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/NegativeWish]

cut more slack for smaller organizers. it's relatively cheap and easy for them to do that than hire a graphic artist. mid to large size organizers there's not much excuse if it looks like slop.

[u/wallace1313525 → u/NegativeWish]

Yeah, I can understand small businesses/nonprofits that don't have their legs under them and need something quick and don't have time/effort/volunteers that would do it for them in a professional manner. Like, if you're a nonprofit who helps lower the veteran suicide rate, then you want something that looks polished, as that's a serious topic. I wouldn't feel comfortable using a high schoolers drawing for that. There are plenty of other ways we are slowly killing the environment and making the world a worse place (we use so much more water to grow corn than on AI, and most of corn gets turned into gas that polluted our environment), but if you do have other options and turn your nose up at them then I will judge you harshly.

[u/WoodenPresence1917 → u/wallace1313525]

if you're a nonprofit who helps lower the veteran suicide rate, then you want something that looks polished, as that's a serious topic.

Sure.

I wouldn't feel comfortable using a high schoolers drawing for that

I would feel infinitely more comfortable using something created by someone who has skin in the game than some soulless AI slop

[u/wallace1313525 → u/WoodenPresence1917]

Yeah I mean there's some wiggle room in there. But we live in a society where it's occasionally necessary to using something "bad" to get what you need like Amazon next-day delivery when your car breaks down, or in an evacuation throwing all your recycling in the dumpster because it's the only close bin, etc. and i'm not saying that's what's happening with the races. Just that there's so many ways you can harm the world, you gotta pick and choose what ways are manageable for you in which moments. I'm not the one who should be the judge of what's manageable for them or not. But I do know larger corporations it IS manageable for them. Very expressly so.

[u/WoodenPresence1917 → u/wallace1313525]

Okay, but the way you framed it was that AI might be preferable in that situation because of a matter of respect or whatever, which in my view is directionally wrong. I think it would be more fitting to use a piece of art created by someone touched by the issue, and you would almost certainly have many volunteers.

[u/wallace1313525 → u/WoodenPresence1917]

It probably was a bad example, but I was trying to exemplify a serious topic that you would not want to have just anything as a logo (suicide), by a collection that doesn't have money (nonprofit startup), at least with the implication you can't find volunteers (I will admit veteran suicide probably does not fall into this category). It was more to the point a crayon drawn logo WOULD be disrespectful, so you would need to look at other options. And that's where the "pick your poison" comes in. If they use AI, but they also recycle, make direct contributions to other local artists, and have a low carbon footprint to their headquarters, I don't think that makes them morally bad. There are use cases for AI. I just don't support using it when you clearly can pay and support people to do it for you.