Written by Melinda (Carcassbomb)
Recently in conversation with the great folks at Toilet Ov Hell the topic of album submissions that use AI generated artwork came up and whether or not that should be something metal blogs should be supporting or not. Between us all we came to the conclusion that is sucks and we would prefer not to publish any articles that make use of AI generated art for profit leading to the suggestion of formal site policy regarding AI art so here it is.
I am not saying AI art shouldn’t exist and we should go slap AI out of peoples hands at the pubs, I am simply requesting a dividing line between the user end and the content creator end. The user end is fine, using AI art for fun, or to craft memes using creative prompts or even to get a reference piece to give to a real artist – I do not believe however, that AI art should be passed off as a finished product on the cover of a serious metal release. Our new policy born from our convo with TovH is intended to make this divide more clear. Let it exist as tool, but do not submit AI art to us and expect us to write about the album and post that random image all over our own platforms. I invite other blogs to take the same stance as to preserve the current collaborative ecosystem between our metal musician and metal visual artist siblinghood. If not for their livelihoods, then at least for maintaining the quality of art we’ve had thus far.
Some points that have helped me arrive at this decision:
-Many of these AI have been found to be stealing by just ripping other peoples artwork from the web and chewing it. That is unethical.
-An AI has no actual intent or vision in it’s design.
-AI art can’t create a metaphor or subtext in its work.
-Public domain art made by real people with subtext and a cultural history, can be used as album art for free and is so much better than AI art.
-it creates fewer opportunities for visual artists to find work
-some people are trying to pass off these images as their own and deceiving their audience.
-it looks tacky and makes bands look tacky
Finally, even if you don’t agree with this stuff, or even just don’t care at all, I just personally think they look like nonsensical blended shit and don’t want them on my website. Just because the AI exists and can be fun doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take a hard look at where the lines should be, for the sake of those in the Noob Heavy community who I know are struggling artists.
Just look at this dog shit come on, so many decisions an artist wouldn’t make because they aren’t logical or contributing decisions. It’s just an algorithm doing an approximation like Minecraft generating imperfect landscapes.
Grab some art from one of the artists on our metal art commission list – its artists of varying styles and prices.