@kaymlay I'm an artist/writer and post art here whenever I can! I'm co-writer and cover artist for the series LUMBERJANES. I also have a couple Eisner nominated graphic novels: SNAPDRAGON and THIRSTY MERMAIDS I have embroideries for sale at My Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/EmbroideredBone I have another blog where I just reblog funny stuff mostly... kettlesound.tumblr.com
It's a long time coming...but it's almost here! My next graphic novel is available for pre-order!
Compelling and unforgettable, this is a year in the post-apocalyptic life of Spoke, a nonverbal cargo bicycle courier who uses ASL and serves her tight-knit surrounding communities in a world where all power sources were neutralized long ago by a mysterious force. Spoke journeys through life alone in this reverted pre-industrial landscape, but a chance connection made with a stranger suddenly makes her feel not so alone anymore.
Instead of working, I drew my new D&D character and her four sisters. It's only a one-shot but I full-ass every RP char I play. They're brass dragonborns whose family runs a brothel.
Automattic will sign a contract with OpenAI for Midjourney to learn off of Tumblr and Wordpress
Hello! Automattic, Tumblr's parent company, will sign a contract with OpenAI and Midjourney so Midjourney can learn off of Tumblr's and WordPress' art and other user data. :) (The full text of this article is copy/pasted in the cut below). You can opt out! but I truly cannot imagine a more idiotic or out of touch decision on the part of Tumblr's CEO.
First thing's first: When/if this goes live, opt out of this immediately. Do this even if you're not an artist. The more people opt out, the less valuable this contract is to Midjourney. in an ideal world, literally all of the active users would opt out, but if we can even get to 50% that's pretty delicious.
Second: Contact Tumblr Support. It's vital that you do this politely. Tumblr staff is not responsible for this decision and the point of doing this is to show the userbase's unwillingness to be involved in this, not harangue Tumblr staff. (Seriously, stop haranguing Tumblr staff). Here's a script:
Hi, I'm writing in to express my disappointment in Automattic's pending contract with OpenAI to sell user data. Midjourney is already embroiled in copyright lawsuits, and it is not possible to train it without compromising copyright, including violating the IP of artists on this site. I strongly protest this contract and will opt out if it goes live. Depending on the privacy terms around what user data is sold to OpenAI and why, it is possible I will leave the platform entirely. Thank you for your time.
Third: Download Glaze and start poisoning them prompts, my friends
Fourth: Stare into the middle distance for a second with me because holy fucking shit? How stupid can one decision be?
Tumblr and Wordpress are preparing to sell user data to Midjourney and OpenAI, according to a source with internal knowledge about the deals and internal documentation referring to the deals.
The exact types of data from each platform going to each company are not spelled out in documentation we’ve reviewed, but internal communications reviewed by 404 Media make clear that deals between Automattic, the platforms’ parent company, and OpenAI and Midjourney are imminent.
The internal documentation details a messy and controversial process within Tumblr itself. One internal post made by Cyle Gage, a product manager at Tumblr, states that a query made to prepare data for OpenAI and Midjourney compiled a huge number of user posts that it wasn’t supposed to. It is not clear from Gage’s post whether this data has already been sent to OpenAI and Midjourney, or whether Gage was detailing a process for scrubbing the data before it was to be sent.
Gage wrote:
“the way the data was queried for the initial data dump to Midjourney/OpenAI means we compiled a list of all tumblr’s public post content between 2014 and 2023, but also unfortunately it included, and should not have included:
private posts on public blogs
posts on deleted or suspended blogs
unanswered asks (normally these are not public until they’re answered)
private answers (these only show up to the receiver and are not public)
posts that are marked ‘explicit’ / NSFW / ‘mature’ by our more modern standards (this may not be a big deal, I don’t know)
content from premium partner blogs (special brand blogs like Apple’s former music blog, for example, who spent money with us on an ad campaign) that may have creative that doesn’t belong to us, and we don’t have the rights to share with this-parties; this one is kinda unknown to me, what deals are in place historically and what they should prevent us from doing.”
Gage’s post makes clear that engineers are working on compiling a list of post IDs that should not have been included, and that password-protected posts, DMs, and media flagged as CSAM and other community guidelines violations were not included.
Automattic plans to launch a new setting on Wednesday that will allow users to opt-out of data sharing with third parties, including AI companies, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, and internal documents. A new FAQ section we reviewed is titled “What happens when you opt out?” states that “If you opt out from the start, we will block crawlers from accessing your content by adding your site on a disallowed list. If you change your mind later, we also plan to update any partners about people who newly opt-out and ask that their content be removed from past sources and future training.”
404 Media has asked Automattic how it accidentally compiled data that it shouldn’t share, and whether any of that content was shared with OpenAI, but did not immediately hear back from the company. 404 Media asked Automattic about an imminent deal with Midjourney last week but did not hear back then, either.
Another internal document shows that, on February 23, an employee asked in a staff-only thread, “Do we have assurances that if a user opts out of their data being shared with third parties that our existing data partners will be notified of such a change and remove their data?”
