Universal Chat Thread

[Maniakkid25]

DeviantArt is weird.

Yeah, I've been surfing that cursed area of the Internet, and boy has it changed in the decade or so since my last use! So, if you haven't used DeviantArt in a while -- first off, good for you -- then you'll be interested to note that you can now subscribe to artists like it's a discount Patreon or something, and some artists lock their art behind that paywall. Even more shocking is the flagrant breaking of TOS by using the description to hide content that DeviantArt doesn't like (usually by linking out of DeviantArt) -- which is usually full-on penetration.

But that's not the biggest thing that came to DeviantArt. See, DeviantArt has a feature that anyone can access for free: AI Image Generation. Yes, really -- the repository for art is being used for AI slop, and there is a lot of it depending on what particular niche you live in. Given my particular... interests, I see a lot of it by just tooling around. It made me so ashamed, I subscribed to another (non-AI) artist I really like on their Patreon.

Now, besides the tagging of "this piece was made using AI" or whatever the exact quote is, its actually really easy to tell when a piece on DeviantArt is AI generated: the images have a distinct "style" to them, and when you see it enough, you just know. But yeah, it really is amazing that the art repository that fought against NFTs by setting up tools to make sure people weren't getting their art stolen (or rather, to alert them when it has happened) would swing hard the other way just a couple years later, and embrace AI image generation. It's fucked.

But what really is burning my Pop-Tarts is I know from experience there are image generators that are beyond lazy. See, while the content may be AI images, generally the generator has enough creativity to write a blurb or a caption or story to go with it. "Sure, it's AI Slop, but it's meant to enhance the experience", you could say. Then there are the people who make an AI Image, and call up ChatGPT or Grok to write the caption! And then have the balls to charge people a subscription to see it! Jesus, man, I've got no work ethic, but my god could I ASPIRE to be this lazy!

I was originally planning on ending this by saying "DeviantArt is weird" again, but I've got no good segue into it. It still amazes me that people are that lazy!

[Moonface]

DeviantArt is weird.

Yeah, I've been surfing that cursed area of the Internet, and boy has it changed in the decade or so since my last use! So, if you haven't used DeviantArt in a while -- first off, good for you -- then you'll be interested to note that you can now subscribe to artists like it's a discount Patreon or something, and some artists lock their art behind that paywall. Even more shocking is the flagrant breaking of TOS by using the description to hide content that DeviantArt doesn't like (usually by linking out of DeviantArt) -- which is usually full-on penetration.

But that's not the biggest thing that came to DeviantArt. See, DeviantArt has a feature that anyone can access for free: AI Image Generation. Yes, really -- the repository for art is being used for AI slop, and there is a lot of it depending on what particular niche you live in. Given my particular... interests, I see a lot of it by just tooling around. It made me so ashamed, I subscribed to another (non-AI) artist I really like on their Patreon.

Now, besides the tagging of "this piece was made using AI" or whatever the exact quote is, its actually really easy to tell when a piece on DeviantArt is AI generated: the images have a distinct "style" to them, and when you see it enough, you just know. But yeah, it really is amazing that the art repository that fought against NFTs by setting up tools to make sure people weren't getting their art stolen (or rather, to alert them when it has happened) would swing hard the other way just a couple years later, and embrace AI image generation. It's fucked.

But what really is burning my Pop-Tarts is I know from experience there are image generators that are beyond lazy. See, while the content may be AI images, generally the generator has enough creativity to write a blurb or a caption or story to go with it. "Sure, it's AI Slop, but it's meant to enhance the experience", you could say. Then there are the people who make an AI Image, and call up ChatGPT or Grok to write the caption! And then have the balls to charge people a subscription to see it! Jesus, man, I've got no work ethic, but my god could I ASPIRE to be this lazy!

I was originally planning on ending this by saying "DeviantArt is weird" again, but I've got no good segue into it. It still amazes me that people are that lazy!

I feel a lot of AI generated image slop has a tell-tale look to it; usually everything has this weird sheen and a slightly off color filter. Although I disagree with dA having an AI generator in the first place, they really shouldn't allow anyone to put AI generated content behind a subscription paywall. I'd also love to know if that AI just scrapes everything ever uploaded to dA by default rather than requiring users to grant it permission to do so, but I suspect it just does it without consent.

