[NOTE: I AM NOT SUPPORTING AI ART AT ALL, THIS IS JUST AN THING I HAVE TO SAY] Oof. AI. Pretty controversial amongst a majority of artists on this site, wouldn't you agree? Ever since the announcement of Scratch possibly adding AI in one of its future updates, (or 4.0 possibly?) people have been up in arms on how it could present as a HUGE problem, especially with AI art, as it pretty much goes against the site's whole motto, "Imagine, Program, Share". Sure, it seems frustrating, and I do share your anger with this too. But, just hear me out on what I have to say before you grab your pitchforks. Back when they announced it around May-July of 2024?, they did say something about a "re-imagined and online community and creative AI," this was the problem for a lot of users, especially artists on this site in general. However, the problem is, is that we don't know about WHAT type of AI they could be referring to. If you read @-SonicTheCat-'s project, (link: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1154233320) it is said by @cheddergirl, a Scratch employee,(?) that AI for image generation is currently a rejected suggestion due to ethnical (and/or legal) concerns. This very much means that they are likely NOT using AI art for this reason. One type of example, earlier this year, ChatGPT nearly got in hot water with Studio Ghibli for the whole debacle about copying its art style in its new image generator. With this in mind, if Scratch probably tried to add AI art, I could imagine that it could raise legal problems for the generator using images from other users/images on internet and pumping it out left and right, getting in trouble and even leading to a lawsuit (Ghibli is possibly going to sue ChatGPT, though). That being said, they haven't really specified on what type of AI this was going to be, so if we're safe, then the least this AI could be is an assistant that could probably give you tips or how to improve your coding skills (Like Siri, or maybe Flexi from CK-12! (though most of you probably don't know that))
Not saying that I support AI art, and AI as a WHOLE, but I am saying that we might be overblowing this a tad bit out of proportions. If it is an AI image generator, then I absolutely feel a deep amount of regret for the art community on this site as a whole, since you guys are ABSOLUTELY excellent, (I'm not even joking, some of y'all are better than me) and it would be an awful thing to see the site with a motto such as "Imagine, Program, Share," go to waste and be flooded with AI slop. If I am ABSOLUTELY wrong about my predictions in the future, then you are free to be absolutely angry at me if you want. Thanks for reading.
