I’m not opposed to the idea of remixing content in order to create something new, but I do think the only way to correctly do this, for an AI tool, is to restrict the “learning pool” to public domain works and any work that has been specifically licensed to be fed into an AI learning feed.
AI isn’t going away, and whether or not it gets used is becoming more and more of a divisive topic among artists, art consumers, and General Internet People Who Have Opinions (Given Freely). With that in mind, this is Eviscerati.Org’s official policy on the use of AI-generated content… and since Eviscerati.Org is the sum total of just one artist, namely me, it is also my official policy on the use of AI-generated content.
My policy is as follows:
0. First, let’s clarify terms: this AI Policy is specifically over the use of “LLMs” or “Large Language Models.” When I talk about “AI tools” below I mean, specifically, LLMs. There are other types of AI tools (that I also don’t use, as far as I know) that are NOT LLMs, and I don’t have a problem with them—because AI as a field in computing is much larger than ChatGPT and all its competitors, and it’s unfortunate that they’re all probably getting caught in the crossfire due to the world of tech’s inability to stop enthusiastic marketers and influencers from putting a seven layer gloss over everything they touch. My sympathies to people who develop procedural-generated AI tools during this difficult time.
- Currently, there is not a single publicly available AI tool that trains its software ethically. With that in mind, regardless of how potentially interesting AI-generated content might be, it has no place here.
- No, not even that one. I know it says it’s produced ethically, but it’s lying.
- Eviscerati.Org is a place where I create my own content. All stories on this site are mine, as are all the typos and dramatic inconsistencies and bad characterizations and plot holes and problematic themes and overused tropes. All comics are mine, including the lack of hands, mouths, and eyes, the lack of depth and perspective, the lack of motion and the general lack of aesthetic quality. All podcasts are mine, including all bad narrative voices and poor attempts at accents.
- Though, as a caveat, I should note that the music used in the intro and outro of the podcasts are not mine. The music is licensed.
- Also, as a second caveat, while the stories on this site are mine, most of the covers are not. The covers for Pay Me, Bug! (there are multiple variants) and Curveball were created by other artists, and I paid them for the privilege of using that art. The art I currently use for A Rake by Starlight is also licensed, but I don’t have an exclusive license for it and I’ve seen it used elsewhere. All of these covers were created by human beings.
- The cover for The Points Between is something I hacked together with graphics tools and a free-to-use picture of a forest path I found on the Internet. The difference between what i can do and what I pay other artists to do is why I prefer to pay artists.
- Images I use in posts are taken from sites like Pexels or Pixabay where artists upload content they allow others to use freely. I always credit the artist and link to their page on either site when I use their content.
- In short, I do not personally use AI to generate any of the content on this site, and my policy is that until AI companies can prove they ethically and legally license the material they use to train their software, I will never consider using AI.
Disclaimer
All of that said, I do feel there needs to be an acknowledgment that I personally cannot always tell the difference between AI-generated content and artist-produced content. It is possible that AI-generated art will slip through — it’s possible, though not likely, that an artist I hire will us AI-generated images as part of a cover I commission. It’s also possible, and potentially more likely, that sites like Pixabay and Pexels will start being inundated with AI-generated images. If I find that artwork or music used on this site is AI-generated, I will remove it and replace it with something that is not. It will likely be something I cobble together. It will be ugly, and smell strongly of duct tape and hot glue guns.