The Hard Choice: To Hold Back or to Pursue?

I used to think that posting on social media was a breeze and that there was nothing to worry about.

Upon reflecting on my past experience with social media, I realise how much it has made me aware of the impact a single post can have on how others perceive me. What if I post something in the wrong place? What if I used the wrong hashtag? How will viewers responses be to my posts? Due to the nature of social networking, it may be too late to go back and correct a mistake by the time I realise that I made one.

I realise now that I have been careless in my approach to posting pictures online. I have taken for granted the potential consequences of sharing personal photos without considering who might see them. I find myself in a dilemma regarding copyright. Vincent's (2022) blog post made me reflect on the nature of generative art. It seems that this type of art is created by pulling from various sources found online without necessarily considering the rights of usage.

As I read about the recent debates surrounding the use of generative AI in digital art competitions (Gault, 2022) and the unclear legal boundaries regarding the sharing of AI-generated artworks (Gowran, 2022), I find myself reflecting on my own rights as a user. It's making me wonder if I even have the ability to share generative artworks at all. I have been thinking a lot about the potential consequences of using generative AI in my creative work, particularly when it comes to sharing those creations online. I find it unnerving to consider the possibility of my images being the subject of a legal dispute, but it is important to be aware of the risks and take steps to protect myself and my work.

Well, I have come to realise that every journey must have a starting point. I notice that generative artwork has the ability to offer a fresh and distinctive outlook on concepts that may have previously eluded me. I personally believe that pushing creative art to the next level is highly beneficial. This has sparked a pursuit of mine to generate art in my favourite styles using photographs I took in real life. I might be wrong, but I think that having some form of ownership over our ideas allows us to argue that something is at least our own.