Thinking of AI use that feels ridiculous, I've been seeing a growing number of thumbnails for YouTube videos using AI, but not using it to generate a thumbnail but to take a screenshot from a game and then enhance it. Better yet, most gaming content videos I've been looking at lately involve people building stuff in Pokopia, and I don't get trying to visually enhance a screenshot of your own build when all it does is take the focus off of the actual work you did?! You did the work, and I can see the build isn't shit by what I can still make out of it in the thumbnail. I could open the video to just see the build with no bullshit but I'm not going to entertain any videos that don't want to be honest whether in the thumbnail or the title.

[Mr EliteL]

Yes it's been like over a decade and a half that I opened up DeviantArt. Actually I may have looked at it once at some point but not logged into my account, though that too was also years ago before I saw any of this. I'm not surprised DA has a subscriber paywall and being plagued by AI art. *sigh*

I do kinda regret leaving my account and the story I had ongoing in there, was around my Uni years I gave up on it, wish I at least did something to close off like a notice instead of disappearing. No point now though, been way too long.

[Moonface]

I do kinda regret leaving my account and the story I had ongoing in there, was around my Uni years I gave up on it, wish I at least did something to close off like a notice instead of disappearing. No point now though, been way too long.

Nah just claim you were pulling a George R. R. Martin and spent 15+ years writing the next part.

I just saw someone drop 5000+ gift subs in a Twitch stream... If that doesn't turn into a chargeback I'll be impressed because holy shit!

[Karo]

Hello everyone,

I am writing this message with the assistance of a helpful tool so that I can express myself in a more proper and professional manner.

Personally, I think this new change on DeviantArt is truly wonderful. At long last, we are democratizing art and writing—two creative pursuits that once demanded years of practice, dedication, and critical thought. Thanks to modern technology, we can now produce high-quality work with minimal effort and, in some cases, without the inconvenience of having to think at all.

It is certainly an exciting time for creativity, and I look forward to seeing what remarkable achievements become possible as the barriers of skill, experience, and originality continue to fade away.

Non-AI translated slop

Hello friends I am now writing this message with the helpful tool to better able to express myself in a proper and professional manner. I for one think that this new change in DeviantArt truly is wonderful we are finally democratizing art and writing two creative feats that are truly impressive that we can now produce high quality work without any thinking.

I will not be doing this again

[Mr EliteL]

@Moonface: Huh, yeah that'd totally work. Eh, I did have the fully story mapped in my head, and the conclusion, hell even now I could still remember most of it. Towards when I stopped I was trying too hard to fit too much on a single page to make up for how much time I left in between updates and how much I had to do. For a comic you shouldn't do that, have way too many panels with no proper emphasis on the layout of each individual panel. With Uni at the same time I couldn't manage both, might've started up again after Uni but just didn't. Plus I wanted to move on and use my own characters, not using well known characters to create a story with. Meh.

@Karo: Ah, using a helpful tool, eh? Perhaps I should now as well, been too long since I did anything creatively, I could use a helping hand to complete the work for me. *shot*
Also good to see you about on here again. 

[Moonface]

Hello everyone,

I am writing this message with the assistance of a helpful tool so that I can express myself in a more proper and professional manner.

Personally, I think this new change on DeviantArt is truly wonderful. At long last, we are democratizing art and writing—two creative pursuits that once demanded years of practice, dedication, and critical thought. Thanks to modern technology, we can now produce high-quality work with minimal effort and, in some cases, without the inconvenience of having to think at all.

It is certainly an exciting time for creativity, and I look forward to seeing what remarkable achievements become possible as the barriers of skill, experience, and originality continue to fade away.

Non-AI translated slop

Hello friends I am now writing this message with the helpful tool to better able to express myself in a proper and professional manner. I for one think that this new change in DeviantArt truly is wonderful we are finally democratizing art and writing two creative feats that are truly impressive that we can now produce high quality work without any thinking.

I will not be doing this again

The forum is tainted with AI slop, the only solution is to delete everything and set fire to the server that hosts it.

Also as an update on the person who gifted an insane number of subs yesterday, they did it again today on the same stream three times so across today and yesterday someone gifted 8000 subs. I wish I had that level of fuck you money.