Glaze is out!
Tired of having your artwork used for AI training but find watermarks dismaying and ineffective?
Well check this out! Software that makes your Art look messed up to training AIs and unusable in a data set but nearly unchanged to human eyes.
I just learned about this. It's in Beta. Please read all the information before using.
ALT
Art thieves already hate it:
Dude, if you're stealing, you deserve to have the data poisoned. Because you could have asked and you didn't.
The link is only in the original post inside an image, not as text, so here it is as plain text: https://glaze.cs.uchicago.edu/
and the paper about how it works: https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.04222
As links (because some of us are on mobile and can't easily copy and paste to our browser), those are:
&
A bit of a TLDR for some questions I saw in the notes:
The team that created Glaze is from the University of Chicago. Their names are each listed in full on the Glaze download website. (This group of students/professors did this for their SPRING BREAK 😱 so go give them some love lol)
It is free to download. No, they won’t ask for or raise money from/for this project.(stated by one of the lead professors of the project).
Glaze is designed to protect artists’ STYLE--which a bunch of ai people have been deliberately fine-tuning their models to mimic (and specifically of current living artists--small or big).
It currently does not protect against composition/trace-like theft (as seen when run through img-to-img) but that would be protected by copyright anyway while STYLE is not.
The University Team has stated that they are dedicated to continuing to improve the tool, like fixing bugs (like overheating older computers by taking up lots of energy when Glazing--it currently runs on CPU so they’re trying to change that to GPU, I believe) and expanding the type of protection given to artists (like working against img-to-img theft).
It currently only works directly on your computer (phones not advised due to current overheating issue, no tablets, or iPads, and no website runthrough since that would be insecure to breaches/scraping/hacks)
It currently works best on painterly artwork, but can still be used on other forms (team is working on improving this)
IT WORKS BY calculating the changes each image needs for the best protection against style theft by AI, and adds tiny changes throughout the piece, so that your style will, for example, confuse the ai into seeing van gogh. But the ai thieves will see a regular image in your style, feeding it into their model labeled as your work (thus starting the “data poisoning”).
Do not post the original unGlazed piece of your artwork after posting your Glazed version (obviously)
The Team worked directly with over 1,000 artists that were being impacted by the ai theft. Because the team listened to those artists, Glaze accounts for regular art thieves too (i.e. Glaze can’t be removed/cropped etc. like signatures or watermarks when reposted. It’s just part of the image, so even if it ends up on another site and scraped, the Glazing is still in effect)
When you run your artwork through Glaze, no information is sent back to the Team. (Aka, no scraping on their part. The app receives information from the Team (like updates) but no information from you is given to them through the app. Basically Team servers ---> You and NOT Team servers <--->You) One-way data street.
Brief misunderstanding happened over an open-source license for the front-end part of the app. (Used open-source coding for front-end, not knowing that code’s use-license states it is only for other open-source uses, not closed-source (the back-end code of the app is private to prevent counter-counter measure developments)). The Team took down the app until they replaced the front-end code with code written from scratch by the team. They are now not in violation of that open-source license since they are no longer using it. (you have 30 days to remedy a license breach once informed; they did so in 2)
The Team is currently in touch with Japanese artists to better expand the tool for use to protect their art styles
From what I understand of it, Glaze is an AI tool designed to be anti-AI (Think Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 2: one Terminator robot vs. all the other Terminators 😂)
You can download it from their website and also contact them through email there with any questions, problems, or bugs. The website: https://glaze.cs.uchicago.edu/
reblogging this every fucking time it comes across my dash
Pov: You're Xehanort and it's a dating sim
Anonymous
sent a message
some of us just don’t want to read problematic white authors so ao3 is our only option 🤷♀️
oh there is no saving youse
I’m horrified. WTF just happened to my dashboard? PUT IT BACK! Why does this new version feel shrunk vertically. This new UI feels short bruh.
