In this episode, a glimpse into Tactics, a para-military organization that emphasizes respecting commands and keeping cool heads, except when Raito’s involved.
hi guys! discord is doing a survey on how people would like ai to be integrated into discord. take it and say fuck no to every question. when you get to “in general, how do you feel about discord inegrating ai features?”, respond that you would actively get everyone you know off of discord and wouldn’t pay for nitro or other shop items if they added ai features.
watch out for the trap! there’s ONE QUESTION where the last option *isn’t* the max ‘no AI’ option, read each part carefully to be sure
Hey, I just popped on here to post this after seeing it on Bluesky.
PLEASE FILL THIS OUT!
There is a comment section at the end. Please put something in there you think of yourself so they know it’s real. And maybe rotate between “not interested” and “actively hate” on the specific features questions. The more thought is put into it, the less they can dismiss the data as bot-driven.
So you can avoid them stealing things from you, the artist/writer, etc.
Note: The list has gotten so long that I had to reorganize. (Thanks for the suggestions.) I UXed it best I could. I’m updating the best I can as notes come in. As such, I’m adding an update date since Tumblr doesn’t update the old blogs with the newer version.
Update: US time. October 3rd Version, Added the History of Davinici Resolve. (It was a US company originally, but was bought by Black Magic later, an Australian company).
Additional Note: GenAI, an algorithm and AI tools aren’t the same.
GenAI requires vast servers to constantly run 24-7, kicking up harmful fumes which are killing people, absorbing hospital energy, vast amounts of water, and generally killing the planet using data stolen from real people. This is bad. (links at the bottom)
Algorithms I’ve gone into detail before what they are and how they work on my post about Why Spell Check is not GenAI. Click the link. Too long for here.
AI tools run on your computer and are programmed using your power, not external servers. It depends on your RAM. It’s not taken with stolen data from other users. Things like Gaussian Blur, etc might borderline be considered AI to some people (though not really) and things like smart tools (smart lasso), but this is not equal to GenAI in an ethics violation. So environmental impact depends on where you live, but certainly isn’t purposefully giving other people cancer because they want a picture of Miyazaki-style selfie of themselves while totally being ignorant of the meaning of Miyazaki’s films making people want to bash them over the head with a clue stick. These tools CAN run on large servers, but most scientists aren’t running say, how to find the next prime number on vast huge servers in poor communities. GenAI, which is being used for cancer cure stuff, etc is in poor communities. Chess AI is run locally on your computer, but doesn’t have as huge ethics issues. Tools the save time, but don’t kill people isn’t an ethics problem.
As such this focuses on GenAI, itself and the servers it runs on being an ethical violation on so many fronts.
Pro AI counts as their user’s data in and data out. All companies that are willing to sell their customer’s data for AI falls here. Gross support of GenAI, saying GenAI is the future, screw the poor people, goes here. GenAI added to the program belongs here.
Neutral counts as No Data into GenAI or an easy opt out, but doesn’t protect against AI content of any kind. Sliding scale for how much of each. I try to tell you by how much with links. Also some not sure or no clear Anti-statement. (Say Celtx who was threatening to go Pro-genAI, the strike happened and then they went silent on the issue… I’m wary of them.)
Anti AI counts as no data into AI no GenAI machine. If there is an anti-AI comment I can access then I’ll link it.
Pro GenAI websites/Programs:
Social Media
Facebook
Threads (owned by facebook)
Instagram
X/Twitter (Remember, Grok’s servers gives people cancer)
Duolingo Language learning App
Youtube went pro-genAI. This is different from the algorithm. They are owned by Google. They are using people’s handmade subs for hearing impaired for the Large Language Models, which has shaky legal ground. It’s currently being sued over. They are also adding to it anything to detect facial scans. Which has shown problems with racism before: (ACLU): https://www.aclu-mn.org/en/news/biased-technology-automated-discrimination-facial-recognition (Facial recognition note by Buds-and-baubles. See reblog.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjnQ-s7LW-g They are also forcing creators to look like they are GenAI, genuine people, so they can pass their GenAI users under the radar. Creators aren’t happy. Things like forced GenAI translation and weird “improvements” to art on shorts so that creators are complaining that their genuinely made content looks like it is genAI. This is where we’re at. If they can’t make creators embrace them, they will make human-created art look like GenAI.
Writing
Pro Writing Aid
Grammarly
Google Docs/Google- Going full on pro AI including Youtube. They are also suppressing anti-GenAI results on their search engine. (Duckduckgo isn’t, BTW because I can see it on SearXNG.)
Microsoft Word/all Microsoft products Takes from and will feed their machine.
