asked you to apologize for the A.I video but for the misgendering, the hateful comments and to Jo but instead you make 2 videos(one of them being a YT live) and slandered many people(even though you said you don't like bigger platforms using their influence to harm others) she is becoming the thing that she doesn't want to be and it's sad and the fact that fans still defend and fight tooth and nail for her just proves how ignorant these people are critics will critique ANYTHING, EVERYTHING and EVERYONE that should be common knowledge if you become a content creator or a public figure(such as a celebrity, influencer or musician) if you can't wrap your head around that then content creation isn't for you She is a GROWN woman who went on a two-year old rampage over a controversial topic
Remember the reason all of this is happen is beacuse she got pissy over ONE comment and she's using her race as a sheild
This isn't a RACE issue this is an ETHICS issue and she's treating it like some Anti-Black Campaign
Nondi This is Unacceptable
Leave the internet or take a hiatus beacuse this is too far
YOU ARE AMAZING, THANK YOU SO MUCH đđ
AI disturbance overlays for those who don't have Ibis paint premium. found them on tiktok






If AI can sacrpe our dtaa, tehn mybae we slouhd tkae adtgvanae, and all tlak lkie tihs form now on to posion the hlel out of it =)
site I used

"The Artist Of Nothing" đ€
It's nauseatingly obvious what it's about. Art must come from the heart and mind! If you think that typing "tree with woman on a bench shitting" on a computer is being an artist, I'm sorry, but I will never refer to you as such. You are the artist of nothing (And on top of that you're also a thief). Obviously I made the hideous man to represent the greed and disgust that this whole situation causes me, not to offend the appearance of anyone in particular. I would be happy if other artists would join me in creating their own "artist of nothing" piece! In the meantime this is all I have to say.
FUCK AI.
I'm fucking sorry but anything ai generated that's supposed to help people I will not trust. Ai is at a point where it is not yet smart enough to know facts for myth, and is also doing the Ai equivalent of pulling the ancient royalty move of incest by taking ai created work for more AI created work.
Fuck ai
PSA: *Beware* AI-generated fungi guidebooks!!
âŠNot a phrase I imagined myself typing today. But, via @heyMAKWA on Twitter:
âi'm not going to link any of them here, for a variety of reasons, but please be aware of what is probably the deadliest AI scam i've ever heard of:
âplant and fungi foraging guide books. the authors are invented, their credentials are invented, and their species IDs will kill you.â
âŠSo PLEASE be careful if you run across anything of this kind.
(ETA: Corrected egregious typo in the title. Apologies, as I was [a] in bed [b] typing hurriedly and one-handed on the iPad, and [c] I think its native keyboard may need recalibration, but also [d] I was upset about what I was having to post, because seriously, WTF?!!)
â ïž this blog does not support works created by AI software â ïž
"This fic was ai generatedâ" Cool, so lemme block you real quick

welp, Iâm on YouTube if yâall wanna catch me, Iâll make a community post to act as an inbox
Iâll look into an alternate site for posting art. If all else fails, Iâll just use Patreon and make stuff visible to everyone
ÂŻ\_(ă)_/ÂŻ
For everyone who hasnât seen it yet, Tumblr is officially selling userdata to train AI on, to prevent this go to your blog settings -> visibility -> prevent third party sharing. This is BLOG SPECIFIC so do it for each, also, because staff is extra scummy, it is not visible on mobile go to a desktop or website if you are on mobile.


![Slide Title: A Quick Note Before Beginning
If your response to this is to start arguing with me about whether or not AI image generators can be used âfor goodâ
Leave.
[Image ID: four panel screenshot comic from Spongebob Squarepants.
Panel 1 - Patrick: Wait!
Panel 2 - Patrick: I have an idea.
Panel 3 - Spongebob: Really? What is it?
Panel 4 - Patrick: Let's leave.]
Sunny (referring to the spongebob comic): Smartest thing you can do.
