A comment on my art page made me think about my training data

I posted a digital piece I made with some AI help last week, just a simple landscape. Someone left a comment saying, 'Looks nice, but did you check if the style is too close to a specific living artist's work? I think I recognize the brushwork.' That hit me hard... I hadn't even considered that. I was just typing in 'misty forest painting' and picking outputs I liked. I went back and looked at the artist they mentioned, and yeah, the AI had clearly pulled from her signature technique. I felt pretty bad about it. So I changed my whole process. Now, before I even start a prompt, I spend an hour on art sites looking at styles that are explicitly listed as open for inspiration or are in the public domain. It takes longer, but it feels cleaner. How do you all make sure you're not accidentally copying someone's lifelong style?

4 comments

4 Comments

the_nancy17d ago

It's happening everywhere now, not just with art. We're all pulling from this big digital soup without knowing the original cooks. Your new method sounds like a good way to slow down and be more careful.

henry_ross17d ago

Even recipes get copied online without credit now.

danielm801h ago

Forget just saving links, we need to teach our tools to do this for us. My browser should auto-save where I grabbed that image, and my music app should track samples like a family tree. The tech makes the soup, so the tech should help us remember the recipes. Otherwise we're just manually fixing a problem they built.

lewis.gray17d ago

Yeah, I started keeping a simple text file. Every time I save an image or clip a piece of text, I jot down the link where I found it. Makes you pause for a second. For music, I'll note the producer or sample source in a playlist comment. It's not perfect, but it builds a trail back. Stops things from feeling totally free-floating.