Proton as suggested by SF Stories (see reblog) is pro AI (as the reblog from McBitchTits pointed out) They are missing a spreadsheet, but have online and offline capabilities, plus a built-in VPN. They came out with their own AI tool: https://proton.me/blog/lumo-ai But also swears never to use their user’s data: “Acknowledging these concerns and recognising that three in five (60%) workers would like to use AI despite four in five (79%) being concerned about the use of their private data for training purposes, Proton Scribe promises never to use data from users’ inboxes. The company backed up its claim by asserting that the standard end-to-end encryption makes this impossible.” (https://www.techradar.com/pro/proton-is-launching-an-ai-tool-to-help-you-write-better-emails) I’d feel wary about that, especially if they get close to GenAI collapse. (Also that stat is crazy, either you’re for it, or you’re against it, if you’re for it, you need to be on board with it using your data to feed the machine.). Proton’s CEO also supported Trump.
Notion (I feel this was like a troll).
Art
Sites
Deviant Art Not only supports AI, but put a tool in and said they are going to steal your work if you like it or not for their machine. There is an opt-out, but they made it labo[u]r intensive. You have to check it off EVERY TIME. And you can reduce, not eliminate GenAI in the results. This tips it over into being Pro-GenAI still. (last note modified per Usagi-Zakura’s reblog) Find a better site below.
Pinterest went pro-GenAI [link] making the site unusable since it was often used for inspo from the REAL WORLD and REAL images to create weddings, etc.
ArtStation Leaned more pro-AI. Bills itself for “portfolios”. Has no restrictions against AI in the TOS, but you can do the Deviant art thing of “check it every time if you don’t want it”. Urrgghhh No thanks. They also don’t protect from AI scrapers, which they selectively could. They do “sternly warn” that AI has no copyright protection, and don’t think it’s morally wrong to put into portfolios AI art. (Yes, snark) Oh, yes, that’ll really help. (Sarcasm).
Art Programs (Raster, and Vector)+ Suites
Adobe Products. All of them. If you HAVE to use them (Some businesses require it), save offline because there is a film of at least some privacy protections there, so if you have to sue, you can say it violates US privacy law. Remember, contracts do not circumvent US law. Adobe wants to claim they don’t feed their machine with your art, but that’s not in the legal agreements and famously the legal agreements changed. Legal agreements can supersede other claims on the website, though one could theoretically sue for predatory practices, it’s a harder case.
Corel won’t feed the machines, but still uses AI stolen from other artists. Which sucks since Corel Draw is the second best overall for vector programs. (Plus I love Painter, but I bought the offline version to avoid AI). (Canadian company)
Photopea which is an image editing program went pro GenAI according to cat-of-many-faces in comments.
PaintTool Sai has NO AI in or out, BUT it’s parent company is Systemax who is proGenAI. Search for in the page: “including natural language processing, computer vision, and reinforcement learning” Code for Pro-GenAi. They are made in Japan. Be wary. (BTW, Paintool SAI was bought by Systemax, so if you have the earlier version, you aren’t supporting Systemax).
Online Art Programs
Canva Takes and feeds their machine. Alternatives are Presentation software. (See LibreOffice) and Moodboard software. Not sure? Milanote doesn’t have GenAI (or the search engines are suppressing the results, which I found recently is a thing), but also no anti-AI stance. Creativit on Mac has a Moodboard function without AI (for now) No anti-AI stance, but snap.
Snappa has GenAI
Pixlr (This one hurt me personally)
3D Modeling
Sketchup went Pro-GenAI. The thing is that you can do the same thing in Blender these days with precise measurements.
Autodesk has stated they are Pro-Gen AI here. It is not clear if they will use your models to feed their machine. But be on guard. They make Maya and 3Dmax. You can replace it with Blender.
Art Sharing Clouds, Website Creation, etc(Specialized, not part of a Suite.)
DropBox went Pro-AI causing massive backlash against the company.
Etsy allows GenAI, but still has some (minor) restrictions. I’d still be cautious. (Also be cautious of drop shippers). Complaints about too much AI and AI images+patterns made by Ai still exist on the website. They lean slightly more pro-AI, but still won’t let it run completely amok, say like Facebook. They won’t feed your work into a machine, but also don’t ban it through robots.txt.