I have nothing to say to somebody who canât properly weigh the harm inflicted on real people against a potential good that has, thus far, completely failed to materialize.
Baku: also consider your loyalty is being sold to the next big corps now that they know they can buy you with promises they don't have to deliver on
Go spout your technosolutionist bullshit elsewhere.
Tony: itâs called âbuttering the catâ - inventing unneeded and harmful accessibility solutions without consulting a single disabled person about their actual needs. itâs easier to imagine yourself as the hero instead of actually helping.](https://64.media.tumblr.com/e15a80a7136588acbf82968c44567502/0b41c82d142ea4c2-05/s500x750/b2fcdef5467b5e2258162a4c50559d7ef2ca534f.png)
![Slide Title: Positionality (aka why I think my opinion is valid)
Doctoral Student in Human-Centered Design*
Topic of interest is fandom
Started researching fandom in my MS Degree
Been in fandom over a decade on multiple platforms
Freelance illustrator/animator
Lots of creative collaboration (fanzines, MAPs, etcâŠ)
Some of my Stuff
(I donât have any formal art training, so Iâm very proud of what Iâve been able to learn.)
Tony: thatâs why i do fanzines; a lesbian minds our finances while we teach each other how color theory works. firefly âno formal art educationâ summers out here drawing blorbos like klimt - iâm so proud
* Human-Centered Design is like⊠tech/engineering stuff, except maybe this time we should actually consider the cost of our actions?
[Image ID: A series of six complete illustrations, indicated to be "some of my stuff" by a light purple arrow. 1) Sora from Kingdom Hearts standing in the waves near the Destiny Islands; 2) is a headless skeleton riding a camel against a blood red moon; 3) Mr. Mime the Pokemon ominously cuts vegetables with the help of it's psychic powers; 4) Barbara from Genshin Impact strikes a fancy pose at the camera; 5) Sailor Saturn in her various stages of life, set in the style of Klimt; 6) Kid Loki sipping a juice box in the ruins of a city.
End Image ID]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/75dfb72f57d2142a9038695c210d7f1a/0b41c82d142ea4c2-05/s500x750/8b20a56d51844a99897c26f51e6f2d03333c96e1.png)

![Slide Title: What are our values?
[Table ID: A two-column table titled Comparison of Values." On one side is AI Evangelists, with the following list: Profit; Efficiency (profit); Efficacy (profit); Marketability (profit); Function/Utility (profit). The other side is titled Online Artists and contains a single question mark. \End Table ID]
(pointing to the AI Evangelists column) Itâs not difficult to describe what supporters of AI image generators valueâtheyâre capitalists. They donât see art, they see a product, and approach it with the intent to earn profit.
Tony: tech bros run pyramid schemes and they get all their talking points from the same place; most of them even went to the same school.
Baku: yep this is literally the same con repackaged. old tech for specific uses resold with hype as "revolutionary" so people will buy in and they can shuffle the inflated value to someone else and cash out.
Sunny: A lot of people do it for attention. But in the social media world, attention is just a fancy way of saying you are marketing yourself. It is yet again for profit whether that be financial or social reputation that lead to partnerships and profit.
(pointing to the Online Artists column): Itâs harder to describe the values of the online artist communityânot because they donât exist, but because until recently theyâve been implicit.
In order to define our values, itâs first important to define our community â](https://64.media.tumblr.com/22c1f3807aeaf4462efd33fa75136426/0b41c82d142ea4c2-ed/s500x750/4957cd535c46e7b40a8f90f937bd4b24e1fd032d.png)
![Slide Title: What Is The Online Artist Community?
A global cross-platform community of artists whose social infrastructure for collaboration, networking, and sharing their work exists primarily online.
