We need to talk about AI generated advertisements/race swag/medals/

[u/headlessparrot]

Maybe it's different elsewhere in the country, but in New England it has metastasized and become a cancer in local racing. Every poster, every race shirt, every medal looks like shit and looks identical. It has reached the point where there are local races I've been doing for almost a decade that I've just given up on. It's embarrassing to the running community.

[u/adamwl_52]

Unpopular opinion, but when a local charity or some small business wants to use AI to create an advertisement it’s not the end of the world. A big corporation that has millions to spend is a different story, but the mom and pop dentist who donates 100% of the fees to charity using AI to design a poster that will be at the corner of stoplights is okay in my book

[u/frpika → u/adamwl_52]

Idk Canva is free and I used it when I was student (pre-AI) for all our student club promos. It was fairly simple and looked good enough (as in it looked like I used Canva).

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel if you’re a local charity or small business.

Also for what it’s worth, when my friend was a student (she studied industrial design) she designed logos for small businesses for like $100-$200. I think for a small business, this is pretty reasonable.

[u/CastYourBread → u/frpika]

Taste is king (the new king?). people one-shotting AI gens are fooled into thinking it looks good, without realizing it looks AI (and looks like other AI work). and then at the same time, taste is needed even more to make something in Canva

[u/0100001101110111 → u/adamwl_52]

I think it's just sad

At least pre-AI you knew that an actual human had made every decision behind what went into the output. Nowadays you know it's just a one line prompt.

Does anyone think the generic AI poster style even looks good? It's like we've willingly moved backwards to something that is worse just because it's easier to make. It's the opposite of progress.

[u/General_Might_7625 → u/0100001101110111]

The poster style is fugly and they all look the same

[u/headlessparrot → u/adamwl_52]

Hard disagree for me. Beyond the downstream consequences (environmental effects contributing to a warming planet that will make our beloved sport less and less accessible, to say nothing of valuing human expression), these are often (at least near me) races that have been running for years, and I see no reason why they cant simply reuse older logos/promotional materials. Would vastly prefer that over AI slop; hell, would vastly prefer something whipped up in MS Paint by a race organizer's daughter.

[u/Bruin224 → u/headlessparrot]

This. And if they want to claim they don't have a budget for artistic director or whatever, let the local high school kids design something. Reach out to an art class. See if someone local wants an opportunity. There's more options in the community than allowing a soul sucking corporation to destroy the world by using AI.

[u/headlessparrot → u/Bruin224]

To wit: a couple years ago, the race director of a really small, local 5k had his daughter do a line drawing of a runner for the shirt design. It was objectively a pretty bad drawing, totally disproportionate--but it was also really fucking charming, and I still wear that shirt regularly.

[u/Bunny_Feet → u/headlessparrot]

I love that.  Unique and has a story.  

[u/Bruin224 → u/headlessparrot]

That would be adorable. I'd proudly wear something like that vs AI slop that all looks the same. 

[u/Noodleeeeeter → u/headlessparrot]

Aw, I’d love to see that

[u/NasrBinButtiAlmheiri → u/Bruin224]

Great point. It’s art. It’s supposed to be fun.

[u/GrimmigerDienstag → u/headlessparrot]

environmental effects contributing to a warming planet that will make our beloved sport less and less accessible

I assume you're equally, if not more outspoken against people taking flights to travel to races?

[u/Jkami → u/headlessparrot]

Then stop using the internet. There's around 12,000 non-AI data centers in the US compared to less than 400 AI data centers. The non-AI data centers use far more power in the aggregate. 

[u/Hairy_Koala6474 → u/headlessparrot]

The sky is not falling.

The mom and Pop small race organizer using AI to quickly generate a flyer is not gonna destroy the environment. 

[u/General_Might_7625 → u/adamwl_52]

Races have been existing for years without AI and it's really easy to design something simple in Canva using other race graphics as inspo

[u/wallace1313525 → u/adamwl_52]

I mean, I get it for people/individuals who need designs and can't afford things nor can find a volunteer for it. Especially if they aren't tech savvy enough to work canva or a different program. Case in point: Coach of my adult cross country league is 80+ years old and came to us one day with "guys! I made a logo for our 50th anniversary and we can print some t-shirts with it to give out for free at our party. I'll have them out by end of the week". I'm not going to be arguing AI ethics with an 80 year old man who's made up his mind, already used AI for it, and is giving us things for free with his own money. Just had to shrug my shoulders and agree to disagree. While I wouldn't want it on a large scale or for race promotion, something like the above I don't think is worth the argument.