So. If you’re seeing this (and I have no idea how many people are going to see this LOL) then you probably have an idea of what’s going on here. On January 22nd, 2026, the Scratch team updated their Terms of Service (ToS) to allow for AI training on the website. TO BE CLEAR- they claim that they are not yet training any AI services (see this forum post: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/862915/ ) As of the date I’m writing this (Jan 26) the current statement by the Scratch Team is that this AI software will be to help with coding bugs (for projects made by the community), and to give kids ideas for projects, along with other features like helping translate languages and decipher coding. (Source: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/834371/ ) They are NOT saying that a Generative image AI will be added to the platform (…yet?) THEY ARE NOT TRAINING AI OFF OF OUR ARTWORK! In 2023, a member of the Scratch team stated, “Because of the many challenges with AI image generation, we won’t be including it in Scratch any time soon, even on our Scratch Lab site.” (Source: https://medium.com/scratchteam-blog/introducing-creative-ai-at-scratch-bcdbd6c3efc9 ) -Why I’m against this- Even if they’re not implementing an image generator yet, this is still a massive problem. AI will be trained based off of OUR hard work, off of OUR time and effort into coding and learning. Scratch, at its core, is a place for learning and HUMAN creativity. If AI codes projects, that’s not human creativity. That’s a computer doing the work for you. That’s a computer stealing the work of others without their permission or consent (also know as ✨plagiarism✨). There is no opt-out option. Kind of weird, isn’t it? We absolutely deserve the right to say no, we don’t want AI trained off of our stuff. They do not say anything upfront about the fact that AI will be trained on the website. Absolutely nothing. You have to read the ToS just to find a mention of this. AI is already dangerous (I won’t go into details here, but it’s not hard to find and learn how harmful it can be) and implementing an AI feature on a kid’s website?!?!?! It’s a recipe for disaster.
My suggestion to fighting this change? Peacefully protesting. Sharing accurate information and spreading the word. Doing your own research. A radio-silent boycott is planned for February 1st until the 7th. That means no projects. No commenting. No nothing. (I plan to not even log on.) We have power in numbers. I know people are going to say that it won’t do anything. But don’t we have to try anyways? Thank you for reading my very long rant haha. Sorry if I got angry-ish at times. I was really trying not to- I have a very strong opinion against AI and I’m extremely disappointed by this move from the Scratch Team. (And if I made no sense or listed a inaccurate source, please let me know :)) Go check out these projects and the people behind them- they’re doing a lovely job of explaining the situation :) https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1270264768/ https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1270831324/ https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1269751874/ https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1270276282/ https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1270382877/ -My art is not to be used in the training of any artificial intelligence system, image generating software, or to be modified in any way.