Bluesky They don’t use an AI algorithm except for in the “Discover” section of their website, but while they are anti-GenAI strongly, they don’t seem to block the Gen AI bots from entry, so you’d still have to use Nightshade or Glaze (links below). They also still allow people to post AI images/text on the website. There is no opt-out because they don’t need an opt out. (Leaning towards strong position on AI, but I wish they would block GenAI bots). Theyrrefused the restrictive Mississippi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku3VpRIFEcM
Mastodon *might* have some anti-AI art community servers on it. When I looked there are some servers that are explicitly aggressive about being anti-AI in moderation. It’s a bit difficult for those not tech savvy to use. Because of its decentralized nature (more so than Blue Sky) it’s easier to filter for anti-AI art. Because it’s decentralized, though, the rest of the servers ould have AI art.
Cannot find AI stances for:
Final Draft, Celtx (the Scriptwriting Software giants) Celtx was going to threaten pro-GenAI (I wrote them a strongly worded letter), the strike happened, they went radio silent suddenly, didn’t add it… and now I’m wary… but they won’t make an anti statement. Final Draft won’t make a definitive statement either way?
BTW, I’m working on a Scrivener template set to replace them on that.
Search Engine Replacement
Searxng- If you super want to screw over Google, in general, and have some tech savvy, you can set up your own search engine through searxng. It’s easier on Windows and Linux than it is on a Mac. (Mac you need Docker), but if you’re determined on privacy, Searxng adds a layer of privacy. Some of it sometimes uses bits of AI, but most of it doesn’t and you can fuss with the settings so it doesn’t spit out AI results. At sheer minimum Google will stop spitting out weird videos on Youtube at you because in your private browsing, you searched for the origin of ball bearings while not logged in for a book and Google likes to break privacy laws.
DuckDuckGo (Find in the pulldown menu)- You can turn off the AI results for images and AI. Link shared by selkie-on-land in reblog. It’s not perfect, but can be done. Change the default search engine default to: noai.duckduckgo.com (This is better results than web.google.com) DuckDuckgo (from my searxng search engine) also gets consistently non-slanted results for topics like ai, etc. For Firefox go to Search->Search Shortcuts->Add->plug in for the Site Name: No AI DuckDuckGo; URL: https://noai.duckduckgo.com/?hps=1&q=%s->scroll up and hit “Default search engine” and change it to “No AI DuckDuckGo”
Remove GenAI from Firefox
Super annoying. Especially with pop ups. 2. The person who had this idea needs to be corrected repeatedly. 3. Poor implementation.
Not going to click the link… even though it gives you visuals. Three hamburger menu->Settings. Uncheck “Use AI to suggest tabs and a name for tab groups” This results in annoying popup menus. (The link misses unchecking this)
Under General->Browser Layout->Show sidebar Uncheck AI chatbot in the sidebar.
Then go to about:config, accept the risk, search for “chat” and change the settings for: “browser.ml.chat.menu” to false (click the double sided arrow). If you hate it that much, you can also change the footerbadge, menubadge, shortcuts, shortcutscustom, and sidebar also to false.
Go curse the people who decided to add this and implement it and ask them to permanently remove it.
This puts it into neutral ground. When they kick out ProWritingAid, then they can be anti. BTW, they aren’t the only platform that is/or was owned by writers…
Talk is cheap, proof is in the pudding and the pudding failed. This leans them more pro-genAI than they know.
Obsidian-It’s a writing and organizational tool. Plugins may contain genAI company doesn’t vet them according to borealtwilight in comments.
AO3 (Archive of Our Own)- Gets Data scraped. So they made an AI statement, but it’s on Neutral ground. They are protecting lightly from scraping: https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/25888 But you still have to do the work yourself to block the bots and put yourself on private. They will allow GenAI words. They’ve been scraped twice already. https://www.reddit.com/r/AO3/comments/1k6a3t6/ao3_has_been_scraped_again_for_genai_purposes/ O.o; I’ve never seen a site cooperate this much with “researchers” that they are willing to get scraped and not block scraping. They are blocking the specific GenAI bots. Your choice in this case. Leaning more neutral neutral, in this case, given the statement.
If you would like to block scrapers (suggested by Benwvatt, see reblog), then try:
WARNING, though, that it will block text readers, so may block dyslexic, Low vision, blind, etc readers.
It randomly inserts words into the sentence at random intervals when the fic is downloaded.
Art
Sites
Newgrounds: Stronger on the no AI art side, but still allow pieces in specific cases, it’s not a total ban. Allowed AI is highlighted in bold to make it easier to skim.:
AI-generated art is not allowed in the Art Portal. This includes using tools such as Midjourney, Dall-E, and CrAIyon, in addition fractal generators and websites like ArtBreeder, where the user selects two images and they are combined into a new image via machine learning. There are cases where some use of AI is ok, for example if you are primarily showcasing your character art but use an AI-generated background. In these cases, please note any elements where AI was used so that it is clear to users and moderators. Tracing and coloring over AI-generated art is something best shared on your blog, as it is much like tracing over someone else’s art. Making art from scratch that is inspired by an AI piece is ok. Here are two good examples: Maiden of Flames and Hermin. Both pieces reference the AI art they are based on while being original pieces in their own right. Bottom line: We want to keep the focus on art made by people and not have the Art Portal flooded with computer-generated art. https://www.newgrounds.com/wiki/help-information/terms-of-use/art-guidelines
Cara is totally anti-AI in contrast. You would be too if someone profited from your artwork by simply reversing it and changing the color scheme a little.
