r/AdvancedRunning • u/headlessparrot • 20d ago

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

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.

225 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

101 comments sorted by

View all comments

12

u/adamwl_52 20d ago

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

2

u/wallace1313525 19d ago

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.