A lot of you may already know this, as so many people are talking about this. Which, good. People should be talking about this, and that's why I'm also going to talk about this. As most of as know, Scratch updated their ToS and stated that all projects will be used for AI training. This is an issue for multiple reasons. I won't list every single issue, and I definitely won't do a deep dive on every reason, but for those who somehow think this is okay, here's why it's not: - Stealing work!! Just because it only (allegedly) feeds off of code, it's still taking work from people and just promoting AI. Training AI will directly feed generative AI, which is the bigger enemy here. - No positive contribution. We lived without generative AI for years and we were fine without it. We can continue to live without it. - This is a kids website!!! Children should not be exposed to AI???? Hello???????? - Bad for the environment. We are already killing the Earth with factories, we don't need any more. - THERE IS NO CONSENT!!!! No elaboration on this one as it's self explanatory. I can say for sure that Scratch doesn't seem to show much care for its community as much as they say they do. They have continuously ignored suggestions that would make a positive difference. You can say that they are nonprofit and it requires time, but how long can you preach it before it becomes irrelevant? The time they used to make membership, face sensing, implementing rejected suggestions and implementing AI training could've went into making positive contributions. There are bugs like constantly getting signed out, ghost messages, lingering messages, comments not loading, projects not showing up, project tab in studios is highlighted, sometimes the whole site just. Breaks. All the time that went into implementing features that really didn't need to be added could've went into fixing this sight. 4.0 is a thing coming, and I've seen the argument that it's better to wait for 4.0 rather than postpone its release by fixing bugs. However, either way, 4.0 will take years. At least make the website useable until then. Scratch does not care about me, you, or anyone else here. The fact that they're using this website as a training ground for generative AI shows exactly where they stand. They don't care. They might never will. I urge everybody to find some sort of feedback tab and tell them how you oppose this new development. Scratch may not listen, but it's better to try than just let them stomp all over us. To those who are defending this, I beg that you use your critical thinking skills. Seriously. This goes beyond "haha funny ai image". It's theft. A slap in the face for artists of all kinds. AI has been used and still is used for predatory reasons, as well as nonconsensual modifications to art. It has been scientifically proven that it's harmful to our brains. I do not support generative AI. I will never support generative AI. Pick up a pencil people, you don't need a bot to do everything for you. Please continue to talk about this. I don't care if so many people are posting about it. Keep talking, keep posting, keep bringing attention to this.
