Procreate’s anti-AI stance is music to artists’ ears

A popular illustration and animation app for iPads has proudly declared that it’s AI-free.

On Sunday, Procreate posted a video on X of CEO James Cuda, saying, the app won’t be introducing any generative AI into its products.

“I really fucking hate generative AI. I don’t like what’s happening in the industry and I don’t like what it’s doing to artists,” said Cuda. “We don’t exactly know where this story is going or how it ends, but we believe that we’re on the right path supporting human creativity,” he continued.

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On Procreate’s website, a page explaining the app’s decision says it won’t use generative AI, that it doesn’t have access to user work, and that user activity is not tracked by Procreate. The inference here is that Procreate won’t use artists’ works to train and implement generative AI tools, unlike other creative tools that are doing just that. Unlike, Cuda who didn’t mince words, Procreate believes there’s a place for generative AI, just not in the creative space: “We think machine learning is a compelling technology with a lot of merit, but the path generative AI is on is wrong for us.”

Procreate’s anti-AI stance reflects a growing sentiment in artist communities that generative AI devalues human-created art. Companies like Adobe and Canva have jumped on the AI bandwagon by offering generative AI tools for generating and editing multimedia. Such tools not only threaten to replace jobs in creative industries, they’re trained on human-created art, sometimes without credit or consent. The implementation of generative AI features for creativity tools has stoked fear and mistrust amongst creatives who feel that their livelihoods are being snuffed out by the very tools they rely on.

Recently, a very tone-deaf Apple ad that literally crushed artist tools into a sleek iPad Pro — that comes packed with AI-powered creative tools — all but confirmed users’ suspicions about tech. “I heard the underlying message loud and clear,” wrote Mashable’s Mike Pearl. “Companies don’t have to pretend they respect their customers; they just have to get them to part with their money.”

A lot has changed in a year, since many generative AI tools were let loose on the masses. Wall Street’s demand for AI investment has waned, and consumer response to using generative AI for creative tasks, like writing a fan letter to an Olympian, has not been received as positively as expected.

Last year, Procreate’s declaration would have been considered business suicide. But today, it might be the key to customer loyalty. Cuda’s post, which has 60,000 likes and counting, is filled with comments of support and appreciation, aside from the occasional comments that said it was short-sighted. “I am an occasional user of this software, but now I will enjoy using it all the way more,” said one X user.

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“Makes me incredibly happy to continue using the app. Please never sell out to suits that don’t care even if the money is big,” said another. “In a world full of companies putting AI in everything they make, this sounds so nice,” echoed another X user.

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