"... yeah. Sure. Because AI is not actively being shoved down the throat of every single person who interacts with computers or phones on a regular basis."

100% agree with you there. They cram it in everything and it's dumb.

"OP is whinging because they are doing something shitty"

We've got no idea what they're working on. Might be slop. Might be the AI mona lisa :P

All I read was someone wants to share something they made with AI and people keep dogging on them. 

"OP is not the victim here."

I dunno man... I read the OP and I read your stuff and I feel like you're doing a pretty good job of proving that might not be true. Just sayin.

@Durance Gaming - I appreciate your benefit of the doubt on my behalf. Thank you. As for the other person, yeah that's pretty much what I'm talking about lol.

@redonihunter - You said something that really stuck with me. "If there would be a gallery of oil paintings and someone would submit a photographed print of something that looks like an oil painting, that gallery would very likely reject it." For some reason that made me feel better overall. I think the biggest problem I'm facing is that I can't find any gallery. It's either total AI slop/AI bros or furious anti-AI hate. There doesn't seem to be an inbetween where you can actually try new things.

To whomever it may concern, the recent videos I was referring to were simply visual examples of something I had been working on for over 6 months. It's just a visual representation of how Poly-Rhythmic Congruence plays out in real time. Two short 2-minute clips to illustrate/sum-up 6 months of amateur research.

A simple explanation for PRC is like how you can take a music video, remove the music, and add in a completely different song but it still looks like they go together because the video was made to similar beat/timing. Except with PRC, it's a phenomena that can happen with completely unrelated things. So I used my own written poetry as prompts, my own illustration for the 1st frame, and used them to create a 2-minute micro story to show how even the AI generator coincidentally follows the same musical timing and patterns. The video was placed at the center of the screen, and then audio-driven patterns were edited in to help viewers pinpoint the appropriate areas of congruence. The second video was the same, except used a different image every 5-10 seconds to see if they would match the audio patterns (which they did). So 3 completely unrelated sources (audio, visual, interpolation) coincidentally coming together as if intentionally timed. It was a demonstration of a phenomena that needed 2 short videos.

It's not supposed to be "hey look at this thing I didn't draw" it's supposed to be "I have used AI to demonstrate this principle" but no one ever bothers to read the "about" section of the video. They just see obvious AI (which I don't hide) and scream "SLOP!!!" then ban me or wipe my stuff immediately, which is incredibly aggravating. 

You're getting your time wasted?  No, you're the one wasting the time of the moderators who have to delete the feces you're smearing all over their communities.

To you it might seem trivial to use AI to make your picture into a video, but that video is literally a slap in the face to everyone who has worked to be able to animate, film, and edit videos themselves. The AI can only do it by consuming vast amounts of similar content, all of which was made with human work-hours, and wasn't published with the intention of being put through a pattern recognition meatgrinder just for your convenience.

It isn't illegal for you to use generative AI, you're welcome to post it on your own website or on platforms that allow it. But I think it is deeply ironic that you would complain about the places that do allow AI turning into slop-fests. What did you expect to happen? How would you create an "in between"? Tell people that they can just use it a little bit? That is unrealistic, there's just no practical way to enforce it. If AI is allowed, it is likely to be fully allowed, and then you will experience the race-to-the-bottom economy it creates. In that world, there is a direct incentive to let the AI produce as much as possible, because that makes it fast fast fast, and volume is what matters most. Choosing to generate only 50% of your work just means you are 50% behind. 

Here, AI content is allowed but is supposed to be flagged, and the majority of people who come here are serious about supporting humans, not machines, and thus are going to be very cautious and discerning on the whole. So, from my perspective, AI hate is the only thing keeping this space sane.

A lot of people are weirdly aggressive about AI right now, even when it’s being used as just another creative tool. Honestly, most artists are just trying to make stuff and survive, and getting instantly labeled “AI slop” without context can kill motivation fast.

As an illustrator, I understand that AI is a massive infringement of rights.
but not because of AI itself... rather, because of the way it’s being used.
I don’t think the right restrictions have been put in place, which is why I’ve only used AI for simple tasks that don’t infringe on anyone’s rights: animating my own illustrations without changing anything about them, and a handful of pixel art pieces (I still do the bulk of the pixel art myself).

I think using it this way isn’t wrong; what’s wrong is stealing styles.

