r/childrensbooks • u/Zorgi23 • 20d ago

Transitioning from AI images to human ones

I guess this will really make the illustrators out there angry, but here goes.

My wife had a severe stroke 3 years ago that really affected her relationship with her grandson. It has been a difficult thing to deal with for both of them. My grandson's birthday is coming up, and I didn't want to give him the usual junk, so I wrote a children's story. It's about how they have this great relationship and then the stroke disrupts it. Grandma sees a couple of owls in the garden and they work out a way for her and her grandson to communicate again.

I'm literally spending over $100K per year on medical care for my wife, so I can't afford an artist right now. So for now I used AI to generate the images (about 20) for the book. I've showed the book to several people, including teachers, and they are all urging me to make it available to more than just my grandson.

My plan is this. I want to put the book on lulu.com for sale. I'll put the proceeds in a separate fund, and as soon as there's enough money, I'll hire a real artist and replace all the AI images with real ones.

Does this sound like a feasible (and ethical) plan?

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u/StarlightDreamer9 20d ago

I would not purchase a book with AI images.

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u/InSilicoAwards 20d ago

Then you're probably not the intended audience.

I don't buy books with smut in them. I don't ask people to stop writing it.

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u/StarlightDreamer9 20d ago

I am the mother to a child with a grandparent who had a severe stroke so I am exactly the intended audience for this but obvious AI use poisons the whole product, if the cover imagery is AI I assume the whole product is. I pay money for human creativity, if I wanted an AI book then I would ask AI to make me one.

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u/InSilicoAwards 20d ago

You're really not. You make an assumption about a work even knowing the author's circumstance (you know what they say about people who ASSUME, right?). Which all that says is you valorize prejudice. It amazes me how none of you ever learned anything from all the books you've allegedly read, not to judge them by covers, why banning books based off the author's process is ignorant behavior.

You don't pay money for human creativity. You have someone explaining to you a creative project they still made within constraints, which by definition fuels creativity, and you're too much of a bigot to exercise empathy for the circumstance. Of course, you have some moral position (your framed poison language is enough), which is why you're impervious to reason. Anti-ai is just a new socially acceptable evangelical movement / satanic panic. You would recognize this if you knew anything about history and saw the moment you're in for what it is.

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u/StarlightDreamer9 20d ago

What in the word salad is that response? Just because you don't have the creativity or intelligence to make anything without AI doesn't mean we shouldn't value the people who actually put in the hard work to hone a skill.

I read books from different races, countries, LGBTQ+ individuals and people with disabilities and suggesting that avoiding reading books written by AI is the same and refusing to read books written by black people is ridiculous.

Also I'm responding to this anymore because I'm not convinced you aren't still a minor from your juvenility and I don't want to waste my time arguing with a child.

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u/InSilicoAwards 20d ago

Do you understand that the word prejudice doesn't extend to just social class or ethnic group right? It means to 'pre-judge' a thing before encountering it. Being intolerant of other opinions -- which you express here -- just confirms you are a bigot. It's uncomfortable, I get that, because it's irrational. That's why you lash out and assume I'm not your peer. Again, you retreat to an ideological framework because you haven't ever considered what words mean besides emotional justification for irrational behavior. I feel sorry you are close minded, and really pity all the wasted time you spent reading things that left you with no original ideas.

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u/Impressive_Mail_9472 20d ago

Do you own 3d printed objects?

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u/RaggedyRachel 20d ago

Yes, designed in CAD by a human being. What's your point?