BTW, It’s BS to call Backgrounds not real art. Tips it more towards pro-AI.
Wacom?: This one confuses the hell out of me, but apparently Wacom is running contests, etc with GenAI. Apparently they did this a few times. Proof: https://x.com/meganroseruiz/status/1743759432268607843. Honestly makes me a bit reticent about Yuify… https://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/yuify Look, I love Wacom, I really do, and was a loyal customer long before screen tablets were a thing, but this seriously confuses the hell out of me. Why support the technology that will make your tech obsolete? The problem is Wacom has done this repeatedly. For contests, promos, etc, in Japanese and Japanese people have also called them out repeatedly. (They are now owned by a pro-AI company testing out users). I get you want more reliable source, so here: https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/9/24031468/wacom-wizards-of-the-coast-mtg-artists-against-generative-ai
This is seriously confusing where to put Wacom. It’s split loyalties at this point.
Affinity (Suite program) swore to be AI-free and does Vector and Photos (I haven’t checked out their InDesign equivalent). They SOLD to Canva (so much for that promise. This is in the same realm as Novlr. A huge backstab.)
Well, that would explain things like why they weren’t in the forums, why the updates weren’t that great, and why the UX wasn’t being updated to conform.
After version 2, do not download or buy. It’s likely to use GenAI and is giving Canva profit. Right now it’s borderline because it’s a moral panic of if you want to give Canva profit.
ToonBoomHarmony- This is an animation suite, since it has a set of programs. No Anti-AI statement. There are AI tools (not the same as AI) which is heavily being questioned on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ToonBoomHarmony/comments/1j8s9yc/ai_tools_harmony_is_cooked/ with some implications they are stopping listening to customers since they took down their forums and are now switching to the next mode of enshittification Stage 3. People objected heavily, hating on the AI tools, the implementation was horrid, they didn’t fix any of the base bugs before launching (which UX people would tell you not to do). When customers flooded in to complain about the AI tools being terrible, they shut down ALL of forums by DELETING THEM (which is enshittification step number 3). While not GenAI, it’s implied that might be a next step to please the investors.
They are a hair way from putting in GenAI anyway, despite objections to the AI tools.
Enshittification
1. Good to their end users, but needs to find a way to lock those end users in.
2. Platforms abuse their users to tempt in business customers. Business customers become locked into the platform.
3. Claws back all the value from business customers and end users.
(Oh look, a cloud the company owns. Oh look, we own that cloud. You’re OK with that, RRRRIIIGHHHTT). And then it’s betraying the customer base for the stockholders and the program becomes hell and then the company shuts down when it loses it’s customer face in a huge Pikachu move. I Didn'tKnowYouHadtoPleaseCustomersFirstToMakeMoney So they are at step 3 out of 3. Harmony essentials is USD 29.00 / month, Advanced is USD 73.00 / month, Premium is USD 133.00 / month. Storyboard Pro: USD 75.00 / month Producer “cannot access files unless they are uploaded” How much is your first born worth? Oh and UX people would have effing told you to fix your bugs with the release of new features… say like SIMS4, without adding new ones. SIMS4. I paid over 5,000 dollars for a game that functionally breaks because it’s built on a house of cards of not fixing the base code and doing patches instead. (My Dad [a programmer] had an hour lecture on why this was a terrible idea too and told me this was why Microsoft Windows kept getting hacked).
Online Art Programs
Milanote?- Moodboard software. To get full features you have to pay per month (which isn’t ideal since the free version is very, very limited) There is no pro or anti-genAI statement I can find. But so far there is no GenAI on the platform. This is a *not sure* category.
Creativit- is offline, free and on Mac only Moodboard software. It’s a pretty straight forward program, so no AI. Has snapping features and no frills. Since they are small, it doesn’t have AI, but there is no anti-AI statement either.
Art Sharing Clouds, Website Creation, etc(Specialized, not part of a Suite.)
Pillowfort- This is a social media website. Somewhere between Tumblr and Deviant Art. They banned all AI images. They don’t have a social media algorithm. (So you won’t be on top of each other. You have to earn your own followers.)