Andrew Spittle, Automattic’s head of AI replied: “We will notify existing partners on a regular basis about anyone who's opted out since the last time we provided a list. I want this to be an ongoing process where we regularly advocate for past content to be excluded based on current preferences. We will ask that content be deleted and removed from any future training runs. I believe partners will honor this based on our conversations with them to this point. I don't think they gain much overall by retaining it.” Automattic did not respond to a question from 404 Media about whether it could guarantee that people who opt out will have their data deleted retroactively.
News about a deal between Tumblr and Midjourney has been rumored and speculated about on Tumblr for the last week. Someone claiming to be a former Tumblr employee announced in a Tumblr blog post that the platform was working on a deal with Midjourney, and the rumor made it onto Blind, an app for verified employees of companies to anonymously discuss their jobs. 404 Media has seen the Blind posts, in which what seems like an Automattic employee says, “I'm not sure why some of you are getting worked up or worried about this. It's totally legal, and sharing it publicly is perfectly fine since it's right there in the terms & conditions. So, go ahead and spread the word as much as you can with your friends and tech journalists, it's totally fine.”
Separately, 404 Media viewed a public, now-deleted post by Gage, the product manager, where he said that he was deleting all of his images off of Tumblr, and would be putting them on his personal website. A still-live post says, “i've deleted my photography from tumblr and will be moving it slowly but surely over to cylegage.com, which i'm building into a photography portfolio that i can control end-to-end.” At one point last week, his personal website had a specific note stating that he did not consent to AI scraping of his images. Gage’s original post has been deleted, and his website is now a blank page that just reads “Cyle.” Gage did not respond to a request for comment from 404 Media.
Several online platforms have made similar deals with AI companies recently, including Reddit, which entered into an AI content licensing deal with Google and said in its SEC filing last week that it’s “in the early stages of monetizing [its] user base” by training AI on users’ posts. Last year, Shutterstock signed a six year deal with OpenAI to provide training data.
OpenAI and Midjourney did not respond to requests for comment.
My latest graphic novel is coming in PAPERBACK! To celebrate, Goodreads is doing a giveaway
Check it out if you interested in messy, outcast mermaids sneaking onto land for booze and wake-up hungover only to realize they are stuck as humans! They have to learn about capitalism and clothes!
Hello! Is there anywhere one can get a copy of Pancakes? I'd like to read it but can't seem to find a copy anywhere. Thanks so much in advance for your help!
I'm afraid not! There was a very limited run on the print version, even I don't have any left.
AI "art" is not innocuous. It is having real negative impact on the arts. From magazines and book publishers deciding to use AI "art" instead of hiring illustrators, to literary magazines having to close down submissions because they've been swamped by AI "stories," to art contests being won by AI "art," opportunities for artists to make a living are already being cut, especially for newer, less established artists. Even for me, with a 20 year career and an agent, I'm seeing fewer avenues to paying work. I can't imagine being 18, wondering if there will be any way to get a job in the arts when every entry level art job will be taken up by AI by the time they're halfway through art school.
So many AI "artists" have this idea that real artists have had it too good for too long, holding creativity hostage somehow, living easy lives, when most of us have to constantly hustle just to stay regular poor instead of homeless poor, our mental and physical health in rough shape all the time. To work so hard not only to hone our skills but to take on the equally hard second job of chasing down opportunities for work, only to see those opportunities go to someone who told a computer to do all their work for them, who then turns around and says we artists don't deserve money or even attention... it's such a slap in the face. It's such a breathtaking insult added to grievous injury.
It's not that these people are using AI to *assist* the creation of their work. This isn't like Photoshop, which is a tool. PS might make some aspects of the work easier or faster, but it's still a lot of work, a lot of time, a lot of skill. AI does it all for you. AI "artists" are no different from clients who commission me. If a client describes to me in great detail what they want me to draw, and then I draw it, are they somehow the artist? No! Telling it to a computer instead of a person doesn't change that.
I know AI "art" can be interesting. It's nifty to see what we've taught computers to do. It's funny to laugh about how many fingers they have. But it's really having such a huge negative impact on the creative world right now that the drawbacks far outweigh the curiosity of it. I wish I saw more people outside of artist communities thinking about this, caring about this, talking about this.
I read Snapdragon and absolutely loved your work, which leads me to the question. I wanted to ask whether you permit getting your drawings in form of a tattoo :)
Thank you!
Always! And I love to see the result, so please share.
Where can I buy your graphic novels SuperCakes, Pancakes or Birdwitch? I just finished Snapdragon and just loved it and want to read more of your stuff but I’m having a hard time finding the other except for Thirsty Mermaids. Thanks for your help!
Thanks for asking!
Those books were all short run published by Yeti Press, a micropublisher that doesn't operate anymore.
As of now I have no plans to republish them, but all of Supercakes can be read online here.
I touch on it briefly in the book, but our 3 titular merfolk in Thirsty Mermaids met when they were 2 little, abandoned merkids and 1 very powerful, very tiny sea witchling.
In honor of MerMay, here are some more drawing of them as kids.