I do not think that EOTWR intentionally disparaged or dragged down any candidates when writing about them. However, I think there is a valid generalized discussion to be had regarding how POC are hypercritical of one another’s politics leading to unfair treatment in antiracism discussions. White people are unfairly prioritized and handheld during antiracism debates while POC’s antiracism has a very baseline: “Yeah, we all dislike racism, yes AND?” response. The question squarely lies with, “is this helping or hurting our community when we have specified and unique sets of critiques within our circles for ourselves?”. Like I think it’s a valid argument to make that POC stay in each other’s business and stay critiquing and policing ourselves to the point where it’s dragging us down. We need to have the discussion of how much critique of POC’s antiracism is tough love and how much of it is internalized racism making us feel the need to tear people of color down.
But I also think that is a larger societal issue. EOTWR is not doing anything new or insane as an antiracist movement for lightly pointing out that candidates of color haven’t made a statement on a specific policy that they believe will foster antiracism. Especially when they point out other attempts at antiracism and highlight them while reminding users of their own beliefs. That’s light pointing at best (not even poking). I think it’s very valid to point out that antiracism movements will prioritize white allies over POC because POC are seen as “obviously antiracist” and “unsurprising” so we set ourselves aside and shrug. Like we will present our own candidacy and basically respond with “So you didn’t do a double back flip tuck and do the splits on it? Shame…” while white allies will do a basic ‘racism bad’ take and people will fall over themselves. Like EOTWR is not immune to that white ppl propaganda.
However, EOTWR is a single policy campaign, it has a list of the exact policies it is asking for, eventually POC are going to fall outside of that margin, as EOTWR is not a simple “Racism bad” campaign. Like people can have 3 platforms: “Racism bad so I believe in X”, “Racism sucks so I believe in Z”, and “Racism is awful so let’s do A”. EOTWR is only ONE of these campaigns, it’s not all three. All of these campaigns believe that racism is bad, but POC likely will have an opinion that prioritizes one over the other. And eventually… they’re going to disagree. Someone wants reparations, others want prison reform, others want police abolition, others want all, both, neither. Eventually these people are going to reference each other but not change their own opinions on what they believe is the “best solution”. Like “This statement was too soon, you should’ve waited until they actually answered questions” fair and I agree. “This might be a hypercritical (not hypocritical; super critical) response to candidates of color because of in group pressure… we need more nuance” valid. However I bristle at the idea that POC disagreeing with each other on policies is somehow revoking the personhood or antiracism card of any candidate at all. If I focus the most on hate crime prevention, and bestie to my side focuses on subconscious bias. I can note the fact that we prioritize different things, that is not me trashing or revoking the “black card” from my black friend. If I say I won’t vote for them because I want to vote for someone that believes in more hate crime prevention laws, I am not rebuking them.
It is quite literally a nuanced and specific platform. Eventually POC are going to not agree with them or go against their campaign. POC don’t all want DEI consultants, POC do not all want TOS changes. Some even do want those changes but have completely different priorities and will put those on the backburner.
My biggest example of this nuance is Kamala Harris. Do I think that the black community’s reaction and critique of Kamala Harris’ policing would be as much of a topic if Kamala Harris was white? NO. Does that mean that critiquing her policies/past is racist? NO. Like it takes nuance and understanding and genuine good faith discussion to have that debate regarding “Is EOTWR hyperanalyzing and critiquing these Asian candidates because we as a community seem to place higher expectations on POC?”. And like… the critique of the candidates and the critique of EOTWR both operate on this “POC aren’t perfect antiracists thus my expectations and disappointment are far greater than a white person doing this!” system.
People of color who are hypercritical of people of color who are hypercritical of people of color who are hypercritical of people of color who are-…
Like it’s a valid argument to say that antiracism movements in general very much hound POC to make statements or take a stance on things while white people have very little expectations and we “don’t expect anything” of them. This is a societal issue that literally bleeds into the interpersonal. I cannot stress this enough that even when parents and people within my community critique black people, there is this overarching “Why do you let white people do this but get mad when we do this?” and a “White people aren’t us, we can strive for better” response. And until we question and unpack ^ THAT we’re going nowhere. We’re running in place girl. Until we find that line between tough love and tearing down… we’re not even running we’re standing in place. “Not all skinfolk are kinfolk” and “People of color’s takes on racism take priority” can both coexist. And until we figure out HOW…
I’ll leave you players with this.
