Have you heard about Meta AI?
My Instagram is LIGHTING UP with posts of artists who have seen what Meta’s plans are - to train new AI software on visual artists’ work on their platforms - these changes are part of their new privacy policy, set to come into play later this month.
Here in Europe, Meta was required to send a notification and also email us with details on how to opt out: my petition was successful.
HOWEVER… lots of artists aren’t being told about these changes, depending on where they live. I’ve been told some countries don’t even have the option of opting out, which is awful.
I also don’t trust Meta farther than I can throw them, and there is not really anything stopping them from using my art to train their AI models regardless of their opt out form. How does an artist find out about unlawful use and stop it? Unfortunately, Meta could measure potential consequences and still decide they don’t care.
I’m not just here to complain about my distrust of Meta…. I want to share resources that have helped me, and some solutions I’m planning to implement.
The more we discuss these things together, the more we can create an online environment that serves us, rather than the other way around!
This article explains the new policy, and how to opt-out
It’s easy to understand and explains things much better than I could!
I submitted a successful objection, using this script provided by artist Dana Duricekova: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7WAawnN1jl
I’ve heard from an Australian colleague that they were not able to object because the feature is not being rolled out there yet. If you aren’t able to find the objection menu by following those instructions in the article, try googling your country to find out what its status is with this AI training rollout. I heard from another artist that their petition was rejected, so I think that sharing a script that has had success could be very useful for us all - and I’m really grateful to Dana for sharing hers with us!
Another colleague mentioned that Meta is now requiring “photographic proof” for the objection (uhhhhhh… what kind of hoop is that to jump through?) and if they ask you for that, perhaps you could just upload a screenshot of this: Google Sued by US Artists over AI Image Generator 😇
Personally….
When AI art started showing up strong in our industry at the beginning of last year, I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. My creativity disappeared, I fell down a 'what's the point?' rabbit-hole, and realized the only thing to do was wait to see where the chips fell. I've been so happy to see the demand for human art strengthen, and the artist community come together to help build better practices (the group petition to Spoonflower made them create more robust AI detection and restriction in their challenges, yay!)
Now that Meta is training its own AI and making it a requirement of their terms that we agree to be material, we become a double commodity: they already make money off of our time and attention, and now they want to train their software on our designs so they can produce cheap, instant copies, to keep their users hooked.
I’ve been hoping for a viable alternative to Meta products for quite a while, now, and it seems that a lot of others feel the same way - and this newest set of changes seems to be a bit of a turning point.
Is Cara a Contender?
Lots of artists are jumping over to Cara.app which is a platform built by artists, for artists. I’ve been on it for a few days, and there are some things I really like:
It has a portfolio tab, and a separate tab for your feed / other posts. This way of organizing and presenting your profile will make it a lot clearer and easier for potential customers to see what you want them to, without scrolling through ads and cat photos (unless that’s what they want to scroll through!)
It is not allowed to post AI art on the platform. In addition, they will soon be integrating Glaze into their upload process - this adds an anti-AI filter to your image (without changing its visual qualities like a watermark would!) before it’s posted, so it can’t be scrubbed by data mining and used for bot-training.
It’s focused: I see the posts of the people I follow. We’re chatting, it feels natural, and it’s easy.
It works smoothly on desktop, phone, AND iPad - so I can easily upload from any of my devices… whereas Instagram’s desktop app continues to be really buggy and missing features!
Everyone’s starting with 0 followers… no matter how famous they were on Instagram 😉
That being said, Cara is still in beta and has issues with speed, sometimes with posting and other things because they’ve suddenly blown up. The issues I’ve experienced have been minor, and haven’t really affected my app use - but I know some people have had a harder time getting it going. Cara posts status updates on their IG and in the app itself, if you want to keep up with what’s going on.
It’s still important to do your own research to decide if any new platform with your artwork is right for you; I was really impressed with Cara’s FAQs and their founder’s back-story (she’s one of the artists who took on Google for using their art without consent… and she’s won a few copyright infringement lawsuits!)
But aren’t all our customers on Instagram?
Yes. Yes they are.
As working artists, we need to be where our customers are - but regardless of your target audience, chances are they still have an Instagram presence.
