This past week botanical artists received a warning about how seedy the seedy side of social media can be, especially since the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
I was visiting the Botanical Art for Coloured Pencil group on Facebook, when a new post caught my eye. The image appeared to be that of a skilled artist that I had not encountered before. The accompanying text claimed that it was a mixed media coloured pencil and watercolour piece. But something didn’t seem right. Somehow it didn’t look like a coloured pencil and watercolour mixed media study, as claimed. And there was something about the colours said to have been used in the study that did not ring true either.
So, I researched the person on Facebook and found a page. Suspiciously, there was no sign of posts on art with the exception of one single mention of a GoFundMe request to raise tuition money for improving art skills. Now I was definitely smelling a rat!
Upon returning later to the Botanical Art for Coloured Pencil group Facebook page to take a closer look, I noticed that the administrator had removed the original post (as I’ve shown here) and informed the online members that all was not well with regard to the post—it was apparently an AI-produced image being represented as personally-produced work. One obvious clue is the botanically inaccurate location of a stem apparently growing through a leaf. As botanical artists we are all detail oriented and fortunately this glaring scientifically inaccurate content was noticed and the AI artwork and “member” removed.
There are unanswered questions concern identity and a motive. What did this person hope to gain? Is this a real person or an AI bot? Was the next step going to be a “starving artist” appeal for funding through GoFundMe?
There’s a message in this for all of us. Suspicious online activity is an ever-present threat. We need to be aware of what can easily happen and warn each other of any questionable content. Congratulations to Helen Ainsworth and her admin team for picking up on this so quickly and removing both the post and the “member” from our midst.