How old were you when you had your first ear piercing
Less than a year old
1-5 years old
5-10 years old
10-16 years old
16+
I don't have my ears pierced
Show results
See ResultsBonus points if you reblog this with where you were born/what your ethnic background is.
you know what’s fucking wild? when @end-otw-racism’s first action started in may, they were incredibly clear that they had narrow and specific demands for the otw, and that their demands were commitments the otw had already made. if you need a refresher, here are their demands:
- Harassment policies that can be regularly updated to address both on-site harassment and off-site coordinated harassment of AO3 users, with updated protocols for the Policy & Abuse Team to ensure consistent and informed resolutions of abuse claims
- A content policy on abusive (extremely racist and extremely bigoted) content; by abusive, we are talking about fanworks that are intentionally used to spread hate and harassment, not those that accidentally invoke racist or other bigoted stereotypes
- Hiring a Diversity Consultant within the next 3-6 months
- Committing to a policy of transparency on this topic, with quarterly updates on the progress of these projects including challenges and their plan for overcoming those challenges. These quarterly updates should be published on OTW News page and newsletters, not solely discussed in Board meetings
and despite the fact that these were taken specifically from the otw’s own commitments, a lot of people immediately decided that this was an overreach on the campaign’s part. they fabricated supposed secret agendas that the campaign must have; they invoked slippery slope fallacies to say that this would lead to mass content removal for anything on ao3 that even skimmed the line of racism; they claimed to know who was leading the campaign and tried to discredit the campaign based on that, because they claimed that those people had larger agendas.
despite all of that, otw themselves came out reaffirming their commitment to these priorities. which is great, but that was not the end of the work, because those commitments were made by the existing board, which is about to turn over in the upcoming board elections. it's essential to hold the incoming board accountable to the previous board's commitments.
but when @end-otw-racism’s second action around otw board elections has continued to keep those specific, clear demands in their focus, they’re getting hounded for it from the other side: by people claiming that this analysis they did of the otw board candidates – in which eotwr made it clear that they were looking at whether the candidates talked about any of the eotwr demands or not – was racist for not counting the work asian candidates raised around reaching out to non-western and non-english speaking fans as fulfilling eotwr’s demands.
(which, let’s be clear, they don’t! issues around access for non-western and non-anglophone fans, around the way chinese and chinese diaspora volunteers have been mistreated by otw, around translation, are all worthy issues to be pushing on. eotwr has even uplifted some of them. but they are separate from eotwr's core demands.)
so first eotwr is overreaching and trying to bring down every fanwork that could be even slightly misconstrued as racist, even though they’ve always been clear about their narrow and specific goals…and now they’re racist for not addressing every form of racism, even though they’ve always been clear about their narrow and specific goals?
it is completely valid for eotwr to look at the board candidates’ platforms and say “they did not mention these things that we are looking for”, because the things that eotwr is looking for are commitments otw has already made. it is not eotwr picking out certain “keywords” that they’d like to see – they are looking at whether potential incoming board members are prioritizing those specific commitments and will uphold them. and otw has had those commitments for three years! this is not new stuff!
also, if you read that analysis again, eotwr is not even criticizing the candidates for not mentioning their demands! they are simply pointing out what we can glean about the candidates from their platforms and bios, because the platforms are the main information we have about the board candidates right now. eotwr has been incredibly clear that they want to talk to candidates and learn more about their priorities. they've also been clear in urging other people to come up with their own analyses of the board candidates, and they have in fact reblogged and uplifted other people’s perspectives on the candidates.
i cannot stress enough that we need more folks in this space to be pushing on anti-racism, and eotwr having a narrow scope is not a bad thing. there is endless work to be done, and others who disagree with eotwr’s tactics should start their own campaigns! eotwr literally only started like two months ago with a call to action. it’s very possible to emulate them and push for parallel priorities.
advocacy work also needs groups with different tactics and approaches. my day job is in climate change advocacy, and we do our most effect work when multiple organizations are representing different perspectives and pushing in different ways. i'd love to see that kind of advocacy ecosystem built up in fandom.
but right now, eotwr is the only campaign i know of trying to do large-scale anti-racism work around otw at all. and to actively push against the campaign because you think it’s racist to focus on specific goals and gently critique board candidates based only on those specific goals? is, i'm sorry, fucking ridiculous.
