Heads up that this will be a certain amount of inside baseball and also this is me just like... stating opinions and observations I'm not writing a dissertation here so don't go in expecting that. 👍
A lot of mutuals/peers/other artists are jumping onto Cara now that it's... open? Has an app? Not entirely sure. The doors are fully open, at least, and if you follow any concept/prod artist you've likely seen them post their handle. EDIT: This push largely comes as a response to Instagram's recent policy change that any content uploaded to it will be fed wholesale into training for Meta's AI stuff, with artists seeking a new place to post art.
It's meant to be a replacement for ArtStation, an art portfolio site that famously pissed off its entire userbase when it announced it would start its own NFT system (which it cancelled) and would allow AI art to be posted on the site (which it now hides by default).
I never really gelled with the idea of replacing ArtStation with a thing that is functionally ArtStation again because I think the problems with AS are sort of inherent to that style of site and the industry it speaks to. AS quickly became unusable to me long before its downfall because it doubles as a clout-and-trend chasing platform where original and interesting art, artists, and ideas are buried under the weight of aspiration to the AAA meat grinder or porcelain-like women in armor. The site, dominated by Industry Art (see: Disney, Sony, Warner Bros, Marvel, WOTC, etc.), would unsurprisingly kneel to broader forces in tech because most of those artists also exist in one broad demographic of "guys who don't really like leaving the comfy seat".
About the Site
Anyway, the promise of Cara is that it is a 'social media' site for artists that is anti-generative AI (it's not, see: later). Its explore tab is like ArtStation but the site's primary function is a feed (which defaults to a For You tab, of course)
I'm not really sure why the site is trying to be more than just a portfolio site because the end result, being an industry/discipline-focused platform, is that the vibes are sort of like LinkedIn where everyone is Networking-Friendly? Which, I don't know. Very personal distinction here but I dislike that atmosphere. I don't want to feel like I'm at the world's most milquetoast industry mixer 24/7.
What's actually poison to me is to have a 'feed' or numbers or metrics at all. It's insanethat you would look at the most heinous features of modern social media, the gamification of engagement via publicly-accessible metrics, and think "let's do that" for a site wholly dedicated to art. I've watched that decimate the creativity, drive, and variety of artists over the course of the last decade. To shoehorn it into your replacement for the biggest art platform currently around... It says a lot about the people running the site. Which,
About its Stance
Cara is a social media and portfolio platform for artists.
With the widespread use of generative AI, we decided to build a place that filters out generative AI images so that people who want to find authentic creatives and artwork can do so easily.
Many platforms currently accept AI art when it’s not ethical, while others have promised “no AI forever” policies without consideration for the scenario where adoption of such technologies may happen at the workplace in the coming years.
The future of creative industries requires nuanced understanding and support to help artists and companies connect and work together. We want to bridge the gap and build a platform that we would enjoy using as creatives ourselves.
Our stance on AI:
- We do not agree with generative AI tools in their current unethical form, and we won’t host AI-generated portfolios unless the rampant ethical and data privacy issues around datasets are resolved via regulation.
- In the event that legislation is passed to clearly protect artists, we believe that AI-generated content should always be clearly labeled, because the public should always be able to search for human-made art and media easily.
To me this sort of says it all but,
We believe that the future of creative industries will involve heavy use of AI, and it’s paramount that our governments work to regulate the rampant unethical data usage as well as provide safety nets for the impact AI will have on our society.
If generative AI becomes a fixture in production across industries, the way we create and consume art will change significantly, and it will impact all of us.
The Cara team will continue to place ourselves at the forefront and stay up to date on technology and industry developments. We will work to support human creatives the best way we can, and hope that Cara can be a place where artists can find discussions, education, and support as we navigate this incoming shift together.