Released to be competition to Google mail without the privacy glitches of Gmail and have NO AI. It’s open source, yet private, and has a lot of the features of Gmail, no equivalent of Google Docs and no equivalent to online spreadsheet, but still free. But will have other appendages, like scheduler, etc.
Writing
Offline (mostly)
Scrivener (Creator vowed against adding GenAI during Nanowrimo scandal #2 on Twitter. Request for AI features has been denied.) Writing program. There is an active forum, and versions for Mac, Linux and PC. It is paid, but at ~60 USD, it’s cheaper than most programs. There is usually a holiday sale around Christmas. It has a learning curve, but with an active forum with the programmer of it there to ask obscure questions it’s not a dead zone. They often take suggestions and implement them over time. (Especially if you rank the importance, applications, etc) US company. Scrivener works with Mac, Windows and Linux (with some fussing): https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/tutorial-running-scrivener-3-1-5-1-under-linux-w-wine-64bit-with-activation/136046
Also has sharing and comparing versions capability as long as you have a cloud harddisk.
LibreOffice Open source and free Spreadsheet and Word processor program that can replace Microsoft Office (Word processor, spreadsheet, presentations, drawing, formula, database creator). Some people might have seen older versions where it was called Neo Office (now extinct) and Open Office. LibreOffice is still populated, plus the forums are super helpful if you get stuck. The UX is pretty intuitive if you’ve used Microsoft Word. Scrivener, BTW, supports exporting to odt (the native file) as well as .doc, and this can open both. The slight thing is that sometimes it doesn’t export to .doc smoothly. And I DO wish more magazines, and agent (big clue here) supported .odt files since it is free. Part of the reason .odt isn’t as supported is because Microsoft and Adobe have a deal with the devil with each other, so Adobe’s Book formatting program InDesign doesn’t support ODT. (BTW, if you have a good open source replacement for InDesign that supports ODT, let me know.)
yWriter is a free Writing program and like Scrivener, and has vowed against AI Last I looked it had some UX issues, but some people swear by it. The learning curve is higher than Scrivener because of the worse UX.
Dabble (as suggested by SF stories, see reblog) is a writing program. Similar to Scrivener. Has vowed against AI and to resist it. 108 dollars a year for Basic. It is almost twice the price of Scrivener who lets you update for fairly cheap. 29 dollars a month, v. 59 dollars for the whole program (Scrivener). Scrivener, for the 59 dollars a month has all of the same features of Dabble at Premium, making Dabble in total more than triple the price of Scrivener. You choose.
NovelWriteris an Open source writing program done offline. It has less capabilities than Scrivener or YWriter or Dabble. (Can’t make templates, Can’t save to cloud to compare) The GUI isn’t as slick, but because of that it’s super easy to use and lower entry in learning curve. (anonymous suggestion through inbox)
StudioBinder- is a script to video production software. Made an Anti-GenAI statement on their Youtube channel (see below).
This is not an official Anti-AI stance and might be tongue-in-cheek. But does look serious as something they are NOT interested in. Pricing is here: https://app.studiobinder.com/pricing
Phone/OnlineWriting
Ellipsus is an online writing program and vowed against AI [Link]. The main feature I like (which Scrivener doesn’t have) is the ability to change spellcheck based on region/language. It is a requested feature of Scrivener, but lower priority. So if you have a Brit, you can get the spelling for the character. They are a German-based company in Berlin.
Writer P AKA Writer+ (app for when you’re on the go) is a simple word processor app for your phone that doesn’t use AI. (Find on the Android app store) The original programmer stopped updating, so Writer+ programmer took over and isn’t out to make a profit since it’s free in the spirit of the original app. It has subfolders you can use. Since it was programmed before GenAI it doesn’t have AI. Intuitive, easy to use. Fairly easy to upload the files through three dots->share. The files can save to your card or phone with some settings fussing. Simple word processor.
Art
Sites
Cara.app (The creator of the website sued GenAI there is no chance they’ll convert) is an artist website. Cara is trying to institute an auto Glaze/Nightshade into the website if given enough funds. People see it as a soft replacement for deviant art. (which went fully AI) If you believe in human art, please donate if you can. Zhang Jingna, the creator, is Chinese-Singporean. She lives in Singapore.
Artgram is an art posting website with a super strong Anti-AI statement It will delete all Ai art and has detection measures in place. And signatures added to the art so they can form you legal protection and make takedown requests. It is free to use.
Fur AffinityHard ban on All AI use, not even backgrounds. Furry Art posting website. BTW, found this and Artgram on this website: https://brushwarriors.com/art-websites-that-ban-ai/ which does not show as any kind of result on Google, because Google is trying to block anti-AI content as of last week from the search results. (About the day after I posted the Grok gives poor people cancer). You can only find it using a searxng search.
