Artists Beware! Please read if you have a DeviantArt account:
https://twitter.com/DeviantArt/status/1591113199218487300?s=20&t=4k4OiBqcoEj0GgFm5_zKDg
DeviantArt have just announced that they're launching their own ai art generator, and every deviation that has ever been posted has been automatically opted in - I've checked this for myself and every one of my own artworks now needs to be manually changed in the settings of every single deviation otherwise they'll be used.
To have your artist username exempted from prompts you have to fill in a Google form to be approved by a human, and you must prove that you operate under your respective alias to ask them not to use it - read more here
Suffice to say I'm livid, I've been on DeviantArt for a decade and I'm going to shut down my account once I've manually opted out my hundreds of deviations. On their promotion page for the new tool they'll emphasize that it's *totally within the control of the artists* showing an image of the checked box that opts you out, while not mentioning that all of your previous deviations are already opted in by default.
I would recommend that anyone who has similar plans as me and wants to leave the site should manually opt-out for every deviation before shutting down your account, just to be on the safe side because I'm not sure if just deactivating your account would count as opting out.
I'll try to keep this post updated with accurate and up-to-date information since AI related stuff can quickly cause a frenzy online - don't hesitate to DM me with any new information and I'll update it here!
After an update on their Twitter and some additions by other users I'm adding that apparently they will not directly use deviations for their own AI generator per se, but you still need to fill in the manual form to stop your username (and by extension art) from being used in their AI generator as a prompt, and you still need to manually opt-out all of your deviations so third-party generators don't have permission to use them. (At least that is my understanding currently of the situation)
I wanted to make that new distinction since it means my post wasn't entirely accurate, in that your deviations are not directly going into *their* generator by default. However it's still incredibly vague as to where they're getting the data to make these generated images, and the presence of the manual opt-out form would imply that it's very much possible for your art to end up in their AI process if you don't apply to have your name blocked as a prompt.
Slightly less bad, but still pretty awful and it's not very reassuring with how unclear this announcement has been
Another update, they've now added a way to toggle AI permissions on and off for your entire account:
