Is there any equivalence between using ai to create an ad for a product on social media platforms and using it to create a work of art, a film or a photograph? Therer seems to be contracitory issues at the heart of some artists' criticism of the ad.  This caught me by surprise because I assumed that if you use a social media platform you are implicity accepting of AI and I'll reveal my thinking in this blog post.

So, first, here's a link to the ad:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeDI6DTCCt5/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&stkn=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Ok, so now let's look at one of the typical criticisms as a comment:

Do you really need an AI avatar for this post? I really like your site but this kind of post makes your platform feel less authentic ?? Why not get behind the camera, tell your story and share how you developed this cool platform. BTW Her wedding ring does a great job disappearing and reappearing again??

There appears to be three themes in the comments in general:

• a platform with artists as the primary audience shouldn't use an AI generated ad or at least an avatar
• an ad is subject to the same ethical constraints on the means of production as an ad
• anything that is aritst facing should not use ai

The facts are a little more in the grey zone:

• artists objecting to the more general use of ai in posts are seemingly unaware of the fact that all their posts, their shares, their account is managed, ultimately by AI and that it is hosted in enormous data centres consuming huge amounts of electricity and water
• artists objecting to an ai avatar on one post in Instagram is odd because there is so much AI employed on their social media platform of choice
• an ad is not pretending to be a creative work of art made by a human so why try and constrain the production of ads
• it is unrealistic to ask for a human actor to replace an avatar on a post for us
• and why should an advertiser such as myself be bound by the expectations of their followers on a social media platform.

When AI is used to create an ad or a website, or maintain a social media platform, I believe, most people don't find that so problematic that they can't work with it. Surely: because it's necessary, we have no other choice, that's the world we live in. Our world is suffused with AI. So, where do we draw the line between what is acceptable and what isn't?

When we argue that using AI to generate art (film, books, music) then sure, it's a valid point.  Artists feel threatened and of course there is the copyright issue. But who is arguing about using AI when it has led to the unemployement of coders/developers.

Is this the line that is drawn? I'd argue that you either accept AI or reject it and if you reject it then you really can't continue to use social media platforms, for all the reasons outlined above. And what about using the aps on your phone that uses AI such as the camera - is that ok?

My thinking is that AI generated content is fair game in the context of social media providing the method of generation is disclosed. Was AI just the means of production or did it design and build the post/artefact or did it conceive, design and build with very little human intervention? If it is offered for sale or entered to an art prize then there are practical reasons why the means of conception and production must be declared. But ads on instagram that artists see - there is no comparison. 

The context is obviously the difference - in an situation where human skill and ingenuity is being judged then use of AI to generate the image is problematic.  And just one other observation or prediction I'll make is that free sites/posts will increasingly be produced and created by an AI as they are cheap to create the posts, can be programatically created on a schedule and really not require the intervention or supervision of a person. We're increasingly seeing this on YouTube and also on Instagram. So, if you don't approve of AI generated posts you will find it increasingly hard to dodge them. 

Using social media platforms is an implicit opt-in for AI because we are all using it to make sales and to build a network and this is done by AI. 

That's what i mean - where do you draw the line as an artist in objecting to AI?