I took Witty up on her challenge to "walk a mile in her boots" and posted some AI art. Here's what happened.
Witty shared a post yesterday, which she's since deleted for some reason, challenging people to share some AI art for a day and see what it's like to be (in her words) harassed, insulted, stalked, dehumanized, and the target of death threats, simply for daring to share art made in a way that anti's don't approve of.
So I created an account, asked ChatGPT for some art, and shared it in four of the more prominent subreddits meant for AI art. After several hours, I received the following:
- About 150 views
- Two upvotes
- Zero comments
I don't want to extrapolate too much from such a simple experiment, but so far the experience seems very similar to that of most other artists: Nobody gives a fuck.
To be clear, I am not suggesting that this is proof that AI artists don't face harassment. They clearly do. But Witty framed this as a universal experience that anyone posting art for a day would face. Maybe there's a better way to go about this, to receive the hostility I was guaranteed? Or is it possible that Witty's behavior is distinctly different from those who are simply trying to share their art without actively seeking out hostility?
I'm not sure what to make of this and I'd like to follow this experiment up with something more thorough once she and others can weigh in here. What have you experienced by sharing your AI art, and what can I do differently to properly walk a mile in your shoes?