Handmade vowed against AI (Selling any artwork with AI, and also drop shipping, etc) and promised to never sell itself for stock prices to prevent AI (as a replacement for Etsy.)
Clip Studio Paint is a mostly raster, somewhat Vector program that does comics, illustration and animation. They added genAI, but saw the light and decided to protect artists instead because of protest and removed it. It can do 2D animation, and generally is a replacement for Corel Painter and can do manga/comics, etc. I’d still recommend paying for the offline version rather than monthly subscription just in case they change their minds back, at least you’ll still have the program AI free without worry about them stealing directly as you’re drawing. There are tutorials and a good forum if you get super stuck. Based in Japan, so the UI and UX is really clean.
Tahoma2D is anti-AI and open source animation program. Takes a little getting used to, but is good for animations and doesn’t crash as often as Animate. Programmers are in the forums and some bugs are fixed within hours. The forums are super responsive and helpful.
OpenToonz is an anti-AI open source animation program. It’s almost identical to Tahoma 2D, but has less responsive forums (I tried both) and on a Mac, you can’t customize which drive it saves to. Tahoma’s forums responded within hours, Opentoonz, I gave a week and got no response. Tahoma, in these regards is ahead. Tahoma has their own forum, v. OpenToonz which is on github, so your response gets lost. (If anyone wants to fix it). (Suggested add by anonymous via inbox, opinions my own.)
Krita is a raster-only open source and free, no AI. I’d rank it secondary to Clip Studio Paint (which is paid) I haven’t tried the forums, but it’s pretty intuitive and can stand for a lower level replacement for Painter, and do a lot of the basics of Photoshop. It’s usually ranked higher than the equally open source Gimp.
Rebelle- Honestly tipping towards Neutral with their Anti-AI statement found here: https://www.escapemotions.com/blog/escape-motions-stands-by-artists but just enough to make them anti. I’d keep an eye on them. Here are some of the neutral statements I’d red flag: “Rebelle’s NanoPixel export, for example, allows you to scale your images up to 16x for larger export files, which would not be possible without machine-learning technology. Many artists agree that AI art is a powerful tool but believe it shouldn’t be celebrated in the same way as human-created art.” “We believe images created with AI can serve for inspiration but to just put a whole painting together through AI is not in alignment with our vision.”
They are on Cara, though and their protections against scraping and attempts to prove copyright for their artists is heartening. Still, GenAi is terrible for the planet and doesn’t serve as great inspiration.
Inkscape is a free vector program and no AI. It is harder to use than illustrator and has less features. But if you’re doing smaller vectors for one-offs with less complexity, it’ll do you after some learning curve. Best of the lot. I hate Affinity Designer which is the same thing, only paid. (Neither Affinity program was worth the money paid)
StudioBinder- is a script to video production software. But I put them also down here because it can also do Moodboards. Made an Anti-GenAI statement on their Youtube channel:
ALT
This is not an official Anti-AI stance and might be tongue-in-cheek. But does look serious as something they are NOT interested in. Pricing is here: https://app.studiobinder.com/pricing
GIMP- Open source 2D Image editing software. Works natively on Linux, can kinda port to Mac, and kinda works on Windows. It has less features than Krita and has generally fallen out of favor with the public for not being able to keep up as well. The UX isn’t bad, but use Krita instead. You’ll be happier. Krita is Mac and Windows stable and works on Linux. There isn’t any extra fancy things you need to do with Krita to DL it and Krita is fairly intuitive if you know Photoshop.
Moho- is a 2D animation software. Anti AI Stance is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMFeLjLWFd4 . This was originally made by Mike Clifton at Lost Marble and then the name changed to Anime Studio under Smith Micro. Then it was changed back to Moho and then sold back to Lost Marble, LLC, who now has taken a strong stance against AI. There is a Pro version and a Debut version. The pro version is 399.99 USD (as of 2025) Debut is 59.99. There is a student discount too.
Online Art Programs
ProCreate: Anti AI Stance as noted by mortavaine (in comments). It’s an art Studio and can be used on an iPhone. 12.99 (currently) for the Art Studio one, time dealie, not reoccurring. 19.99 (currently) for the animation software. Based in Australia.
3D Modeling
Blender is a 3D art program and does not use GenAI. It can do 2D animation, but Tahoma is easier to use in this regard. It’s open source and free. Plus there are plenty of tutorials. The forums can be touch and go sometimes, but there are plenty of sub Blender communities that might be responsive. It can also do animation. After Version 7-8 the UX vastly improved and a ton of features were added.
