At a time when most of the community is struggling against artificial intelligence, a moderator’s decision is like pouring gasoline on the fire.
Recently, an incident occurred on the Reddit forum that caused outrage among amateur artists. A Reddit user posted their artwork on the r/Art subreddit and it was bluntly deleted, the reason being: the Reddit moderator assumed it was an AI-generated piece.
On the Reddit platform, r/Art is a subreddit with up to 22 million participants. Users can freely post their works here and receive praise as well as criticism from the online community. The r/Art subreddit rules clearly state: no posting AI-generated products.
At the end of last year, an artist from Vietnam uploaded their work to r/Art, and almost immediately it was deleted. In an effort to contact the subreddit moderators for justice, this artist received a cold response. Below is the conversation between the moderator and the forum member, which is also the main reason the community reacted strongly.
Complaint about being permanently banned!!:
– Reddit User: I am the artist behind the painting “Inspiration Amidst the War Zone”. I am writing this message to complain about the very unfair ban decision. I can provide proof of my process in creating this piece or the PSD file of this painting. I did not use any AI tools, and your ban decision is incorrect. Sorry for my poor English and thank you for taking the time to listen! Here is my portfolio. Please take a look:
https://www.deviantart.com/benmoranartist
– Moderator: I don’t believe you. Even if you “painted” this yourself, it is very clear that this is a design created by keywords input into AI, so it means nothing at all. If you are a “real” artist, you should find another style because A) no one will believe you when you say this was not created by AI, and B) in just a few seconds AI can do better than what took you hours.
– Automated System Message: You have been temporarily banned from messaging on r/Art. You will not be able to message the moderators of r/Art for 28 days.
Based on the content of the message, it is clear that the Reddit moderator criticized the artist’s style as being AI-like, equating a style of painting (which may take years to develop) with the keywords and data aggregation capabilities of an automated system.*
*Recently, a new image synthesis technology has emerged and is creating waves on the Internet. These are systems that generate images based on the keywords entered by users. Searching their database for images that match the keywords, a system can synthesize an image according to user requests. Two of many such tools are MidJourney and DALL-E.
This behavior has outraged the r/Art forum community. However, users feel powerless against the moderator’s authority: posts condemning the action and supportive comments for the artist were deleted, and some users were even permanently banned from r/Art.
The incident highlights a persistent issue on Reddit and deepens the existing rift within the artist community, specifically among painters.
The actions of Reddit moderators overstepping their authority and issuing bans without cause are no longer unfamiliar. But this incident makes us realize another thing: the average person is unable to distinguish between what is created by an artist and what is generated by a soulless machine. Unintentionally, individuals with a voice like Reddit moderators are causing the community to harbor resentment towards technological progress.
In a context where even those with a little English can create images (it should be added that they are impressively beautiful) using AI, artists suddenly face the risk of being replaced by artificial intelligence. The fact that AI can perform illustration tasks uniquely will cause many young and inexperienced artists to lose job opportunities, as well as the chance to develop themselves.
The moderator’s behavior on the r/Art forum adds fuel to the fire, making amateur artists even more vulnerable against the capabilities of artificial intelligence.
The story of the power-abusing moderator does not have a happy ending for the artist from Vietnam. The anger of the r/Art forum users has subsided; the artist has not received justice, and everything is proceeding as it usually does.
But the story of artificial intelligence is far from over. From here, we can relate it to another automated system that is creating waves across forums and tech news sites.
Not only ‘painters’, but ‘writers’ are also facing the risk of being replaced
Recently, ChatGPT has emerged as an all-knowing tool. Based on a database stored up to 2022, the ChatGPT chatbot can answer many user questions and even explain complex concepts (such as blockchain or quantum mechanics) with simple answers.
There is something special: most of the answers provided by ChatGPT are unique. If you ask ChatGPT to write a 500-word essay, it can quickly generate two essays with different writing styles. Recently, a student used the chatbot to write an essay and was failed when the professor discovered the cheating behavior.
Two types of software, one for generating images and one for producing text, share many similarities: from a large database, they aggregate information and return meaningful results. Just as image generation software is shaking up the painting world, ChatGPT is also stirring up the writing community. Copywriting and translation jobs may fall into oblivion if ChatGPT can express itself fluently.
However, like many painters, many writers are not worried about early unemployment. The emergence of ChatGPT, or any other advanced chatbot system, is a broad “filtering of personnel”.
After these automated systems approach perfection – which is certainly going to happen as AI continues to be trained with richer datasets – they will eliminate certain professions in society. Just as assembly lines have replaced manual labor, image or text generation systems could make simple jobs disappear. This can be seen as another effort to free up labor by technology.
In the past, many professions have disappeared due to technological advancements; are we witnessing another shift in society?
The future is uncertain, but one immutable truth remains: artificial intelligence will continue to accompany us
Born from the brilliance of humanity, artificial intelligence has become a machine brain improving human life in many aspects, creating new values for life.
AI technology has appeared and will surely accompany humanity for many more years to come. Artificial intelligence is the inevitable result of humans asking machines to “think for us”, from simple calculations to complex tasks that a lifetime cannot complete.
Boycotting artificial intelligence is no different from going against the developmental trajectory of humanity in general or technology in particular. Divergent opinions on AI’s capabilities will fade once the power of artificial intelligence is strong enough to create a technological singularity – a moment that currently only exists in science fiction, describing a time when technology advances to an uncontrollable and irreversible point, creating unimaginable changes for human civilization.
Do not let emotions cloud judgment; recognize the true value of AI
Can artificial intelligence replace the creative role of humans in general and artists in particular?
A work of art cannot please all viewers; therefore, absolute perfection does not exist in art. A piece can be considered “artistic” when it evokes emotions from the audience. Currently, AI-generated images are astonishing viewers, so it can be argued that they have achieved some level of success as an artwork.
The feeling of astonishment will soon pass. When no one is surprised by the capabilities of artificial intelligence and naturally considers it part of progress, we will again recognize the true value of AI: a tool that supports humans, both in production and creation.