Now that there are a bit more people in my feed, let me ask a controversial question about AI art :) So, the cover for my book uses an AI-generated image (Midjourney). I can say right away that if the book attracts some attention, the plan is to invest in a proper artist-made book cover 🧵 - ThreadSky

stepanchizhov.bsky.social • 99 days ago

Now that there are a bit more people in my feed, let me ask a controversial question about AI art :)

So, the cover for my book uses an AI-generated image (Midjourney). I can say right away that if the book attracts some attention, the plan is to invest in a proper artist-made book cover 🧵

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gedece.bsky.social•99 days ago

The main problem with AI is that in those cases we don't get the fonts of the works they derived the image from. It's a question of ethics and creative work attribution.

And that should be an important question for you, do you defend the right for your work but not other's rights to theirs?

stepanchizhov.bsky.social•99 days ago

Also, it's interesting that you made an assumption right away that 'I defend my right to work but not the others'. Especially as I mentioned in the first comment that I plan to hire an artist to do the cover as soon as it's financially feasible.

gedece.bsky.social•98 days ago

Yeah, you are right about that, it was a question to make you think about it, not an attack.

stepanchizhov.bsky.social•99 days ago

At the same time, I can't say I care much about AI scrapping any of my previous non-fiction work. It's just the reality we live in: AI is here, and it will be trained one way or another. If not the US and EU AIs, then the Chinese AIs, which will have a lower threshold for caring for these issues.

stepanchizhov.bsky.social•99 days ago

I haven't formed an opinion about them using my creative work yet. But for now, I just consider it an inevitability.

And also, that's exactly why I'm asking, to form an opinion and to see other peoples' opinions while not attacking anyone personally :)

reaja.bsky.social•97 days ago

What I'm curious about then, is why not a standard placeholder then? Why share this publicly, knowing that it contains the stolen work of artists who have objected to its use, at all?

reaja.bsky.social•97 days ago

You could have asked the question about generating them for personal use without uploading them. You don't need to be showing them to your readers. If they help you visualize your characters, so be it, but why use it to promote. That's where it becomes unethical.

stepanchizhov.bsky.social•97 days ago

I could have asked many different questions, but I asked the question I asked, which included both aspects of personal and public use. Because that's something that is happening and will continue happening whatever I or anyone else wants.

stepanchizhov.bsky.social•97 days ago

Moreover, there are people who'd say that even personal use is unethical. Hell, there's a person who has pretty similar position in this discussion already :)

stepanchizhov.bsky.social•99 days ago

Yes, I understand the issue.

I sort of don't have any problems with using it for my internal process. I don't have any issues with sharing them with a small group of alpha-readers either.

But, yes, as soon as it is something I'm making money off of, I'd prefer to be as cautious as possible.

stepanchizhov.bsky.social•99 days ago

The cover spread is something I fixed when I just started editing my second draft. There were more variants as well, but I liked this one the most. The dark one is the cover I currently use on RR.

While AI covers have a bad rep, that's not what I wanted to ask about :)

stepanchizhov.bsky.social•99 days ago

While working on the second draft, and especially when I started sharing chapters with alpha-readers, I generated an illustration for every single chapter of my book. It's sort of a part of my writing process and helps me to visualize some scenes and characters better.

stepanchizhov.bsky.social•99 days ago

It also brings some randomness to the appearances of some minor characters.

So, the main question. I've been sharing these illustrations with my alpha-readers and the response was quite positive.

Would you vote pro or against sharing these images with chapters on Patreon, for example?

stepanchizhov.bsky.social•99 days ago

Just as some bonus content to entertain everybody?

I asked a similar question on r/royalroad a while ago. But I asked specifically about sharing them on RR. And the general sentiment was it may be OK to do that, but only occasionally.

So, what's your opinion?

reaja.bsky.social•97 days ago

I skip over all books with AI generated covers. It speaks to the quality of the product and the ethics and attitude of the author toward other creators.

stepanchizhov.bsky.social•97 days ago

Yeah, no.

reaja.bsky.social•97 days ago

So you weren't actually interested in the answers to your question? This is also an interesting position to take as someone in the bookbinding community. We're all largely artisans who value each other's labor.

stepanchizhov.bsky.social•97 days ago

Look, you are making an assumption about a bunch of people based on a single marker. That's a bit narrow-minded, in my opinion.

Most of the people who I see using AI covers on Royal Road don't have money to order a cover from an artist...

stepanchizhov.bsky.social•97 days ago

...They write because it's their passion, and most of them would never monetize their writing.

Secondly, AI cover doesn't tell a thing about the contents of the book. Contents of the book tell about the contents of the book.

Thirdly, nothing of that tells about an authors' attitude towards anyone.

stepanchizhov.bsky.social•97 days ago

My attitude is that we all are doomed. I started writing only this year, and I'm sure that I'm jumping in the last carriage of a train that's leaving the station.

I'm interested in answers, but I'm not interested in blanket statements that lack any nuance.

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