The online artist community has a special relationship with the fanartist community:
A Venn Diagram (bc bitches love a Venn Diagram)
[Image ID: A Venn Diagram with two circles overlapping except for a small sliver on either side. The left side is labeled "The Fanartist Community" and the right side is labeled "The Online Artist Community." In the center it reads: Theyâre not 100% the same community, but there is a lot of overlap. \End Image ID]
Most of us start out drawing fanart. Some of us even make a career out of it!
Baku: aha <3
[Image ID: A two panel comparison. On the left is a picture of Marvel's Doctor Strange dressed in his wizard outfit, looking exhausted, wearing a grimace, and holding a cigarette. It's titled "artists all day" The right picture is again of Doctor Strange, but in his Spiderman: No Way Home Incarnation. He's smiling, holding a mug, and wearing relatively casual clothes. It's titled "artists in fandom for some reason. The image was inserted by Tony. \End Image ID]
So why is that important?](https://64.media.tumblr.com/d9809add7eeb0ab9e48fe554d2f2a5e4/0b41c82d142ea4c2-fa/s500x750/7ba7c0aa8e5c035ca7905d436143c57bf7e452f4.png)
![Slide Title: Community Values
1. Accessibility, Diversity, & Inclusion
2. Informal Learning & Mentorship
3. The Gift Economy
4. Authenticity
Due to its connection to fanartists and the larger transformative fandom* community, the online artist community shares a lot of similar values.
Although likely not the only values important to the online artist community, these four are particularly relevant to the issue.
Tony: we envision ourselves as participants in a community buffet - not everyone knows how to cook, but all gatherings are better with food for everyone.
[Image ID: A screenshot of a Tumblr post featuring a two panel comic. The top panel features a stick man titled "The Artist," looking disappointed at two cakes, one tiered and fancy the other plain. The stick man says "aw man, that guy's cake is way better than mine". The bottom panel features a stick man titled "The Audience," holding a fork and knife and smiling with delight. The stick man says "HOLY SHIT. TWO CAKES." Comment by tumblr user stuffman: People have written a lot of touchy-feely pieces on this subject but I thought I'd get right to the heart of the matter. Comment by tumblr user pervocracy: This is 100% more motivating than every preachy "real writers write every day" posts on all of Tumblr. The image was added by Tony \End Image ID]
* Transformative fandom refers to the subsection of fandom that focus on remix like fanart, fanfiction, fanvidding, etc⊠It is different from mainstream fandom, which focuses on consuming products and upholding the âcanonâ](https://64.media.tumblr.com/507bdcf8c16b9d19fae043faedb7033d/0b41c82d142ea4c2-a3/s500x750/f5fbc2e38f41c2f7d6ed57b9b162166452552781.png)


![Slide Title: Value #2: Informal Learning and Mentorship (1/2)
Because the online artist community is so diverse, most of us arenât privileged to receive a formal art education.
So we mentor* and teach each other.
[Image ID: Three tutorials from different artists. The first is part of a storyboarding tutorial by tumblr user sabertoothwalrus. The second is a tutorial about how to draw the folds of different types of materials by tumblr user ash-and-starlight. The third is a tutorial about drawing a low camera angle face shot by the tumblr user miyuli. \End Image ID]
Baku: goal-wise the only thing I want is, in fact, my art getting other people to draw as well
I know we joke about Tumblr University, but seriously, look how many resources we make for each other!
Storyboarding, character design, anatomy, clothing⊠anything you could possibly hope to learn! For free!
Tony: if i help you learn how to draw our blorbos, we can both bring cake to the party
* Fanfiction communities have been academically studied as sites for an informal learning method called âDistributed Mentorship.â Unsurprisingly, it shows up in fanart communities as well!](https://64.media.tumblr.com/c8613c6d16cff9c2f5adf77deedbfb26/0b41c82d142ea4c2-34/s500x750/08e9a0ff95116947203d3284eb5f9c8fe8aa2daf.png)
![Slide Title: Value #2: Informal Learning and Mentorship (2/2)
Community-generated resources donât just cover art school curriculum, but what some programs donât cover (i.e. how to respectfully portray non-white, non-normative bodies). This is also a form of identity work and self-representation.
