iPad illustration app Procreate takes a definitive stance against generative AI. More like this, please!
Procreate, arguably the best iPad illustration app, will not introduce generative AI tools as a matter of principle. Would other app makers please follow suit?
Australia-based Savage Interactive, the team behind the app, doesn’t mince words in a post titled “AI is not our future.” Generative AI is “ripping the humanity out of things,” it reads. Because AI is built “on a foundation of theft,” the AI future looks “barren.” They’re not dismissing AI: “We think machine learning is a compelling technology with a lot of merit, but the path generative AI is on is wrong for us.”
Procreate CEO James Cuda put his money where his mouth is in a video on X, promising not to add generative AI features to any products. “I don’t like what’s happening to the industry, and I don’t like what it’s doing to artists,” he said. The announcement struck a chord with creatives online, and rightfully so.
Procreate’s anti-AI stance supports human creativity
Hallelujah! Someone has finally had the guts to say aloud what many smart people have been thinking about the tech industry’s collective rush to infuse everything with AI. Savage and its founder and CEO have my full and unwavering support!
Honestly I can’t praise the company enough for framing this as a bigger issue concerning human creativity vs. machine-generated “art.” We know from the earliest engravings discovered in caves dating back to the Ice Age that visual communication is the earliest form of human creativity. But just because you can create imagery out of thin air with an AI prompt doesn’t mean you should.
I’m not saying AI has no place in creative apps; it has. But it should be used responsibly to make apps smarter and work better for people instead of trying to replace human creativity. We keep hearing about AI replacing tedious tasks, but creativity isn’t one of them so don’t you dare try replacing it with AI.
As Savage put it:
We’re here for the humans. We’re not chasing a technology that is a moral threat to our greatest jewel: human creativity. In this technological rush, this might make us an exception or seem at risk of being left behind. But we see this road less travelled as the more exciting and fruitful one for our community.
My rant against AI
Many developers behind wonderful creative apps for Apple’s platforms are scrambling to implement AI in their apps as we speak just because AI is the latest buzzword. I receive countless pitches from app creators in my inbox, and have stopped counting the number of AI mentions in their press releases.
We’re never going there. Creativity is made, not generated.
You can read more at https://t.co/9Fgh460KVu ✨ #procreate #noaiart pic.twitter.com/AnLVPgWzl3— Procreate (@Procreate) August 18, 2024
But the reality is that many developers struggle to come up with compelling AI features that would solve real-life problems. Because of such a lazy approach (“We need to have whatever AI features are trending now or we’ll fall behind the curve”), most creative apps now pave the way for a generation of lazy illustrators, composers and videographers who just prompt the hell out of everything whilst shamefully signing their work as original creation just because they took the easy route and couldn’t be bothered to, you know, actually be creative. As Savage puts it, “creativity is made, not generated.”
Another thing Savage does well
Another thing Savage does well besides crafting award-winning apps and taking a moral stance against AI is being fair to customers. Despite being one of the highest-quality apps you can get on iPadOS and among the best illustration apps for any platform, Procreate hasn’t embraced a rolling subscription model like its rivals have.
Procreate for iPad costs $13 a pop on the App Store. There are no hidden costs or in-app purchases. You buy it once and own it forever, imagine that! Procreate Pocket is an iPhone-only version of the app. And if you’re into animation, Procreate Dreams lets you create engaging, rich 2D animations (and there are no subscriptions).
Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2024/08/20/procreate-ipad-app-takes-stance-against-ai/
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