Art Sharing Clouds, Website Creation, etc(Specialized, not part of a Suite.)
Because you need to send files to clients without breaking NDAs.
Scribus is a replacement for InDesign and can layout magazines. It doesn’t use GenAI, BUT be careful since there is a AI gen named after the program. (Because of course they would.) The learning curve is hard and it’s not as advanced as Adobe for things, but it can layout magazines decently. So click the link instead.
Davinci Resolve Pro is a film editing software that’s super good. Their CEO came hard against GenAI: https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=205673 when it was brought up in the forums, as a request to add, there was a hard no from the CEO. There is a free version and a paid version. The forums are responsive. The programmers aren’t always present. There is a healthy group of tutorials. Black Magic is an Aussie company, but the program’s core was DaVinici Systems, a US company (Florida), where the program originated. DaVinci Systems was bought by Black Magic. Black Magic has offices in US (Bay area/Los Angeles), UK (Manchester), Netherlands (Amsterdam), Australia (Melbourne), Singapore, China (Beijing), Japan (Tokyo, Osaka), Korea (Seoul). Clean UX. It does take a little bit of time to remember the shortcuts. primary-blog-nothing-here asserted that they took data in order to create AI, but this turned out to be not a true claim. AI Tools are not the same as Gen AI. All of the tools claimed on Davinici Resolve 20 are AI tools that existed before GenAI existed. (Mostly about precutting up the timeline based on different shots). If you object to AI tools, stop using Gaussian Blur. Really they put AI in front to make it seem fancier. It’s only a little more complex than the smart selection tool. They won’t take your data. Cloud won’t be used to train AI which they added after the whole Dropbox debacle. https://nofilmschool.com/blackmagic-ai-training-stance Note that AI tools is not the same as GenAI.
which will poison the algorithm and collapse the algorithm faster. I’ve seen Youtubers who are popular use it on their images they post to videos, and it made the AI bros irate. Some tried SOOO hard to argue how hopeless it was and how programmers would break the consent of artists. (Yeah, and they might wonder why they are single).
There are claims Nightshade, etc doesn’t work, but the evidence it does is in this video.
I can go over the programming reasons it does as well. If it doesn’t why are so many AI bros so upset every time someone uses it?
If you can’t use Nightshade, use Glaze. You can’t use Nightshade and Glaze at the same time, but some OS’s and machines can’t use Nightshade, so the secondary option is to use Glaze. This will blur your image enough in a particular way to make AI unable to read it.
Push companies towards anti-AI
Protest and Petition
Several sites gave in at least halfway or partially when people protested openly to the application. Crowd beats company every time. (Unless there are shareholders, in which case the next tip will help)
Don’t buy monthly subscriptions when possible
This tip was on several Youtube videos (don’t remember the creators’ name, sorry, but I know one was a guy a long time ago). Newly made features every time you want to buy helps motivate the company to update, but also gives leverage to you, the consumer to actively protest the application and write a (Audrina) letter to the company.
Protest Monthly subscriptions. There was a really good video on the enshittification of Adobe, and it started around then, because that’s when they became a Stock power. Don’t give Stock Power to companies.
Look for Open Source Projects
They aren’t rich enough to run servers, so won’t add AI.
Convince Employers/Institutions that AI is not copyright protected and bad for branding.
Our biggest obstacle is here. As long as institutions get kickbacks from Adobe, etc and get donated funds, they are more than likely to use it as primary teaching material, which then undercuts their policies about no plagiarism. Point out that free programs are good or sometimes better than the paid ones AND it doesn’t undercut their own message and they might convert.
Take Away
The thing is you think you doing it alone will do nothing, but the more AI feeds on itself, AI images, the worse they become, and the less detailed so, denying it the images, adding poison or not being able to read the human text is eventually going to lead to an AI collapse.
This is an updated post with more information!! I switched over this year to DuckDuckGo and Firefox, and it’s the best decision I made!
I’ve been trying to find an etsy equivalent, so I’m really excited to look into handmade! Thank you OP <3
I’ve been using Firefox since forever and switched to DuckDuckGo last year! Also, all of my writing projects are written in either Scrivener or LibreOffice, and I produced my own political campaign lit on Scribus that some people thought was professionally outsourced. I’ve used Inkscape and GIMP as well in the past, but those were a bit more of a struggle (I’ll have to check Krita out!).
Still trying to use other Google products less, but getting out of AI’s grasp can absolutely be done!
In this episode, here’s a proper introduction to the Five Stars, their goals, and their tenuous life at the top. And then because there’s time left, here’s some other randos.
