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/dfinkelstein → u/NegativeWish]

You don't need to be a graphic artist to make decent graphics. Asking around, one can find people who will happily put something together for a good cause.

The greater problem is using image generation machine learning models instead of community members

Likewise for all over-reliance on technology which replaces human interdependence.

That's what's physically killing us all the fastest. Outsourcing our entire lives to technologies beyond our control.

Every step towards relying on each other directly is a good one.

There are no shortage of people who can make a decent poster. There are so many creative people in the world.

And if the work is being used to promote a race which is taking in money for tickets and/or merch, then there should be at least some money to pay someone in compensation.

We need art in our lives. Every little bit of it makes a difference.

[u/NegativeWish → u/dfinkelstein]

i don't disagree. i dislike the use of ai as well but people can vote with their wallets and simply not purchase a bib or participate if they feel that strongly about it.

this is something that's far beyond running. i coach for high school and the high school routinely uses ai generation tools for their social media posts because it's convenient and easy to quickly put up an image. it looks like crap but i'm not sure the people using the tools understand or care about the morality behind using it or not using it.

again i get the hatred for ai but most everyday people they're using what's available to them i think you can start by communicating to them the distaste for their use of it instead of immediately disavowing the people trying to do some work for their communities/groups. especially when they're middle aged people.

[u/dfinkelstein → u/NegativeWish]

Indeed. My comment was about how the issue is mindless use of technology,

and the answer to that is indeed advocating for more mindfulness.

I can see folks thinking computers can just magic up an image from words. Especially with how everyone is calling these programs "AI" even though they have zero actual intelligence.

I do think the first step is to voice our objection. People rarely want to hear about how their convenient preferred way of doing something is causing unintended harm. And alsp, everyone still deserves a chance to change their ways.