DeviantArt Faces Severe Backlash Over AI Image Generator Launch
DeviantArt faces intense user backlash after launching its DreamUp AI tool, as artists discover their existing work likely already trains the underlying Stable Diffusion model despite new opt-out options.
DeviantArt faces intense user backlash after launching its DreamUp AI art tool, with artists flooding social media and forums to condemn the feature. Users express deep frustration over the use of their artwork to train the system, especially since the initial opt-out process requires toggling a setting for every individual piece or filling out a form that takes up to ten days for human review.
The situation grows more complicated as reporting reveals that DreamUp relies on Stable Diffusion, a third-party AI model with a controversial history of scraping artwork without permission. DeviantArt's CEO clarifies that the platform is not performing its own AI training, and the opt-out toggle simply adds flags to pages to block future third-party scraping rather than removing existing data from the AI's brain.
These efforts prove largely futile because Stable Diffusion is already trained on what many describe as unethically sourced data, which likely includes DeviantArt submissions. Since the AI cannot unlearn this information, users are attempting to opt out of a system that their work permanently inhabits, ensuring the controversy continues as the company moves forward with its AI projects despite ongoing artist objections.