this post was submitted on 09 May 2025
400 points (93.7% liked)

furry_irl

1589 readers
400 users here now

"For the fur in u"

Welcome to Furry_irl, a community for furry memes, shitposts, and other relatable images or comics.

Community rules:

  1. Code of Conduct — Follow our instance rules.
  2. Post formatting — All titles should be a single word, followed by _irl. An emoji may substitute the underscore.
  3. Credit artists — If it's not your art, include who made it in the title or the post body. Links are appreciated, except to X/Twitter.
  4. Stay on topic — Images should contain or be related to furries. Images should be relatable or a meme. This isn't the place for general art posts.
  5. Avoid AI images — Our fandom has countless artists, please share their (or your own) labors of love instead.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Source (Bluesky)

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 32 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I have a pretty quick ~$500 phone (snapdragon 8 gen 3) and tried this local AI app once (just something on fdroid, you could probably find it) but the experience was pretty terrible. Like a minute per image on the small local models from 2022. I'm sure you could do better, but my conclusion is that an $800 phone is as useful as a $60 phone for generative ai because you're going to have to use some remote service anyways.

[–] mindbleach 17 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

A minute per image, on a pocket computer, sounds like Marty McFly Jr. making a three-second pizza and going "C'mon, c'mon!'

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 weeks ago

Hehe "borrowed"

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 weeks ago (10 children)

What does that phrase even mean? Asking something else to make something for you is not artistic, so it can't be that. People who commission other humans to make things aren't suddenly artists. If they literally just mean consumption of images, it's not as if web searching for images has been difficult for the last couple decades at this point. If you don't care about art at all and just want content, there are lifetimes of things you could look for readily available to indulge. Just start typing and away you go! Literally the only thing that has changed is that now you are accelerating dead internet theory and removing human interaction from what you consume. Of course, if you don't care about art that is a moot point, since human self-expression and communication never meant anything to you in the first place.

At best, the phrase should be specialized, on demand consumption of niche content is more accessible, not art.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 weeks ago (9 children)

Artists understand that art is primarily about self-expression. Non-artists often instead think art is about producing nice pictures. When all nice pictures come with self-expression baked in, the two groups seem to be on the same page, but when a computer makes nice pictures that are completely devoid of self-expression, we find out they're not on the same page at all.

load more comments (9 replies)
load more comments (9 replies)
[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

If what you need is a constant stream of ever-changing imagery that you don’t glance at for more than a second or two before moving on, I’m sure AI is great for that. So are jangling keys and those slime ASMR videos. But if that’s what you want from viewing or making art, you are an alien to me.

[–] agamemnonymous 11 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

I use it for illustrations of characters, items, and locations for my homebrew TTRPG campaign. That's basically exactly what happens: party looks at it once, gets a general idea, and usually never looks at it again. Without AI, I just wouldn't have the illustrations; I'm not commissioning art that's going to get looked at once.

I wouldn't call that "art", in any real sense. They're visual aids, not aesthetic masterpieces.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Without AI, I just wouldn't have the illustrations

Well, this situation has existed for a long time. You can buy extant asset packs, no commission necessary. They’re not too expensive, either. As you noted they are just visual aids. Actually I happen to have a supermassive amount laying around from random humble bundles over the years, that were pack-ins with other items I wanted

No judgement or anything, it’s just far from an “AI or nothing” situation

[–] agamemnonymous 3 points 3 weeks ago (15 children)

I'm very particular, and my setting is not thematically typical. AI gives me the power to have a decent degree of control over the content when it's difficult, if not impossible, to find media that's appropriate for a particular character or scene.

load more comments (15 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (10 children)

As much as i hate AI generated art, this is a shit argument. You can run an AI on your phone (which you would have anyway) without a subscription. You can also doodle on your phone for free.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Yeah I feel it would be better if they they have shown the sheer cost of making these models and their upkeep instead.

It's perfectly fine price to use in cancer treatment. But when they mention AI girlfriends I want to scream.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago

It's not even the cost of training the AI. A better argument is that using AI for art is pure fucking laziness in 99.9% of cases.

Also, why have an AI waifu when you can have a real one and touch grass at the same time?

load more comments (9 replies)
[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 weeks ago (10 children)

I wish we could start arguing about the ethics of compensation for training data and requiring a concrete way to both protect opt-out, as well as compensate those who contribute, rather than argue about a product that absolutely does have a user base (as is continually proven). I don't think there's a win against the demand, but you can win the ethics battle and force better regulations.

load more comments (10 replies)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago

I keep seeing this kind of argument, and I understand, but I disagree.

