Twitter’s New AI Feature Is Screwing Over Artist Visibility

By Hayley Armstrong

Let me just get right into it.

X (formerly known as Twitter, and actually, still known as Twitter to anyone who hates Elon Musk) has an updated feature that essentially allows any user to edit any image posted on its app, using AI.

It doesn’t allow artists any real way to fight back or protect their work from online strangers who aim to distort or change their posted artwork, and claim the edited picture as their own.

Since there isn’t really a widely used art-specific platform that has Twitter’s reach, artists are wondering how they can both.) display their art there for self promotion and.) not get screwed over in the process.

The safest option seems to be to not post their art on twitter anymore.

But in doing that, they lose visibility, potential followers, and the opportunity to find clients who might be looking to commission them.

It’s a cruel catch-22.

I’m not an artist in that way, but I am a voice actor who is staunchly against the use of AI in the creative arts.

I’ve seen this slop eat away at my own career progression and opportunities, so to artists who have been devastated by this Twitter update, I stand with you.

I imagine this change won’t last long, because, as it stands, there’s no way it won’t be met with lawsuits, chaos, or a mass exodus on principle.

This change doesn’t only affect artists, but any user who has posted a picture of any kind.

It’s a particular nightmare scenario for anyone who has posted pictures of their children.

To do this at all, but especially on Christmas Eve, has got to be the most on-the-nose Grinch/Scrooge cosplay I’ve ever witnessed.

Elon Musk is a demon and an absolute ghoul for this.

He, and these sick, greedy corporations/CEOs/execs who have more money than god, but feel justified in robbing human artists of the little money their online visibilities provide them…

It just adds insult to injury.

I follow a few artists, and have read their posts about how Twitter, with all its flaws, is the one app that actually gives their art attention and offers them chances to break into near impossible industries.

Some have discussed moving to bluesky (but it has nowhere near the same reach as Twitter) or Instagram, which has become more of a reel platform than a platform for images/art.

Others have talked about how AI theft protection apps (like Glaze and Nightshade) aren’t always reliable, and they’ve been talking through ways to protect their original art with loopholes and system tricks.

It shouldn’t be this hard.

Being an artist is hard enough, and now artists are having to figure out ways to get visibility and make a living from their art, while having to worry that some loser or machine is going to steal it, desecrate it, and pass it off as theirs?

This is sick.

It’s infuriating and is going to be used for so many nefarious purposes.

(If you live in the US, please understand that this is also happening because our orange buffoon president is trying to blur the lines between reality and fraud because he is DEFINITELY pictured in the you-know-what files.)

Artists, please don’t quit drawing/painting/creating with your own hands.

Don’t let this make you quit creating your art.

Yes, it’s a setback. Yes, there will always be disrespectful, lazy bums who want the benefits of a creative career without putting in the work.

But there are so many other audiences for you.

There are people who want human made art. (I’m one of them)

This AI crap is not something that the majority of people want.

You know how every show or film coming out is a remake of something?

Well, in response, people have been binge watching past shows and films because they come from a time when originality was more allowed, respected, and invested in.

That’s kind of how I envision AI in art going.

Sure, Moana 12 and Toy Story 15 will always make millions of dollars, because there are audiences for mindless duplicated work with minor tweaks.

Conversely, we’ve seen original films like Sinners, beat the odds and show the industry that there is just as much of an audience for new work.

When everything is AI slop, eventually people are going to want proof that the art they’re receiving, was made by an actual person.

Not sure what system we’ll use to mass determine that, but it is coming.

The tides are shifting a bit, but not in a way that makes human artists irrelevant.

In fact, it makes your work that much more valuable.

So, for now, feel what you’re feeling. Do what you feel you need to do to protect your art. But don’t despair for long.

And for any idiot out there talking about, “well, you put it on the internet, what did you think was gonna happen?”

How exactly do you think artists become big, or well known, or discovered these days? ONLINE, dummy.

That question is no different from, “well why’d you wear a short skirt if you didn’t want it?”

The fault is on the greed fueled people in power who make these decisions, and the short sighted AI fanatics who are too lazy to take an art class themselves.

And I wonder about those people.

Explain how you have all the money, but still need to empty starving artists of their pocket change.

Explain how you have all the energy to be jealous of human artists, but not enough energy to pick up a pen and work to try and become something of an artist yourself?

Artists, I’m sorry that this is happening to you.

If you’re an artist struggling and despairing, here are a few bright spots:

-Remember those AI filters done in the style of Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli? People spent one day playing with those before they got bored. And they looked ugly and cheap.

-Try to make connections with people, as a fellow person. Be yourself and let other people see that, and they’ll come to you for your art, not a machine for a cheap, dusty imitation of you.

-There are more people on your side than theirs. The AI overlords have not won.

-The landmark case to put up some semblance of guardrails around this mess is coming, things like this only expedite it. Someone out there, has someone in their life who they don’t want to see pop up in an AI generated image or video. When they do, the dam will break.

-Most people don’t want this, which is why they’re trying to sell us on AI so hard. Anything that people want, doesn’t have to be this desperate to insert itself into everything.

Hang in there, artists. Protect your work, protect your mental health, and happy holidays.

-Hayley Armstrong