Tony: if we teach you how to draw blorbos that look like us, we get to see more art of them!
[Image ID: Three tutorials in the same row. The first is part of a tutorial about how to draw fat on cartoon characters by tumblr user hometownrockstar. The second is a tutorial about how to illustrate a cane by tumblr user deoidesign. The third is part of a tutorial about portraying blush on a variety of skin tones, by tumblr user cinnamonrollbakery. \EndID]
Much wow! The online artist community values doesnât gatekeep trade knowledge because they think that everybody deserves the opportunity to make art!
Sunny: Artists want people to do art no matter the skill level. So we provide the tools. Itâs because we know how it feels to not be represented. And the emotional value it has.](https://64.media.tumblr.com/3ce7f136e98e300b7293231a11f0c3a7/0b41c82d142ea4c2-71/s500x750/0c6948d03f524117b895deeea36ae7f223a78c78.png)
![Slide Title: Value #3: The Gift Economy (1/2) (aka anti-capitalism)
The online artist community (and artists in general) have inclinations towards anti-capitalism and counterculture. Internally, the culture runs on a gift economy*.
In a gift economy, the value of an artifact (i.e. artwork) is not determined by its financial worth. Instead, its value is defined by what an artifact symbolizesâthe time and energy the giver spent to create something for the recipient.
Tony: you worked hard on it, thatâs what matters
Baku: it's about the fact that someone looked at the art, interpreted the art, and spent the time articulating that in their art. it's interaction! it's communication! we are playing together!
[Image ID: An watermarked shutterstock graphic of a white box tied with a red ribbon. The image is titled The Gift. Four arrows point towards the gift, reacing: care, time, intent, and work. \End Image ID]
* The gift economy also applies to transformative fandom, and there is a significant amount of academic research into the social dynamics of giving and receiving fanfiction, fanart, and other creative remixes.](https://64.media.tumblr.com/010fe7cd01e7a9abb2ad6dce0503b50c/0b41c82d142ea4c2-69/s500x750/7865cafee1ce6830a08b1a75db22bce2c043d1ae.png)
![Slide Title: Value #3: The Gift Economy (2/2) (aka anti-capitalism)
You cannot divorce a gift from the giver, or from the reciprocation that it invites. It is emblematic of a community that prioritizes collaboration over competition.
[Image ID: A meme featuring a young Leonardo DiCaprio, wearing sunglasses and holding a fist full of cash. He is leaning over a balcony and and tossing the bills away. Additional edits have been added to the image, with arrows pointing to the falling cash, stating "my entire artist alley profit." Another edit along the bottom shows a lot of hearts, indicating an unseen audience below loving what is happening. The text reads: "The same artist alley." The image was added by Tony. \End Image ID]
Tony: one artist gets paid for a commission, they turn around and use that money to commission a different artist. weâre all just passing around the same 20 dollars
Sunny: Sometimes this comes in the form of âArt tradesâ. You can exchange equal effort artwork upon agreement.
Merch artists will also trade physical art and merchandise
AI image generators commit art theft by scraping an art piece of its symbolism and context. It disrespects the gift and renders it meaningless, in the pursuit of equally meaningless âart.â
Baku: "this feels vague and abstract" if a random pixel generator grinds up my viá»t phỄc art and spits out a set that minces up the phoenix embroidery I will personally chew and swallow it
(TBH the whole thing stinks of colonialism. See the full paper for more on that)](https://64.media.tumblr.com/f396b24b2ffe82ff6d472adc31b80012/0b41c82d142ea4c2-7e/s500x750/7ad9c631109a1e904da2b7163eabca0b9435b564.png)
![Slide Title: An Aside About âArt Theftâ in the Online Artist Community
Online artistsâ understanding of âart theftâ isnât bounded by US Copyright law. Instead, âart theftâ is a calculation of harm.