Their stance is pretty clear. They're not anti-generative art, they're anti-unethical generative art. Which, to me, is a coward's way of saying you actually are pro-AI art, you just don't like it when it is trained on or used to replicate your art specifically. To be anti-generative art is to be anti-capitalist because they are one and the same. It is a product built on the labor of others to undercut and obliterate any earning power they made for themselves. There is no "ethical" here because its core function, to train on data, requires a staggering amount of material that is impossible to source ethically under the strictest definition of it.
Is it trained on existing models? Then it's 100% unethical, as that is all stolen data.
Is it trained on new models? Where does that data come from? Was that data given with full and informed consent? Or was it pulled from sites and platforms that rewrote its terms of service/cut a deal to offer all its user data. If it was, was every user meaningfully informed of this decision and given a course of action or was it told to them in a Terms Update email to which they have no say? If an option was given to them to opt-out, was it by default? Or were they opted-into it, against their wishes, and forced to manually change it ensuring that users who no longer access the site/have passed away have their data used without their knowledge.
Moreover, how far does this extend to? If the artwork itself is ethical but the project uses unethical data, is that wholly trashed? If the artwork is concept art for a project where the lead used Midjourney to mockup some """sketches""" to show the concept artist, is that ethical?
How much can you trust a "This Has AI Elements" toggle if the user is flagging it and they have no reason not to lie if it benefits them on your platform that is built to have visibility metrics associated to it.
About Capitalism
The definition of "ethical" here only extends as far as the site operators want it to because ethics are subjective and even if we see eye-to-eye on this our ethics on a billion different topics probably vary. There is no objective case here, nor am I arguing for that to be clear. My apprehension is with entertaining the idea at all. If you believe in a future where this exists, you believe in a future where corporations like Disney, Amazon, Netflix, etc still have a say in how we do what we do and, more importantly, value what we do. Ethical or not, the goal of generative art is not to "help" or "assist" me, it is to cut parts of me out of the process. It is to make the steps of creation as efficient a machine as possible.
I am not here to entertain a future where any of these entities have a say in this. They do not want what I want, which is to earn a reasonable living. They want profit and they want growth, which means getting more out of us and giving less in return, eternally. "There is no ethical consumption under capitalism" is very fucking literal here and it is not a magic key to conveniently set aside your morals. It is a concise set of words meant to inform and radicalize you to the reality that there is an underlying poison you must work towards eradicating. You do not have permission to toss your morals under the bus with a shibboleth, you have a duty as a human being to work towards the collective betterment of society through action and empathy.
The sites and platforms you use for entertainment, hobbyist, or professional purposes are all built and governed with a set of ethics and values in mind. They were made by people with a vision informed by the reality around them and how they perceive themselves in it. It's why Cohost is limited in the the way it is, it's why Facebook is as toxic as it is, it's why Bluesky is as insufferable as it is--these places do not exist in a vacuum and are not immaculately conceived. They are the product of people with a vision, and Cara is no different.
And, to me, that vision is one of some industry professionals who saw their portfolio site become the villain of the day and chose to create an alternative without pissing off the reigning authorities that sign paychecks. It created not a site for artists, but for a subset of professional/aspiring-to-be-professional artists.
Cara states that it pushes for legislation on AI art and data collection which... you know, broadly speaking, is a noble goal. The problem is that I have no faith in its authority on this matter because I know, I know, that when it comes to legislation and the protection of copyright on digital works, that corporations and I do not sit on the same side. I can't exactly see the future but I can definitely see the past and what I have seen gives me faith in numbers so pejoratively negative that we're in some scientific notation kinda territory. So seeing that, and seeing a site that tries to tow the line between me and them, well. I don't know, man.
I am not immune to the idea that life fucking sucks and shit is fucking hard and earning a living doing this is impossible enough as it is. I do not to be lectured on it, I live it every single day. But the degree to which some peers are just not willing to examine, even in the slightest, the platforms they engage with is sort of alarming. We all pull out of this together and it starts with at least asking a question.
If you need a portfolio site, you could probably do worse but you can do a lot better. Use a blog, use Carrd, make something simple, and fight every single day not to bandage the problem but to eliminate the root cause.