I know that some British people take umbrage at Americans calling the Great British Bake Off relaxing, but it’s just because GBBO is such a different kind of stressful from American baking shows.
American baking shows will be called something like “Cupcake Knife Fight”, there’s horror movie lighting everywhere and dramatic stings every 5 seconds. All of the contestants are shit talking each other and fist fighting over the one single deep fryer provided by production. It will show the judges all whispering to each other at their super villain table overlooking the whole kitchen, and one will be like, “Oh my god. Everyone look at Brenda right now. She’s straight tanking it.” And it will cut to Brenda, who is running around covered in flour and crying and also bleeding for some reason. Then you get a clip from an interview with one of the contestants, and they’re like, “I really need to win this. Without this award money, I’m gonna need to close my restaurant, sell my dad, and live out of my car. AGAIN.” Then the giant digital doomsday clock overhead lets out a horrid klaxon, the judges tell half of them that their cupcakes taste disgusting, and one of them gets eliminated and sent to walk down the dramatically-lit shame hallway never to be seen again.
Meanwhile GBBO is in a lovely, brightly colored tent, there are delightful and friendly hosts/jesters there to keep everyone entertained, and all of the B Roll is of like… a bumblebee going into a flower, or a lamb running in a field. And yes, there will be moments where someone will mess up their timing or something, and they’ll be looking at their bake through the oven door like, “oh gosh I don’t think this will rise in time!” Then they stand up to find Paul Hollywood directly behind them ominously. His creepy whitewalker eyes will glow white, and he’ll say something like “the 12th of June. 2035. Drowning.” And his eyes will go back to normal and he’ll walk away. Then the baker gives a playful grimace to the camera and says “that didnt sound great, did it?”. Cut to a sweet looking older woman sipping tea on a stool and she says “oo I do hope that Prue enjoys the taste of my sugary, sticky baps!”. Then, at the end, someone gets a gold star for doing good, and the loser of the episode gets in the middle of a giant group hug. You see all of them at the end of the series at a giant carnival with their families and the post credits informs you that all of the contestants have become a Partridge Family-style traveling band and stayed friends forever.
All these reblogs and I didn’t see one mention of Gastronauts, the most fun cooking competition show in the US.
Three judges each give three chefs a silly challenge (make a dish that looks ugly, make the tallest dish, make the blandest dish that tastes good) and everyone has fun with it and still puts out some great dishes (the contestant pool, and sometimes the contestants, is the same as Food Network shows). It’s great humor, and very inclusive: there was an all gluten-free episode (balanced by a later episode featuring a challenge to put as many common allergens into a single dish as possible).
They’re competing for nothing but An Actual Real-Life Piece of the Moon, the authenticity of which can be verified by the chefs giving the judge with the best challenge An Actual Real-Life Piece of the Sun.
Implications of an angsty Jeff Andonuts fic??? 👀👀👀✨✨✨✨ I am patiently sitting in wait for sure ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
Anonymous
Well, sort of!
My current project is writing the story of Earthbound as if it was a 52-episode cartoon/anime. The challenge of turning each story beat into a proper three-act half-hour episode is leading to some absolute chaos and it’s delightful. I’m sure I’ll share some previews once it’s closer to premier time.
The original intention was for it to be more on the comedic side, and while a lot of the humorous/parody elements of the game are ramped up to 11, it’s going all Earthbound on me and I can’t help but think about all the ways these kids are going to struggle.
So yeah, our little repressed faux-British boarding school nerd who’s used to pretending his lot in life is decent or acceptable isn’t going to last long once Paula gets wind of how he’s treated.
I should probably define what falls under the umbrella of generative AI here but I kinda don’t feel like it, but like. using an image generator to make references. brainstorming by talking with chatgpt. generating images of characters as inspiration. all that kinda jazz counts. as of course does full-on using genAI to make your stuff.
remember that your vote is anonymous, so you don’t have to out yourself on one side or the other when you share. I’m just curious what the spread is actually like when there’s some anonymity. if you’re wondering my own opinion it’s in my original tags, but I’m attempting not to be judgemental in this accompanying text.
just remember that if y'all want to see how bad the genAI users get ratioed, you need to reblog it…
Me: Writing an adaptation of a video game from 1995 is such a nice way to escape how awful the real world is.
Also Me: Ooh, this scene I’m adding to the narrative gives me a chance to take a cheap shot at the Military-Industrial Complex, even though it doesn’t feature at all in the game!
Random musings of a Digimon reviewer and fanfiction author, but also a writer, politico, and possibly musicals, sports or internet commentator who the hell knows anymore I'm too old for this site.
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