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4-panel comic by War and Peas Panel 1: A female teacher stands beside a yellow humanoid robot in front of a chalkboard that says "Welcome Class." She announces, "As of this year, all teachers have been replaced by AI." Panel 2: A single human student raises his hand and asks, "Won’t the quality of our lessons suffer?" He sits alone at a desk in an otherwise empty classroom. Panel 3: The same teacher, now standing by the door, responds sternly, "All pupils have also been replaced by AI." Panel 4: Sitting next to the human student is a robot in a red cap, carving into the desk with a knife. It’s etched the words "Screw school". The human student looks sideways, disturbed and speechless.

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Why the current hype around AI is a slap in the face for creatives

Almost every day we receive emails from AI companies who want to work with us. In these emails, someone cheerfully suggests a ‘collaboration’ in which they propose that we promote their product.

It is an understatement to say that these emails are in poor-taste. While we are usually interested in technology and try to remain optimistic about this field, we feel it’s necessary to speak out about the unbearable hype-cycle that generative AI has brought with it. A hype-cycle that has originated by stealing creative work, and now wishes to further damage creative energy by funnelling it into an automated content-creation nightmare.

Today we’d like to show you one of these emails and our response.

A screenshot of an email from Muse to War and Peas. The email is written by a collaboration manager at Muse and discusses the platform's capabilities in creating AI-generated series. The email highlights several benefits of using Muse, such as making your own series with a script, bringing book characters to life, promoting new projects by creating mini-series, helping create content by building other worlds, and making stories come alive for the audience. The sender invites War and Peas to discuss potential collaboration and be among the first creators to gain an early advantage in content creation. The email is signed off by the collaboration manager.

Hi war.and.peas,

It’s XXX and I’m writing to you on behalf of Muse. Muse is a new creative platform that can create your own AI-generated series so you can dive into a new world of storytelling without the need for personal content creation.

For example, with Muse you can:

make your own series with your script/storyline
bring your book characters to life
promote your new project/book by creating a mini-series
help create content by creating other worlds
make your story come alive for your audience by creating a series about it.

Please let me know if you would like to discuss collaborating and becoming one of the first creators to gain an early advantage in the realm of content creation.

Best regards,
XXX
Collaboration Manager

Here’s our response:

A screenshot of an email response from War and Peas to Muse. The email is from Elizabeth Pich and Jonathan Kunz, a webcomic duo who have been creating original comics since 2011. They express their appreciation for being contacted but politely decline the offer to collaborate with Muse. They provide several reasons for their decision: The rise of AI has been built on the work of creative individuals like themselves, without proper compensation or acknowledgment. Social media platforms thrive on engaging, original content created by people, but creators have not been fairly rewarded. Most artists love their work and prefer to be properly compensated rather than outsource their creativity to AI. They emphasize the personal nature of storytelling. Artists would benefit more from AI tools that assist with administrative tasks rather than creative ones. The email concludes by stating that the Muse platform does not align with their values, as it devalues creative work and promotes derivative content. They hope for a shift towards more inclusive, artist-focused approaches in the industry. The email is signed by Elizabeth Pich and Jonathan Kunz.

Dear XXX,

thank you for contacting us. We are a webcomic duo that has been creating original comics since 2011 and sharing them on various platforms on the web.

Usually we are very keen on connecting with potential partners that value our art and wish to help us in making a living. However, in this case we must politely decline. Here are some reasons why:

  • The surge in AI has been built on the backs of creative people like us. Artists’ work has been harvested in order to train large language models and they have not been informed or compensated.
  • Social Media platforms cannot grow without engaging and original content, made by people. This is the basis for any user to join. Creators have – in large part – not been privy to the rewards that these platforms have generated over the years even though they are the reason for platform growth. Any business model that does not acknowledge this and does not seek proper compensation for artists is not of interest to us.
  • While being creative is surely not always fun, most artists love their work and do not want to outsource their passion to a machine that does this for them. They would much rather be properly compensated for their work in order to continue to be able to do said work. Frankly, storytelling “without the need for personal content creation” sounds horrible. Storytelling is personal. It is a connection between the writer and the reader. Without this personal connection, storytelling loses its purpose.
  • Artists would much rather have an AI that actually helps with grunt chores, such as writing invoices, or helping with taxes in order to focus more on fulfilling creative tasks. Such an AI-tool would be of much more value to the artist community.

For these reasons, we hope it has become self-evident that your platform does not do anything for us. On the contrary, it works against a world in which creative work is valued and elevated. It turns creative work into an assembly-line meant to churn out derivative and soulless ‘content’ to supply the attention-factory that has become social media.We hope that these efforts will soon be seen as what they are and be quickly abandoned in favor of a more inclusive artist-focused approach.

Best regards,
Elizabeth Pich & Jonathan Kunz

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4-panel-comic by War and Peas Panel 1: Inside a lab office, a tall square-shaped robot shyly asks its creator, a human professor in a white lab coat working at a desk: “Professor… do you think I’m beautiful?” Panel 2: The professor, still typing at the computer, calmly replies: “Of course. You are very beautiful.” Panel 3: The robot looks down, fidgeting nervously by the desk while the professor keeps working in the background. Panel 4: The robot speaks quietly, filled with doubt: “You built me. You have to say that.” The mood blends humor and sadness, highlighting the robot’s insecurity about its own worth.