For those of you who are deciding whether or not to include AI in your games, I’ll tell you that my first game has a version without AI and another version with AI...

Both have been downloaded in almost equal numbers...

so I see two opposing camps of roughly equal size.

Abandon all your hopes and dreams and make fruit island slop now on Tiktok if you want an AI following. 

You made this bed now lay in it. I don't know why you thought indie sites support AI?

The AI hate comes from fear of misuse and replacement, which is exactly how game engines, the typewriter, And even the Internet itself were treated, if anything it's not AI-slop that's the problem... it's the hivemind slop.

I'm an artist too and I do game design on the side, I don't use AI to make my works, but sometimes I'll use it to aid it like any other tool.

Such as the animating your own art example you gave, because not everyone can animate... and yeah on the surface the "Just learn how to animate!" Idea seems right, but it's an empty wish from non-artists who actually don't understand how the creative community works and pretends they do.

People cannot realistically become a jack of all trades, and unfortunately people like OP are being punished for using the tools needed to appease the current generation that has the shortest attention span and the biggest gripe about things taking too long, yet they hate on people trying to catch up with them by using the tools necessary to do so.

You can't have your cake and eat it too, that's not realistic thinking.

Besides most of the people who claim to hate AI don't simply hate the AI... They just want to feel superiour over the AI user because "I'm a traditionalist!" So really the first guy who replied to you is simply trying to flex, not protect anyone.

If the Internet wants us to stop using AI to keep up with their fast trend needs... then the Internet needs to slow down again like the early 2000s, otherwise it has no business complaining.

Ps. OP stated they can't financially afford everyone to do the things they can't do for them, if you want them to make non AI related works then you better start putting your money where your mouth is and donate to them, otherwise again, don't complain if you're not even going to fix their issue and just yell at them for a superiourity flex.

The AI hate comes from fear of misuse and replacement

The AI hate comes from several different levels.  I've used AI but I find there's a difference in how you can use it VS how people are using it. 

The example of using it as an aid helps, because I sometimes use it for aid too in more complex situations. Even then, it often doesn't know what it's doing. When I use it, I have a general idea about what I'm working with, realize what it said is broken, and I'll have to google it since the AI didn't know.

And the solution is like from a 5 year old reddit thread account from a deleted user. The joys of software programming, amirite?

But, in the case of a lot of AI here, people refer to the artwork it produces. 

I find the artwork AI makes is often lacking in any real sort of 'life' or 'meaning' and this is before I even know it's AI. I can look at an image and I know something is off 9/10 times...other times...

I mean I'll speak from experience. As I'm trying to design a long term RPG.

My friend is showing me artwork of one of my characters "Cookie", and I appreciate his help. At the same time, I can tell the images he's showing me are AI and that none of them would ever realistically work for me. The artwork is far from what I would want, and the stylization is so strongly AI that it's off putting. I have a very strong feeling that, no matter how much I prompt the AI, I will never get a "Cookie" that I like. the Cookie that was made several years ago by someone when this was an undetermined RPG feels much more authentic than any of the AI artwork he offered.

Man, I feel this. The AI debate got so heated that a lot of people stopped caring about context and just react instantly. There are definitely others out there just trying to make stuff and getting caught in the crossfire too.

Yes. Honestly, it feels like a witch hunt where every misstep gets you pointed at. (To put it as mildly as possible.)

It's quite sad and tiring to see that on the pro-AI side (not the gullible "AI bros," but the actual users or artists who support AI) there's a genuine attempt at debate or dialogue, while on the anti-AI or "Luddite" side there's no attempt at dialogue, just pure and simple confrontation.

(I think this whole thread sums up the global situation.)

Many AI tool users are simply (well, in my case, I don't know about you) trying to adapt to an ever-changing market.

Yes, technology isn't perfect, and it can open the door to discussions. But nothing that can't be fixed through dialogue. Emphasis on "dialogue" because, as I said before, that's what the anti-AI people don't seem to want.

I'm not saying their complaints are unfounded or completely wrong, but they are taking it out on the wrong people.

Neither AI nor AI users are the enemy. AI is a tool. If anyone is afraid of losing their job in the future, it's most likely that they won't be replaced by AI itself, but by someone who has learned to use it efficiently.