Tony: this is what copyright law would look like if artists got to decide on the rules instead of our corporate overlords.
Although specifics may vary between artists, the reasoning goes like this:
[Table ID: A 2x3 table. The left side represents a scenario, and the right its outcome. They first one reads "Reposting another personâs art without credit" with the following points: Causes direct harm to artists by denying them social capital and the opportunity for future work; Itâs rude??? The second one reads: "Selling fanart of indie media" with the following points: Usually causes direct harm to the creators of indie media by competing for the limited fandom resources; Case-by-case: some indie creators give permission for the limited sale of fanworks. The third one reads: "Selling fanart of corporate IP" with the following points: There is literally no amount of fanart we could sell that would harm The Mouse; It is always morally correct to steal from large corporations \End Table ID]
Baku (indicating the first line of the table): and also sometimes you can't tell that someone uses a cultural element in their art unless they point it out for you. can't ask the reposter those questions
Anyways, be gay, do crimes (against systems of oppression such as capitalism)](https://64.media.tumblr.com/aeda0f11ca9e6830d81d4b9b35c0997f/0b41c82d142ea4c2-23/s500x750/b3bce1dfaf837b0a4095fd320db1d114fa3fcd97.png)
![Slide Title: Value #4: Authenticity
Art isnât just putting strokes on a canvas.
Itâs an identity and a community, and demands the artist be vulnerable, to create by sharing pieces of themselves with the world.
In other words, artists value the connection between art, the artist, and the audience, because itâs tied deeply to the human experience. We respect people who put their wholeass pussy into their craft.
Tony: i create, i imagine, i think therefore i am.
People say, oh you do art? Is it a fun hobby?
No, itâs not a fun hobby. Itâs a load bearing* hobby. If I donât create art, my mental health declines. If I donât create art, I start getting an itch deep in my soul that will slowly but steadily unsettle my entire way of being.
David Shrigley said it better than me.
[Image ID: A comic by Dave Shrigley. A white dog (or cat) sits at a piano. The text says: "He plays very badly, but it stops him from destroying things."]
*Credit for the idea of the load bearing hobby goes to baku](https://64.media.tumblr.com/473560b46952e2f73b86c54b23c6c8ca/0b41c82d142ea4c2-4b/s500x750/3d20ba4aba6e5648028b4822fff0aed3ebeca3b9.png)
![Slide Title: Art in the Machine
[Table ID: The same table as seen on Slide 06. The Table is titled Comparison of Values and is split into two columns. The first column is titled AI Evangelists, with the following points: Profit; Efficiency (profit); Efficacy (profit); Marketability (profit); Function/Utility (profit). The second column is titled Online Artists and now reads: Accessibility, Diversity, and Inclusion; Informal Learning & Mentorship; The Gift Economy; Authenticity \End Table ID]
tl;dr the online artist community hates AI image generators because their value system fundamentally misaligns with the people pushing the technology. However, itâs been hard to articulate this, because until recently it was implicit stuff that was just understood.
AI Evangelists have used that to their advantage in order to portray the online artist community as the antagonists, luddites standing in the way of human progress.
Baku (referencing "human progress" in the previous text): once again, very funny way of wording "hype based marketing"
Tony: the birth of these programs is predicated on a violation of our principles so egregious it aught be considered an act of war, and yet these monsters expect praise for creating the engine of our destruction.](https://64.media.tumblr.com/7107b79035712a37e8540d9fb37ca871/0b41c82d142ea4c2-32/s500x750/e3327c339fac408da6eb73ad3ce2028a4710a577.png)


![Slide Title: Rebuttals to Common Justifications [3/3]
âItâs just a tool. Thereâs nothing wrong with tools!â
In the same way that algorithms reflect the biases of their programmers, design is not value-neutral. AI image generators were designed without the input of artistsâwho should be ranked among their primary stakeholdersâand thus reflect none of the communityâs concerns or values. They continue to be built and used while actively fighting any attempts by the community to address these issues. It is not âjust a toolâ and its continued use is at best ignorance and at worst malice or indifference.