This and also… POC can disagree on solutions and critique each other on the basis of what solutions are needed. But surprisingly, EOTWR didn’t even do that. They have been supportive of what the candidates have said they have done, at best you could state that they ended on a low note on the candidates with, “Yes this is good but they didn’t mention one of our three demands”. But like, I cannot stress this enough that if this wasn’t an antiracist movement that called itself such, people would not be upset that a single issue campaign kept hustling about a specific policy they wanted.
Like. I’m not asking why a problack prison reform campaign hasn’t said anything about other black issues (lest they be antiblack). Nor would I call said prison reform campaign critiquing Kamala Harris antiblack posers. Another example, if an anti-puppy mill campaign was working with Vegans and they reblog, support and join in their action. The campaign can support them, but still ask whether or not they support puppy mill regulations. People flipping out that POC question other POC about their specific antiracism policies as if that is calling their experiences into question is against progress. I promise you that these candidates do not give a flying and flipping fuck that other people said, “They didn’t say anything about the DEI consultant in this interview. Let’s ask them next time.”.
Also I’ve noticed people specifically making antiblack dogwhistles regarding who the mods might be. Which is… no don’t do that. You can have genuine critique of unequal treatment of candidates by the mods without going “I know what race the mods are teehee (they’re black because I think Black people are inherently ignorant)”.
EOTWR has been getting some heat for their preliminary post on the board candidates, to the point that some are disavowing the movement all together, and I’ve been wondering – are there any other organizations that are addressing the issues that you believe EOTWR hasn’t covered appropriately?
and I’m not talking about little fun fandom events where we pass fic and fanart back and forth and pat each other on the back like ‘we’re so diverse, guys! we exist!’. I’m talking organizations. a group of people that have come together and decided to push for systemic change. because as far as I know, EOTWR are the only ones doing it.
where I’m standing, though some parts weren’t worded as well as they could have been, the post is….fine? it’s fine. it introduces the candidates and their intro profiles and examines if their goals as a board member line up with EOTWR’s, which have been clearly stated from the jump. so to go into the notes and see all that has been. hm! it certainly gave me whiplash lmao.
idk, I don’t see the issue…as a black person I know intimately how diversity in a space doesn’t automatically mean that our goals will align. just because you’re a person of color doesn’t mean you aren’t capable of being racist – especially, in my case, antiblack, because antiblackness is global. so. I think it’s fine that all the candidates get the same amount of scrutiny when it comes to their goals on the board and if they bring up the concerns re: racism in the OTW that have been brought up for months.
if you think that EOTWR is falling short in places, alright. that’s certainly your right to feel that way, and no organization is perfect; it’s made by a group of people, and people will always fall short (just look at the ao3/otw lmao).
but are there any alternate groups out there doing this work as well? groups that are organizing and doing the work regarding the concerns that you have re: the otw that you feel EOTWR hasn’t addressed properly, if at all? and I’m genuinely asking because having more groups organize to put the otw’s feet to the fire is never a bad thing lmao. there should be more organizations! because EOTWR can’t be the only group out there- and they shouldn’t be. there should be more groups like them.
All right, hang on.
I get it.
When I initially read this tweet (there's more to it, link to full thread) I was upset. Like sick to my stomach upset. My initial thought was: "To brush off one a series that is still loved by millions, revitalized the figure skating community, and took LGBTQ+ representation in anime miles ahead... and call it 'insignificant?'"
Obviously it isn't. Everyone who worked on that show - from Yamamoto to Kubo to the voice actors from the JP and EN dubs... put real time, real work, and real soul into this series and it shows.
There are two things at play here that don't show up in the initial thread.