I think the anti-AI stance itself is like shooting yourself in the foot. AI isn't the future; it's the present. It's not only increasingly used in companies/professional, but also necessary.

The problems many artists have with low-quality content, work reused without consent, clients expecting cheap or free work, etc., are valid concerns, but they existed long before generative AI. (And ironically, it's AI itself that could help them fight against that, I don't know, I think.) But I get the impression that they're taking it out on other people's users and work because that's a more "real and tangible" enemy than something abstract like the job market and consumer habits or preferences.

I think many have bought into the idea that AI will do everything with a prompt, and at first it might seem that way, since it's not very difficult for AIs like Dall-E or Nano Banana to return pretty images with a simple prompt. But a pretty image isn't the same as a useful image. A generic landscape image isn't the same as a sprite, a character sprite sheet, or a texture. Just to give a few examples. (This is where a professional's knowledge and experience carry more weight than anything else.)

My advice for artists who haven't yet incorporated AI into their workflow is to try it out little by little. Not so much chatGPT or Gemini; the world of AI tools is much larger and more varied. And there are many that (this is a personal opinion) I think they'll feel more comfortable with, allowing them to use all the knowledge they've acquired over time, just as they have been doing until now.

This is all like the Industrial Revolution, or the rise of the home PC, or the rise of the internet. The world changes; there's no other option but to adapt. After all, life goes on.

so i don't straight up hate ai. it has it's places in things like aiding in research, helping to find new compounds for medicines for example that we would have otherwise missed. it's really helpful for things like data analysis and organization, to help in speeding up tasks that would have taken days or weeks into minutes or hours. 

what it's becoming instead is something for people to use as a way to shove out things that are low effort and low quality by having it generate images, code things, or straight up write for them. i completely understand not having the knowledge of certain areas, i don't know how to code, and my art skills are lacking, to be generous. but even then, i have no desire to bring to life any projects i have in my head if i don't have the skills, or the help from a human to help me put that forward. 

art is inherently human, and how we express our emotions and ideas. to allow a machine to take that from us is just wrong. people are going to like what they like though, and my objections to the use of ai in this way isn't going to close the box; that will never happen. but i personally would rather live and die never seeing anything i want created being made before i ever use image generation. i'll also never play an ai game or watch any media pushed with ai in it. 

ai is a tool, yes. but people are using a wrench to hammer a screw. 

One of the things is, I cannot draw art, and I am in fact terrible at it.

But I have an idea, so I describe the strange idea to A.I, and then it draws it out, sometimes it takes its liberties as long as it exists or its seen it before, and what comes out can be very creative. Having said that, I am aware that it is nowhere as competent as a human, all the walking animations all gone wrong for spritesheets, it can only generate mostly concept arts or stills and even then, the eye expressions are always off or like dead fish

It also ignores instructions. It's not that I don't want to pay for a team to do my game or rp, more like I can't afford to without going all in and bankrupt if the project tanks.

When it generates right, you get really happy, but most of the time, it trips over itself and u get frustrated prompting it again and again XD.

Some of you might say, "learn to draw". My reply to that is, u think I didn't try? Man people laughed at my drawings, or how fat and out of shape sonic was when I did it. I copied pokemon from the pics, and everyone laughed man when I kept those pictures and manga in a special folder though they looked like crap.

I think the part of your post that hit me wasn't even the AI discussion itself. It was the feeling of spending years supporting a creative community because you genuinely believed in it, only to discover that support doesn't necessarily translate into understanding or acceptance when your work falls outside what some people consider acceptable.

Whether people agree with AI tools or not, having your work dismissed as "slop" without any meaningful engagement is frustrating. Especially when you're talking about using AI as one tool among many in a larger creative process rather than trying to replace creativity altogether.

I also think a lot of independent creators can relate to the financial side of what you're describing. Many of us have spent years supporting artists, developers, musicians, and creators because we wanted to contribute to an ecosystem we cared about. Realizing those communities may not see you the same way you see them can be a painful experience.

For what it's worth, I don't think you're alone. There are probably plenty of creators quietly experimenting with these tools while trying to make art, tell stories, build games, and express themselves. Most of them aren't looking for a fight. They're just trying to create.

Even if people disagree with your methods, nobody deserves to have years of effort, enthusiasm, and support reduced to a single dismissive label.