The minute you log onto the internet, some of us are downing in a sea of images, videos, brand campaigns, and artworks created using artificial intelligence. From the disastrous Willy Wonka-themed event in Scotland to the problematic AI-generated photograph of Gaza, we have witnessed how this tool deceived people or peddled propaganda. But despite the tide turning in favour of AI lately, some are promoting anti-AI campaigns to promote pro-human works. A prime example is Cara, a social media platform that weeds out artificial intelligence-generated artworks and photographs while protecting the artists. Here’s what photographers need to know about Cara.
Founded in 2023 by photographer Jingna Zhang, the site reached about 700,000 users within the week of its launch. While the platform is still new (and in its beta stage), Cara is aggressively promoting creation produced by humans with the aid of Glaze and Nightshade initiatives that protect your photographs from being scraped by AI.
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So, why is Zhang so keen on an AI-free platform? The answer lies in tech conglomerates and their insatiable greed. Zhang has been fidgeting against AI for a while now. She has filed a lawsuit against Google for breaching the copyright of her works to train its image-based AI software, Imagen, and won a case against a painter who plagiarised her photograph in Luxembourg. She has also further revealed how her name became a prompt over 20,000 times in Midjourney, an AI-image generator that creates photographs from text. Of course, all of this is without taking her consent, acknowledgement, or providing compensation. Thus, the photography community must unite against AI, pilfering your imagination to create something mediocre.
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While one can be skeptical of Cara (which functions like Instagram and has an interface like LinkedIn and Facebook), the crowdfunded platform is an excellent way to escape the hell hole created by Instagram. For instance, Meta has publicly declared it will use images uploaded on Facebook and Instagram to train its AI model. Moreover, some photographers have reported how their photographs carry a “made with AI” label despite that not being the case. Interestingly, there is no way to remove the tag. Thus, tarnishing the image of the photographer, many of whom have spent years building their credibility, style, and trust of their customers. And what does Instagram get out of it? Money, money, and more money.
While Cara is still in its infancy, considering the intentions of its creator, the platform may be an answer to our prayers. Not only do you meet clients, collectors and collaborators of the same mindset on the portal, but you can also say goodbye to algorithms and ads. Now, your photographs can reach people genuinely interested in your work, some who may even help you grow. Sure, the numbers on the platform are relatively lesser, and it may take years to beat corporations like Meta, but imagine the joy if it achieves this feat.
But, more importantly, AI-generated photographs are devoid of any emotions. For instance, the abhorrent virtual content creators bandwagon. They may appear ethereal at first, but the porcelain skin and model-like figures against brightly lit backdrops ruin everything we hold so scared. Moreover, there is no longer any fun in looking at campaigns that seem so homogenized. There is no ‘style’ to the photographs, as they resemble poor caricatures of the works of Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, Peter Lindeberg or Annie Leibovitz.
As Instagram and popular brands limit the way we think and create our visual world, Cara could help us break free from the shackles of homogeneity. No two photographers can ever be the same, so why should our images be an echo of one another?