Generative artificial intelligence: Difference between revisions

Generative AI, also referred to as GenAI or simply AI, is a program whose existence is to generate pieces of media based off of a simple prompt (e.g. "How long do I heat popcorn for in the microwave?" or "bowl of buttery popcorn, realistic, artstation, pretty") with various and random results. GenAI over its currently short existence being accessible to the public has garnered large amounts of concern across the various fields it has been applied to. <!-- I used to help operate a Kialo discussion covering Generative AI, that discussion may be beneficial for reference as a way to further flesh this page out. Just please take note that most claims are a few years old and may not be accurate, so please fact-check any statements from there before mentioning anything anti-consumer here

== General Controversies Surrounding Generative AI ==

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|Due to its generalized nature, jobs across fields from digital art to writing and programming have had experienced staff replaced by lesser-paid (and often lesser-experienced) employees who would be tasked to use generative tools to do their work. Often, these are detrimental to the quality of the product released by the company.

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== Specific Controversies Involving Generative AI ==

=== Reddit training AI off of posts ===

In late 2024, Reddit announced the release of 'Reddit Answers', a LLM that was publicly stated<ref>https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/32026729424916-Reddit-Answers-Currently-in-Beta</ref> to use content created by users to train the tool, without requiring prior consent or prior public notice. <!-- Needs further coverage here -->

=== DeviantArt DreamUp <!-- Considering the over 2 year long history that continues to have new drama stir from this, we should look into eventually making a dedicated article focused on DreamUp --> ===

While more speculative, it is reasonable for users to assume<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/AI_Generator_Guide/comments/167sbit/what_i_think_about_deviantarts_ai_choices/</ref> that when DeviantArt initially automatically opted all users into allowing their work to be training data for generative AI<ref>https://www.deviantart.com/izzy-paw/journal/deviantart-s-AI-art-program-and-how-to-opt-out-936581886</ref><ref>https://en.digitalreport.com.tr/deviantart-dreamup-how-to-use-ai-opt-out/</ref>, that all content uploaded to DeviantArt was used as training data for their DreamUp tool, however according to statements from DeviantArt CEO Moti Levy<ref>https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/15/23449036/deviantart-ai-art-dreamup-training-data-controversy</ref>, DeviantArt did not plan or intend to train their tool based on user-generated works and that any user-generated works that were used in their model, were introduced by StabilityAI. Regardless, the introduction of DreamUp to the art sharing platform has both stirred controversy on the platform<ref>https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/11/deviantart-upsets-artists-with-its-new-ai-art-generator-dreamup/</ref>, and also fractured the platform into 2 parties<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGj_3OhMrAU</ref>, those for generative AI (typically those who hold newer accounts) and those against (typically users who have existed on the platform for far longer.) Due to the introduction of DreamUp, the platform has been cluttered by AI generated images, and staff have historically, frequently, and intentionally featured multiple users who exclusively upload GenAI content<ref>https://www.deviantart.com/team/art/DeviantArt-Seller-StygianAI-1077776294</ref><ref>https://www.deviantart.com/team/art/Create-on-DeviantArt-VeilAI-1108146133</ref><ref>https://www.deviantart.com/team/art/DeviantArt-Seller-ExeFelix-1075192370</ref> or post content that uses generative content as a base<ref>https://www.deviantart.com/team/art/Create-on-DeviantArt-AKoukis-1108151629</ref>, with a majority of featured creators being ones who nearly or exclusively upload AI generated content.<!-- I was scrolling through their gallery and most featured artist posts were about AI creators, I stopped my search when I reached posts that released before the generative AI controversies on the platform occurred, which had a rough stopping point of around Q4 2022.

https://www.deviantart.com/team/gallery --><!-- Due to my close familiarity with the situation, yes, I developed this section a lot more than initially planned. -->

When training their generative models, StabilityAI was frequently caught scraping massive amounts of the internet to fuel their training database. This has gone so far as to lead to Getty Images suing StabilityAI over using their content as training data.<ref>https://www.reuters.com/legal/getty-images-lawsuit-says-stability-ai-misused-photos-train-ai-2023-02-06/</ref>

 

Many users have had their content scraped by LAION to power their training database, and the only way they can opt out is via a third party<ref>https://haveibeentrained.com/</ref>.