DeviantArt Users Irate As Site Introduces AI Art Generator 'DreamUp' That Draws From Artists' Original Work

Yet another company has attempted to embrace the Web3 so-called future of the internet, only for many of its customers to strongly voice their opposition to the change. This time, rather than a video game publisher, movie studio, social media juggernaut or television conglomerate, the culprit is DeviantArt.

Last week, DeviantArt released DreamUp, an AI art generator powered by Stable Diffusion that culls the original artworks on the website so people can generate "most anything you can DreamUp!"

We’re introducing new AI tools and controls!
✨DreamUp, a new tool to generate art
🎮Control the amount of AI art in your feed
🏷️Clear labeling of art that’s AI-generated
🫡A directive to opt out of AI datasets
🎨Ability to opt out of prompts
👩‍🎓 https://t.co/U4qIyC2Cv6

— DeviantArt (@DeviantArt) November 11, 2022

At the time of writing, the above tweet has 8,600 quote-tweets to 400 retweets, a ratio that alludes to how this feature is being received.

Many users were horrified to discover that the art they had been uploading onto DeviantArt was now available for anyone to knick for AI Art generations. DeviantArt appeared aware of the backlash this would cause, writing a clause in their announcement that stated:

DeviantArt did not consent to third-party technology usage of images on our site, which were used to train AI models. In an effort to combat future unauthorized usage, we have enacted “noai” -- an industry-first directive alerting AI models of deviants' desires to opt out.

Though the company seemed aware of the concerns of artists who did not want to have their pieces fed into a generator, upon launch, the company made every piece on the site available for AI Art. Users had to manually go through every one of their pieces and click the "noai" button to opt each one out of DreamUp.

Hey @DeviantArt, remember how we like eachother & you even commissioned me one time (attached)? I'm several deviations into unchecking each little "not authorized 3rd party AI" checkbox and this is ABSURD.

Let us batch opt out our whole galleries, by default, or I'm deactivating https://t.co/XQFnmeRelT pic.twitter.com/am7GWZuxRc

— Nicholas Kole (@FromHappyRock) November 11, 2022

DeviantArt has decided your artwork there is fair game to be used in their new AI generator by default. You have to go to an obscure form to opt-out and requires 10 days to be reviewed. https://t.co/CZhnuXk39s

— RJ Palmer (@arvalis) November 11, 2022

Aware of the massive backlash caused by DreamUp, DeviantArt swiftly reversed course, making it so users have to opt in to allow their art to be used by DreamUp, rather than opt-out.

Update: We heard the community feedback, and now ALL deviations are automatically labeled as NOT authorized for use in AI datasets. https://t.co/QnTPc3TA8a pic.twitter.com/pnQVgIsFkA

— DeviantArt (@DeviantArt) November 12, 2022

It's unclear how many artworks were already culled by DreamUp prior to the update. Furthermore, considering the intense backlash to DreamUp, it's difficult to imagine many users will opt into allowing their art to be fed into DreamUp. It seems DeviantArt is hoping it will be exciting enough to entice paying subscribers.

Currently, the site allows users to enter a set number of free prompts before paywalling the feature for paying members. However, if there's little art to generate from, one wonders if DreamUp will be a feature worth paying for.