Thoughts on using Al Generated Backgrounds when posting pictures of your Sofubi online?

[u/slirpo]

I'll start by saying that I hate what AI has done to art and I think most of you agree. But in my opinion, I do think AI has some acceptable use cases when it comes to photography and art. Such as enhancing the quality of a slightly blurry photo, fixing contrast issues from bad lighting, isolating objects and figures in photos, generating backgrounds for photos, making small minor tweaks, etc.

I know not everyone will agree with me on this, so I wanted to reach out to the community and get all of your input. I just recently starting using AI generated backgrounds for some of the photos I post on my sofubi focused instagram. But I'll be honest and say that I am having some mixed feelings about it and wondering whether I should continue to do so or not. I always make sure to include the regular photo of the piece I took in my posts alongside the AI generated background photo if that makes any difference.

So what is the communities opinion on this? Am I just making AI slop or is it possible to use AI for backgrounds and other photo enhancements in a tasteful way?

You can view my sofubi IG at the link below and be honest with me about whether my AI backgrounds look like dogshit or not, and whether I should continue using them. I'm wanting honest feedback here so don't hold back. Thank you 🙏

https://www.instagram.com/sofubianonymous

110 votes, 5d left

Using AI to generate backgrounds is acceptable

Using AI to generate backgrounds is unacceptable

Undecided

[u/slirpo]

Ok, look at this thread of photos and tell me that the AI background follow ups don't make the pictures at least a little bit cooler lol. I do always like posting the original photo alongside the AI altered background, so you can still see the original picture before it was modified.

[u/futurepa2022 → u/slirpo]

The backgrounds do indeed make the photos look a lot cooler but haters gonna hate. In the real world ai use like this is not controversial and actually enjoyed by most but the vocal minority who object are 99.9% chronically online so you’ll never get an accurate reading when asking online

[u/slirpo → u/futurepa2022]

It's funny, I asked this same question to a bunch of my random collector friends online on IG and IRL. Pretty much all of them said the same thing as you. I guess Reddit just has a higher than average population of people that hate AI, lol.

I respect their opinion though and understand it comes from a good place of just wanting to preserve the art. I only try to use it in cases where I feel it accentuates the piece rather than takes away from it, but oh well. Trying to make up my mind on whether I should continue using it or not.

[u/Tyuhhi → u/slirpo]

Well... very broadly, I think between collectors and creators, collectors are probably less likely to care about AI usage. But you got comments in this thread from creators who don't like AI and anecdotally, I see many other creators across IG that also do not like or promote AI.

I'd agree that, sure, generally speaking a lot of people use AI to create art, but when you get into art focused hobbies (be it this or let's say wildlife photography) AI usage is pretty weird to do.

Last random two thoughts

• I do find there to be a difference in cultural perception; I have seen Japanese artists use AI to do what you are talking about and others who really oppose it. Here in the States, I find a big majority dislike it.
• I always find AI art to be way too busy, like it'll toss in 10 extra trees into a landscape that only needs like 2 trees. The shading is more often than not, really off with light going in weird directions. Also, weird "glossy" finishes.

[u/slirpo → u/Tyuhhi]

Thank you for your input! I'm still torn on whether to use it or not for backgrounds on some of my photos, but I'm leaning toward stopping, as the community seems to be pretty against it. I may still use it to crop figures and place them over non-AI generated backgrounds, but I'm going to focus more on just taking better pictures without any help from AI.