Openings, Social Media & AI Oh My

I’ve been thinking about this topic for a long time.  I am a latecomer to social media.  I had no interest in joining any social media platforms, until 2015, I attended a workshop about creating your professional identity online.  The workshop opened my eyes to the value of claiming your name or business title online, including your domain address if you set up a website. The instructor spoke a lot about curating your online identity, which made perfect sense in the same way you might curate your professional portfolio as an artist.

So I dove into social media.  Initially I thought I would curate how I used each platform, Twitter for my full-time job, Instagram for my art work, and Facebook for family and friends.   I soon realized that everything overlaps.

While Twitter was not my favorite platform, I did change my focus there when I was exploring digital art, as it hosted more discussions about digital.  But I did not have a long-term interest in promoting digital art and I have since closed out my Twitter account.  I also knew artists who were using Pinterest successfully. I did test those waters, and while I do like Pinterest in terms of creating inspiration boards, I find the selling aspect annoying as a user and was not successful in gaining followers as an artist. 

Eventually, I tried TikTok.  I did not enjoy how you are fed content on TikTok nor the format of many videos.  In the end, I felt that I needed to at least enjoy the platforms I was using, to warrant devoting time to them.  One platform I think would be interesting and fun to use is YouTube.  There are many artists using YouTube to create tutorials, interviews, etc.  I have explored it, and found creating video content is fun, but feedback I received let me know that interesting ideas and artwork is not enough.  You also need a real digital camera, editing software, good microphones and lights, etc.  My android phone is not up the task, but some day when I have more time to devote, I may invest in good equipment and try again.  YouTube is really a search engine, and very discoverable via Google, plus users don’t need to have an account to view what you post, so it does have a wide reach.  If you get enough plays and followers, your channel can be monetized as well, to create a line of added income.

But in the last year, AI art generators have really changed my thoughts and approach to social media.

It is perhaps not surprising how quickly AI has been adopted.  AI is available on your phone, in your word processor, from search engines, even your TV remote.  I’m really curious about how heavy use and reliance on AI may change how we think and learn as humans.  It is strange to think how quickly AI has become embedded in almost all of our electronics. We don’t even need to type in a Google search or scroll through search results, we can just ask AI verbally and listen to what the AI search chose as the best answer, without any evaluation on our part.

A little over a year ago I was speaking with some students about concerns around copyright and licensing etc. I asked the students if they were worried about AI art impacting their work.  Most of them saw it as tool they would use in their own art creation, mot a threat.  But AI is so much more.  It isn’t just a tool like photoshop to edit images you’ve created, although it can do that.  It is also learning from the images you create, both in the AI art generator, but also images you post on social media, on your website, etc.  As it learns from artists, it improves in technique and style.  To be fair, this is also how artists learn. While it might by fun to ask AI for a portrait of a your pet in the style of Van Gogh, it is another matter if someone asks for an image in the style of a living artist, photographer, illustrator, etc. that they will use for a book jacket, sales flyer, poster etc.

This is having an impact on the commissions artists receive and has resulted in some class action lawsuits against AI art generators, although none have been decided at this date.  It is demoralizing to spend years honing your technique and developing a unique and identifiable art style, only to have that style available to anyone without any credit or compensation to the artist.

While some countries do have laws that allow users of social media platforms to opt out of having their content made available to teach AI, the United States has no such protections in place. Artists may decide to make their content less open, but that still leaves the dilemma of how you reach collectors, build a network, etc. 

As I have been thinking though this, I realized it may be that artists need to go back to how connections used to be developed prior to social media.  By attending art openings in person, following art galleries and attending artists talks, joining local art guilds, building email and mail contact lists and creating email campaigns.  Honestly, art openings are among my least favorite events.  Unlike visiting a museum or gallery, where you can spend time quietly focused on the artwork, openings promote more lively conversation.  Sadly, small talk is something that is horribly awkward for me.  However, for most artists I think pursuing this kind of in person networking, as well as developing an email list, may be more successful than using only social media.  They can connect with other artists, learn about exhibition opportunities, meet prospective collectors, and keep them informed of your work and progress in a more personal way.  Social media is still worth trying, as long as you are aware of the potential AI art risks, and also how hard it may be to build an audience in online platforms that are already saturated with content.  Having a website or online portfolio is also valuable, especially if it provides a way for collectors to contact you and for you to build an email contact list.  I guess everything old is really new again.