Automattic will sign a contract with OpenAI for Midjourney to learn off of Tumblr and Wordpress

Hello! Automattic, Tumblr's parent company, will sign a contract with OpenAI and Midjourney so Midjourney can learn off of Tumblr's and WordPress' art and other user data. :) (The full text of this article is copy/pasted in the cut below). You can opt out! but I truly cannot imagine a more idiotic or out of touch decision on the part of Tumblr's CEO.

First thing's first: When/if this goes live, opt out of this immediately. Do this even if you're not an artist. The more people opt out, the less valuable this contract is to Midjourney. in an ideal world, literally all of the active users would opt out, but if we can even get to 50% that's pretty delicious.

Second: Contact Tumblr Support. It's vital that you do this politely. Tumblr staff is not responsible for this decision and the point of doing this is to show the userbase's unwillingness to be involved in this, not harangue Tumblr staff. (Seriously, stop haranguing Tumblr staff). Here's a script:

Third: Download Glaze and start poisoning them prompts, my friends

Fourth: Stare into the middle distance for a second with me because holy fucking shit? How stupid can one decision be?

AI "art" is not innocuous. It is having real negative impact on the arts. From magazines and book publishers deciding to use AI "art" instead of hiring illustrators, to literary magazines having to close down submissions because they've been swamped by AI "stories," to art contests being won by AI "art," opportunities for artists to make a living are already being cut, especially for newer, less established artists. Even for me, with a 20 year career and an agent, I'm seeing fewer avenues to paying work. I can't imagine being 18, wondering if there will be any way to get a job in the arts when every entry level art job will be taken up by AI by the time they're halfway through art school.

So many AI "artists" have this idea that real artists have had it too good for too long, holding creativity hostage somehow, living easy lives, when most of us have to constantly hustle just to stay regular poor instead of homeless poor, our mental and physical health in rough shape all the time. To work so hard not only to hone our skills but to take on the equally hard second job of chasing down opportunities for work, only to see those opportunities go to someone who told a computer to do all their work for them, who then turns around and says we artists don't deserve money or even attention... it's such a slap in the face. It's such a breathtaking insult added to grievous injury.

It's not that these people are using AI to *assist* the creation of their work. This isn't like Photoshop, which is a tool. PS might make some aspects of the work easier or faster, but it's still a lot of work, a lot of time, a lot of skill. AI does it all for you. AI "artists" are no different from clients who commission me. If a client describes to me in great detail what they want me to draw, and then I draw it, are they somehow the artist? No! Telling it to a computer instead of a person doesn't change that.

I know AI "art" can be interesting. It's nifty to see what we've taught computers to do. It's funny to laugh about how many fingers they have. But it's really having such a huge negative impact on the creative world right now that the drawbacks far outweigh the curiosity of it. I wish I saw more people outside of artist communities thinking about this, caring about this, talking about this.

I have POWERFUL gender envy for Zoro…I—I need more Hawaiian shirts!

I forgot an IMPORTANT look...

Here’s some more EARLY concept art for the main characters in my new OGN, Thirsty Mermaids!

You can preorder it here

My main takeaways from going through this old art. 

 Vivi: WAY less uptight 

Eez: Less conventionally attractive/femme. Much weirder. 

Tooth and Pearl: Still pure id.