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On being listed as an artist whose work was used to train Midjourney

catandgirl.com

121–130 of 957 posts

Re: On being listed as an artist whose work was used to train Midjourney

#121

> But I can't even get cartoons to most people for free now, without doing unpaid work for the profit-making companies who own the most use channels of communication This is the sticking point for me. OpenAI isn't a profit-making company, but it's certainly a valuable company. A valuable company that is built from the work of content others created without transferring any value back to them. Regardless of legalities…

> Regardless of legalities, that's wrong to me.

I see it differently. To me, if you post your work online as an artist, it's really there for everyone to view and be inspired by. As long as nobody copies it verbatim, don't think you've been hurt by any other usage. If another artist views it, and is inspired by it... so be it. If an AI views it, and is inspired by it, again, no harm done.

Re: On being listed as an artist whose work was used to train Midjourney

#122

On the same topic from another webcomic: https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2024/01/03/terminarter (text commentary below the comic, in case your OS has decided to conceal the scroll bar from you and you didn't notice the page is longer)

I'm curious if Gabe over at penny-arcade would be upset if his comics were used in an art class to train a new generation of artists.

Re: On being listed as an artist whose work was used to train Midjourney

#123
post #25
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair use. Licenses like that are enforced under copyright, if the use is not subject to copyright, the license terms are irrelevant.

I'm not sure if it applies here. Midjourney's use intends to substitute the artists' work, and is commercial.

No one is using Midjourney to replace artists. Artists are using Midjourney to speed up the most tedious parts of their work.

Re: On being listed as an artist whose work was used to train Midjourney

#124
post #104
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was a reference to Instagram, et. al., where distributing your illustrations there implicitly allows thier Ad machine to profit from your work

you decide to put your stuff on Instagram, you don't decide to put your work in midjourney

Is that boundary something that the internet is likely to be able to recognize or enforce though? In 100 years? In 500?

What are we building for here?

Re: On being listed as an artist whose work was used to train Midjourney

#125

> But I can't even get cartoons to most people for free now, without doing unpaid work for the profit-making companies who own the most use channels of communication This is the sticking point for me. OpenAI isn't a profit-making company, but it's certainly a valuable company. A valuable company that is built from the work of content others created without transferring any value back to them. Regardless of legalities…

Agreed with the overall sentiment, but let's be clear. OpenAI is currently a (capped) for-profit company. They are partnered with Microsoft, a for-profit company. They commercially license their products. They provide services to for-profit companies. The existential crisis of the last six months of the company seems to have been over moving in the direction of being more profit-oriented, and one side clearly won that battle. OpenAI may soon be getting contracts with the defense department, after silently revoking their promise not to. Describing them as a non-profit company is de facto untrue, regardless of their nominal governance structure, and describing them (or them describing themselves) as a non-profit feels like falling for a sleight of hand trick at this point.

Re: On being listed as an artist whose work was used to train Midjourney

#127
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt it's still fair use if you become one of most valuable companies, hence the word "fair" in fair use.

The fair in fair use has nothing to do with the size of a company. If Disney produces a satire of Penny Arcade, that's still fair use of Penny Arcade's IP.

Satire is always linked to the object of the satire, that's he fair part.

LLM text and images aren't.

Re: On being listed as an artist whose work was used to train Midjourney

#128

On the same topic from another webcomic: https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2024/01/03/terminarter (text commentary below the comic, in case your OS has decided to conceal the scroll bar from you and you didn't notice the page is longer)

> I'm always reticent to fully engage in "The Dialogue," regardless of its momentary configuration. It's a smoothie made from shibboleths; you have to be able to detect them at only a few parts per million because once these things metastasize, they stop being about whatever they were about and instead become increasingly loud recitations of various catechisms and loyalty oaths. Boy does that ring true.

Side comment: I respect the author’s right to choose words that ring well to them, but jeez, as a non native english speaker, reading this, i am happy my device has a dictionary function.

Re: On being listed as an artist whose work was used to train Midjourney

#129

> But I can't even get cartoons to most people for free now, without doing unpaid work for the profit-making companies who own the most use channels of communication This is the sticking point for me. OpenAI isn't a profit-making company, but it's certainly a valuable company. A valuable company that is built from the work of content others created without transferring any value back to them. Regardless of legalities…

[deleted]

Re: On being listed as an artist whose work was used to train Midjourney

#130
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Going out of your way to voluntarily choose to post your work on the internet, and on social media specifically, in order to market yourself and connect with new readers, is unpaid labor? No it's not. It's being sour that you live in an interconnected world where others might find a way to benefit as a side effect of your own efforts.

That's your opinion; the creator of the comic disagrees.

Of course these are just opinions. It just doesn't seem like a perspective that's serving them well, except to make them feel bad about the art that they've been putting out… in the same way… for years and years… unchanged… with no tangible new issues for them or their readers… except the optional sadness that comes from this optional choice to be upset that other people are making money.
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