Hi friends, mod here.

I want to take a moment to address the issue of low-quality AI-generated content that occasionally gets posted in this community.

While /c/comicstrips hasn’t had a specific rule about this until now, it’s become clear that some AI-generated comics being shared fall well below the standard of quality we aim to maintain. These low-effort posts not only disrupt the overall experience for readers, but they also devalue the hard work of the illustrators and artists who contribute original content here.

Starting today, a new rule is in place:

AI-generated comics are no longer allowed in this community.

Thanks for understanding and helping keep /c/comicstrips a high-quality space for everyone who loves comics.

  • TommySoda@lemmy.world
    1422·
    17 days ago

    Just make a comic with stick figures. Cyanide and Happiness literally became famous for doing it and turned into a semi-refined art style. You don’t need AI if you got a good joke on your hands.

    • ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      525·
      17 days ago

      Exactly, the art style doesn’t matter if the written content is good. But this doesn’t need to exclude AI at all, because as you mention the art style is not the critical piece. I don’t care if the art is made by AI, as long as the written content is good.

      • AFK BRB Chocolate (CA version)@lemmy.ca
        10·
        17 days ago

        My biggest problem is included in the “but they also devalue the hard work of the illustrators and artists who contribute original content here” part of the original post, especially since the AIs are trained on copyrighted work.

    • Lembot_0004@discuss.online
      584·
      17 days ago

      So if you’re ok with low quality, why then you object about AI comics quality which is mostly significantly higher than “stick figures”?

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
        662·
        17 days ago

        There’s a difference between “low quality” and “simple”. Cyanide and Happiness, to use their example was simple, not low quality.

      • TommySoda@lemmy.world
        493·
        17 days ago

        Because I believe stick figures are of a higher quality than AI. An AI generated comic shows me that you cared so little about it that you couldn’t even draw stick figures. And this has nothing to do with effort, but artistic intent. It shows that whoever did it had no desire to inject themselves into the comic and would rather have it look generic and bland. Fidelity does not equal quality.

      • psx_crab@lemmy.zipEnglish
        232·
        17 days ago

        Because AI “art” being posted around isn’t even consistent throughout the panel, and is often devoid of effort and context so even when it’s not that interesting, it’s not even pleasant to look at.

        Comic artist like C&H and Oatmeal, while having terrible art, at least are funny and with context. There’s human in it, and they can call the style their “own”, even if it’s stick figure it’s stick figure with distinction. AI art just make you think “is this made from AI?”

        You want people to appreciate AI comic? Sure, do the touch up first and make everything consistent.

        • Ibuthyr@lemmy.wtf
          7·
          17 days ago

          Oatmeal is actually pretty well drawn. Not a good example. Xkcd would have been a better one.

          • psx_crab@lemmy.zipEnglish
            11·
            17 days ago

            Fair point. XKCD, Casually Explained, and MinuteScience all are stick figure but they still have some distinctive way to do their thing.

        • bobbyguy@lemmy.world
          01·
          5 days ago

          ai isn’t lazy, it opens up the art industry to people who cant draw, and people who are worried about their art careers need to remember that ai cant make physical art, and there’s already enough hate for ai that will definitely still be demand for human made art, so just draw or paint on a physical canvas, or find the people who have a demand for human made art

          • Mike Hunt@lemmy.mlEnglish
            1·
            5 days ago

            Disagree on that first bit a lot, drawing is a skill you have to learn, Jumping to AI right away because you don’t want to take on the hours of learning is just lazy.

            • bobbyguy@lemmy.world
              11·
              4 days ago

              i don’t understand why people don’t like ai, its just a very new and advanced tool, it makes peoples lives more convenient and can intelligently solve problems, we used to have manual long range communication like mail services, it would take days or weeks for people to send short one paragraph messages to each other (in this analogy this is equivalent to the pre ai art industry where you could either learn to create art yourself or commission an artwork.) then we developed telegraphs and radio and telephones and eventually smart phones which among other things can allow to people on opposite sides of the world to communicate with almost zero delay (in the post ai art industry almost anyone can create almost anything in a matter of minutes or seconds, something that used to take hours days or weeks to achieve has been streamlined, made cheaper, and more available to the general public)

              in both industries automated systems replaced most of the workforce. lots of people were put out of jobs because it was economically more efficient to automate the process for the most part. just like how there are still people in the mail industry delivering packages and of course physical letters, there will still be human artists in the future. the industry will just be smaller and people wont create art for the sake of looking the best, or for the sake of making money, people will personally create art because they want to appreciate it and share it with other people.

              so i really don’t see why ai is a bad thing, all its doing is streamlining the industries it can be applied to.

  • SavvyWolf@pawb.socialEnglish
    534·
    17 days ago

    People say that AI generated art displays a lack of talent, but I think that’s not exactly true.

    This technology steals the work of artists, funnels money into the hands of dictators and megacorps, poisons towns populated by minorities and sets the planet on fire. Defending all of that requires a level of talent in lacking empathy that’s almost admirable.

  • Mac@mander.xyzEnglish
    423·
    17 days ago

    Was ready to unfollow and block.
    Glad we decided to preserve the integrity of the art.

    Let the ai-bro tears flow.

    • VitoRobles@lemmy.todayEnglish
      19·
      17 days ago

      Same. I want to see web comics here, and the occasional newspaper comic artist.

      Ai comics can go to find their own community.

  • Rayquetzalcoatl@lemmy.worldEnglish
    33·
    17 days ago

    Thank you for making this choice, and keeping this community worth visiting. And thank you for the hard work you do in moderating!

  • ordnance_qf_17_pounder@reddthat.com
    342·
    17 days ago

    I’m not against the posting of AI generated content, but it should be confined to communities that were specifically set up for AI content.

  • hperrin@lemmy.caEnglish
    311·
    17 days ago

    low-quality AI-generated content

    Is there any other kind?

  • erlend_sh@lemmy.world
    18·
    17 days ago

    Excellent decision! The simplest way to enforce this would be to require all comic strip submissions to include a source link.