The comparison isn't between using an ai service and doing it yourself, but rather between using an ai service and commissioning an actual artist. I can afford $20/mo for infinite mediocrity. I cannot afford $20/image (or more depending on the artist).

Of course, there is a flaw in my argument, in that I was assuming that the techbro was being honest. People aggressively pushing dalle or midjourney or whatever aren't interested in "making art accessible". They hate art and artists, and want to force creative types to be miserable doing jobs they hate. I have to remind myself that this is the kind of person that the comic is complaining about.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Lol right, because there are no free AI art services and you need a dedicated iPhone to do AI art. OP forgot to add $400 for a leather upholstered "gaming chair".

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] mindbleach 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

What someone practiced can do with nothing, and what a newbie can do with nothing, drastically differ.

These dipshits are trying to communicate that this tech offers half-decent results. Immediately. For no effort. They could surely do better, themselves... if they spent an entire year trying. Opportunity be damned, most people just don't want to. Developing a skill is a process that sucks. Vanishingly few people learn to paint portraits, and code games, and play piano. But any idiot can now use a program to do a half-assed job of all three.

Experienced artists, programmers, and musicians will recognize the flaws. They can declare the results useless slop. But it's being generated by people who would do even worse without it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)
[–] mindbleach 6 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

That's nice.

Meanwhile, the average person only sees results. They do not seem to share your fundamental aversion to how a JPG was made. They didn't experience whatever grand philosophical journey produced it. It doesn't need to be artisanal grass-fed human Art.™ It either provokes an emotional response, or not.

If AI slop is a text in the absence of subtext, it is still a text. Comes with death-of-the-author built in. And people can still say something with works they did not make themselves... as you're doing right now.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (6 replies)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

You could run it on your own PC instead

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

You could also draw in the sand with a stick or piss in the snow. I'm pretty sure the point is it doesn't take advanced technology to make art.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah it didn't take computers or anything to make art. More about the artists than the method right?

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Then instead of a subscription, you're paying for a gpu and power. Not everyone has the money for a computer, but pretty much anyone can afford a pencil and paper.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

Oh yeah, I forgot everyone is born with inmate talent, time and privilege.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (4 children)

(Unavailable at source)

Source (Bluesky)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I know what I want to draw, but there's something missing between that idea and the paper. I can imagine what I want it to look like, in a way, but only as a vague reification of a concept, not as something made of lines and colors, and it's useless for trying to get it down on paper. I inevitably end up with something so far from my original idea that it's massively discouraging.

I expect that I'd develop a better eye for this sort of thing if I was to practice it for years, but it's very difficult to feel motivated to do that when you can't produce anything remotely like what you were going for.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago

To be blunt, I think the powers behind project 2025 do believe the common man has inmate talent #modernamericanslavery

… but I suspect you meant "innate" talent

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

“innate talent” is a pervasive idea that undercuts years of work and practice. art is HARD and most people just don’t find the doing part to be fulfilling.

everyone wants to make a masterpiece, but no one is born with some kinda artist-gene that gives them the ability to do so as if by magic. outside of savants at least, but that’s a whole other thing lmao

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

Yes, talent is oversold and used as an excuse to often HOWEVER there ARE differences in people's skill level and rate of learning. Especially if learning disabilities are involved.

I really really wanna draw regularly. And i practice regularly have for years. Ive gotten much better than couple years ago me but overall my art still sucks (others confirm not just the usual artist hates own work) and it's mainly because i have a learning disability that affects my spacial reasoning and ability to visualize shapes.

This may come as a surprise to some people but that makes drawing very difficult, i can't get proportions correct and I struggle to find shapes. My best drawings are ones that i practically traced the initial outline to get the shapes. AI generated art absolutely makes getting an idea out of my head more accessible. And i can then trace the outline of the ai art and draw the rest myself.

I know people hate it but just blindly saying "anyone can draw just do it bro" is basically just as worthless of an argument that ignores reality

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago

this too, it’s a lot like singing in that way. anyone can train their vocal control, but some folks just will have a much harder time with it for all sorts of reasons they can’t control. both sides of that “only some people can do it/anyone can do it” coin can be damaging for their own reasons.

i think it’s really important to talk about these things in a frank way, thank you for contributing to the discussion ^^

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago

I forgot every artist had all of those things in spades

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Forgot the

Disability

Part

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

Society thinks everyone is able-bodied. Until a machine is made so I can draw directly with my mind, creating art is a pipe dream. I need something that doesn't require any type of force, so no pencils, pens, mice, etc. I always associate the word "accessible" with disabled people so this meme was funny to me.

load more comments (5 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›