If Cara is ONLY ever artists and not Art Directors, art enthusiasts, or just random people who may fall in love with your work thanks to the algorithm, then it's not going to replace something that Instagram is able to offer.
Within my network, I know of one art agent, one interior designer, and one maker (she sells patterned fabric bags) who are all on Cara at this early stage. Even though that's a tiny sample size, it's hopeful (please update me if you have other bits of anecdotal evidence of our target audience joining Cara and I’ll share it with our group: this is a big piece of the puzzle for everyone)
I do think that if enough artists and quality artwork are available on Cara, then with better search/discover features as the app develops, it could be an absolute gold mine for art directors and those searching for art for their products. Because of the Portfolio and Timeline tabs, Cara is already a lot more focused and easy to present your work within the app, as opposed to the chaos of Instagram.
Bonus: Cara has a Jobs Page!
There is an entire section on Cara for Job openings. I clicked it out of curiosity, assuming it was Cara hiring more people to work with them. BUT NO…. at the time of writing this, it’s 194 jobs in the creative industries!
While it’s currently very focused on game design / software engineering / character design, it has some HUGE companies advertising their job openings there (Riot Games/League of Legends being one) and job postings all over the world: Vancouver, Singapore, and Tokyo popped up on the first scroll. As we start to create a strong showing of surface designers, this already-existing feature of the platform would be a very easy place for clients to post open calls and reach a focused community of artists.
So what’s my plan?
Even though Meta says they’ve accepted my petition to opt-out, I’m going to assume that they may not always honor that. I know that I have no way of checking or enforcing it if they choose to use my data. So…..
From now on, I will only post patterns on mockups in Instagram. This will make it much harder, currently, for it to be copied as-is: and AI software *should* just see it as photography, not paying much attention to the pattern.
Here’s an example of a mockup with the Warp and Perspective transformations applied - using these to fit the shape makes the mockup look more realistic, and has an added bonus of distorting your pattern tile even more!
[Image 1: Original pattern tile in repeat. Image 2: Pattern on mockup, with warp, perspective, and shadows. Image 3: the pattern tile after using Warp and Perspective: no longer a tiled image that's instantly usable for anyone trying to steal it]
Because prospective clients will probably still be looking at Instagram, I am also adding an explanation to each caption, to tell them where to find my portfolio - and if you’d like to use my caption too, you’re very welcome to copy and adapt it to your needs:
[due to Meta's AI-training plans, I'm protecting my art by only showing it on mockups on all Meta platforms - if you'd like to see the full patterns as the gorgeous art that they are, you can see my portfolio on Cara, or check out my website, linked above]
I’m going to post my new artwork on Cara’s portfolio page, and on my website - after using Glaze or Nightshade to block it from AI. If you're a surface designer and wanting to learn more about these processes, our colleague Miriam Bos has a really great in-depth article with visuals about how these programs affect your artwork.
When pitching my artwork to clients, I’ll still be sending them to my portfolio embedded in my website, and those images will also be Glazed or Nightshaded. If potential clients ask about my Instagram following (which happens sometimes), well…. I kind of see that as a red flag, and a sign that they’re not keeping up with the times 🙃
Are you on Cara? I’d love to connect with you there
What about you?
Will these changes with Meta lead you to change your strategies? I’d love to share information, learn from our community, and share what we find (and what works and doesn’t work…) in this changing online landscape.
I’ve started a group on Facebook (oh, the irony…. but it’s our best option for groups, at the moment) where we can share resources and have discussions where everyone can be involved.
Whether we like it or not, we are the “Founding Generation” of a world with AI tools : we have the privilege (and burden) of helping to shape how art and AI can interact safely and ethically while finding ways to protect our intellectual property.
I want us to be able to share intel, news, strategies... and for us to shape what Best Practice looks like for how our industry interacts with AI. Hope to see you there
Final Thoughts
As with everything in the AI space, there will always be system upgrades and we’ll have to be ready to change our approach as the environment changes: so let’s keep sharing what we learn, and how we’re going to move forward together.
Sharing intel, best practice, and strategies in a group setting seems like the best way for us to do this, so I hope we can carry the conversation on in the Facebook group - please invite other colleagues in the visual arts; let’s make this an industry-wide effort!
Comments