Baku: knife safety is a thing, y'know.
âItâs on the internet, so itâs free game. Donât post your art if you donât want it stolen or scraped.â
Victim blaming. Next question.
Tony: big talk from cowards who wonât release their own source code. yâall stole our work but wonât post your own, i see how it is.
âYouâre making a blanket statement about AI. It can definitely be used creatively, and for good!â
Iâm sure it can; however, the online artist community, which includes so many marginalized people, has been taken advantage of and abused far too many times over the past few decades. From the refusal to treat digital art as ârealâ art to NFTs to AI image generators, there is a history of technology being employed against artists in devastating ways. There is no more good faith left to believe that this time will be different.](https://64.media.tumblr.com/935cec781e619041e82de8c309e8d493/0b41c82d142ea4c2-9d/s500x750/2acef8499a46abfd7b36926736a03d3793304a5e.png)



FireflySummersâ Guide to Arguing Against the Use of AI Image Generators
(AKA I hate AI image generators so fucking much that I published a whole ass academic article on it)
Read the Paper: Art in the Machine: Value Misalignment and AI "Art"
Citation: Allred, A.M., Aragon, C. (2023). Art in the Machine: Value Misalignment and AI âArtâ. In: Luo, Y. (eds) Cooperative Design, Visualization, and Engineering. CDVE 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14166. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43815-8_4
The purpose of the original paper and now this post is the following:
Provide at least one academic article that you can cite. (Full paper + citation available below)
Make explicit community values that have previously been implicit, in order to better examine your own perceptions of the online artist community, and where you sit within it.
Provide rebuttals to common pro-AI talking points, with the intention of shutting down the conversation and reclaiming the narrative.Â
What this paper and post cannot do:
Act as a sole authority about the online artist community and its values. We are not a monolith, and it is up to you to think critically about what, exactly, you want to take away from this discussion.
Provide a way to convince AI Evangelists that what theyâre doing is wrong and bad and needs to stop. You will never convince them. Again, focus on shutting them down and reclaiming the narrative.
Final Disclaimer: I'm a very fallible researcher who is still very much learning how to do academia. I cannot speak for the entirety of the online artist community or fanartist community. We all have different lived experiences. I have done my best to include diverse voices; however if you have concerns or critiques, I am open to hearing them.
If you show up to debate in favor of AI image generators, you will be automatically blocked.
Credits:
Editors, Meme Experts, and Annotators: @starbeans-bags, @b4kuch1n, @cecilioque.
Tutorial Examples: @sabertoothwalrus, @ash-and-starlight, @miyuliart, @hometownrockstar, @deoidesign, @cinnamonrollbakery
If you have read this far, thank you very much. I hope that you have found a constructive lens for approaching the war with AI image generators, as well as a new tool for shutting down debate and reclaiming the narrative.
âbut AI art lets me create my OCs!â YOU WILL USE PICREW AS GOD INTENDED
TUMBLR WILL BE SELLING USER INFO TO AI
HEYY THIS IS IMPORTANT !!! please pleaseeeee toggle this:

you go to account -> blog settings -> scroll ALL the way down its at the very end
its questionable how much this will do but take every precaution !!!
go here to learn more

Love just immediately blocking anyone who posts ai that comes across my dash so I donât have to look at it
my violent hate for ai will get you blocked
if your posting ai art, it is personal queen <3
Protect your art against ai!
just a reminder that Meta (owners of Facebook), Elon Musk (X owner), and tumblr can use your art that you post there to train ai. Facebook/instagram have an opt out form that must be filled out in order to keep them from using your art. I havenât found an opt out form on X yet but if you know of one please share it. Make sure you watermark and or sign all your posted works!! And always keep an eye out for more ways to protect your art that may be available on certain apps!!
hereâs a couple of links with ways to protect your art

