For years, social media platforms like Meta’s Instagram have been easy places for visual creatives to share their work with followers and the world, especially potential clients. Similarly, Adobe’s Behance is another popular platform for designers to showcase their projects and attract new business. Of course, the algorithm started favoring TikTik-style videos and “Reels,” suppressing many users’ posts and burying them far down in the feed. But we’ll save that for another time.
Now, a new problem has emerged for designers and creatives in the form of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI). Companies like Meta are training their AI models on users’ posts, and depending on where you live, you have no choice as a user.
Meta would have been all too happy to slurp up user content to train its bots quietly, burying the move in a user agreement update. However, pesky privacy protection laws like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) in the European Union and the UK’s identical version tipped Zuckerberg’s hand, forcing his firm to notify protected users of the ability to opt out.
