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Artists leave Instagram in protest of Meta's AI training policy.

Artists leave Instagram in protest of Meta's AI training policy.

Tara Tan's avatar
Tara Tan
Jun 07, 2024

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Artists leave Instagram in protest of Meta's AI training policy.
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Tiny stones at the start of an avalanche. They loosen, bounce quickly down the slope, and are followed by rolling waves of heavier and heavier stones. 

650,000 artists are leaving Instagram in droves after Meta announced it would use public posts to train AI models starting June 26. With no way to opt out, many creatives are switching to Cara, a new app for artists, led by photographer Jingna Zhang. Cara has seen explosive growth, from 40,000 to 650,000 users in just a week. It strictly bans AI-generated content and uses Glaze, a tool from the University of Chicago, to prevent style mimicry in AI training.

While 650,000 users is an impressive 20x leap in user growth, it’s a drop in the ocean (0.03%) compared to Instagram’s 2.4 billion active users. In comparison, Meta's microblogging app Threads, launched as an alternative to X post-Musk takeover, gained over 100 million users in less than a week after its launch in July 2023. This disparity highlights the monumental challenge Cara faces in attracting more users away from established giants.

But — tiny stones. 

There are signs that creatives are just tired of being swept under the rug and want these issues addressed. Cara's FAQ states that AI-generated work isn't allowed until "rampant ethical and data privacy issues" are resolved.

The question remains: can the Cara community come to a decision around a suitable resolution?

Just like small stones can trigger an avalanche, today's developments could lead to profound changes. 

What do you think the future holds?

🔥 Latest News

  1. Stability AI releases a sound generator: Stability AI has released an open AI model for generating sounds and songs that it claims was trained exclusively on royalty-free recordings. Called Stable Audio Open, the model was trained using around 486,000 samples from free music libraries FreeSound and the Free Music Archive. Stability AI says that the model can be used to create drum beats, instrument riffs, ambient noises and “production elements” for videos, films and TV shows as well as to “edit” existing songs or apply the style of one song (e.g. smooth jazz) to another.

  2. Mega AI funding rounds continue. Pika Labs raises $80M, so anyone can make video on command: Pika Labs announced that it raised an $80M series B, bringing its total funding to $135M. Led by Spark Capital and leading investment firms and individuals across tech and entertainment, including Greycroft, Lightspeed, Neo, Makers Fund, Jared Leto, and Craig Kallman. Twelve Labs raises $50M for multimodal AI foundation models in early-stage funding co-led by New Enterprise Associates and Nvidia Corp. 's venture arm NVentures. The round follows $12 million raised as an extension to its seed round in late 2022 and brings the total raised to more than $77 million. 

  1. Tech giants form an industry group to develop next-gen AI chip: Tech giants like Intel, Google, Microsoft, and Meta are forming the Ultra Accelerator Link (UALink) Promoter Group to develop AI accelerator chip components for data centers. AMD, HPE, Broadcom, and Cisco may join. 

  1. Current and former employees from OpenAI, Anthropic, and DeepMind published an open letter called 'A Right to Warn'. It calls for companies to expand whistleblower protections so workers can raise the alarm about potential AI dangers without fear of retaliation.


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By Tara Tan
I'm Tara Tan, founder of Strange Ventures. I write free, deeply researched essays on AI and the future of computing.

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Artists leave Instagram in protest of Meta's AI training policy.
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Beyond Voice... into Multimodal Experiences.

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