# The Fragmented Landscape of AI Art Communities: A Growing Concern
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Chapter 1: The Struggle of AI Artists
As a participant in multiple generative AI art communities, I find that staying updated can be quite overwhelming. Questions race through my mind each morning: What are the current challenges? How many credits do I have? Should I create this piece here or on another platform? What are the pros and cons of submitting to specific services? Is this artwork for personal enjoyment or intended for a portfolio on one of these sites? While some artists may choose to focus solely on platforms like Midjourney, the prevailing trend is to disperse one’s work across various sites, leading to numerous complications.
Even a year ago, when I was exclusively using Midjourney, I faced similar dilemmas while sharing my work on Twitter and Instagram, as well as utilizing it for my personal projects such as articles and advertisements. So, what’s the core issue? The crux of the matter is that many AI artists are spreading their efforts too thinly across a multitude of platforms, which not only complicates their process but also poses challenges for potential followers. Just because a username is available on one site doesn’t mean it will be on another. Additionally, what happens if you can’t be easily searched by your username on a specific platform? How did we end up in this situation, and how can we remedy it?
Section 1.1: The Platform Dilemma
The fundamental problems arise from the AI image generator platforms themselves. Most of these platforms aim to create communities around either lightly upscaled images or those with no alterations at all. This approach is intended to ensure fair comparisons during challenges and contests. However, many of these platforms now operate under pay-only models, placing those who don’t subscribe at a significant disadvantage. The features that come with these subscriptions often require minimal expertise, making it feel like a pay-to-win scenario for site-hosted competitions.
Subsection 1.1.1: The Remix Culture
An intriguing aspect of these platforms is the practice of remixing others’ work. Initially, when AI image-generation tools were still developing, this concept was emerging but has since become a significant part of various platforms like TensorArt, SeaArt, and Playground AI. The idea of building something novel from another artist's work and engaging with their creations through likes is even prevalent on Midjourney. However, this practice comes with its own set of challenges, particularly the redundancy in the images produced. Platforms like SeaArt often feature a top 10 that overwhelmingly consists of similar anime-style images. The AI art community seems to continually generate variations of the same Marvel superheroes. While it's clear these images resonate with audiences, a more limited number of platforms might foster greater diversity in artistic expression.
Section 1.2: The Burden of Engagement
One more challenge to consider is the need to stay engaged across multiple community platforms. This requires constant monitoring of contests, challenges, likes, and interactions from other creators. What may seem manageable at first becomes burdensome when juggling three or four platforms daily. This engagement often necessitates creating new works for various challenges, adding to the workload. Additionally, responding to followers and appreciating their art can consume significant time, especially when spread across multiple sites. For instance, Playground AI incentivizes engagement by offering credits for liking suggested images, but the sheer number of platforms with similar systems can quickly become overwhelming.
Chapter 2: Seeking Balance in a Crowded Space
The primary issue lies in the vast number of platforms, each presenting exclusive image generation, posting, and community systems, which complicates the experience for the average artist. Since this is largely a volunteer-driven activity aimed at gaining recognition rather than financial reward, inconsistencies in usernames across platforms further complicate matters. Even if you try to maintain the same name, availability can vary greatly, or your work may not be easily searchable by username. So, what do these communities truly offer? Is it recognition or merely credits for more art? Perhaps both, but the question remains: is this effort worth your time?
It might be wiser to view these platforms as enjoyable diversions rather than serious avenues for popularity. Embrace your work with pride, experiment beyond your usual style, but perhaps investing too much in any single community—or any community at all—could be a misallocation of effort.
While the current framework for fostering communities and generating interest is far from ideal, I’m uncertain that a more consolidated approach would be preferable. Such a shift would likely lead to a system where paying for image generation becomes the norm. The AI image generation ecosystem has demonstrated a tendency to prioritize short-term profits over long-term sustainability. In the coming years, we may either witness the emergence of a completely new system or one that revolves around existing platforms like Midjourney. For now, however, it appears that artists seeking to create and share their images without incurring monthly costs face yet another layer of complexity.
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