Earlier in the year I stayed at an Airbnb in Wales which was decked out with these framed prints. Besides clearly not being William Morris' (so, a casual IP infringement), they are also horrid. Seeing them there, I thought about how much of a missed opportunity it was by the host. There's so much amazing work by talented illustrators and printmakers out there, and any of it would make the place a million times more unique and cheerful, and less tacky than this. It is also, clearly, ai generated - the flowers look sad, the feathers weirdly morph into each other, and it has that same hyper detailed, sepia aesthetic as millions of other art prints that have flooded etsy etc in the last three years.
I'm in creative circles and the topic of ai often comes up among artists, writers, photographers and filmmakers. It's rarely positive. I'm also aware that outside of those bubbles, the public perception is perhaps not the same. Generative ai apps and software (the ones that can magic up an image or poster like this, in seconds) sure are impressive, and gives people access to content creation like never before. However, their sudden and widespread introduction is bad for creatives. If you didn't already know, here's why:
It's theft!
Generative ai software was trained using billions of images ‘scraped’ from the internet without consent. Every generated image is stealing from someone else’s idea in some part, and they never asked for permission. In any other scenario, this is theft.
It has no soul
Whenever someone uses ai, they‘re missing a magical opportunity to create something really meaningful and unique. AI generated posters are cold, soulless, riddled with errors and can’t communicate those the feelings and emotions that give great art and design that WOW factor. They also often all look alike, given that they are a blended frankensteins monster of what's already been done before. It might be effective but its just tasteless, and cheapens your whole message.
It's just...bad
Bad for the environment, bad for humanity. The data centres needed to power this software are noisy, consume more energy than a small country, and use vast amounts of water. It also makes us stupid, as we lose the ability to think critically and communicate in our own unique way as the weird, wonderful and imperfect humans that we are.
Go human!
So if you want to create a poster, or an invitation, or a piece of art to hang in your home or Airbnb - go human! Buy from an independent shop, ask someone on instagram, or put a call-out on a group for a local artist (and always ask permission if using someone else's work!). It could be someone looking for that boost to launch their career, or someone who is really passionate about your area, product or event. Their passion shines through in the work, and that’s the secret sauce that makes people engage with it.
So there you go. There are so many talented people out there just waiting for that call, and you’ll make them happy if you support their work.
Thanks for reading, be kind.
Dario
p.s. For the record - I don’t use ai to create my illustrations, and I don't consent to my illustrations being used to train ai.