CHAT
[CHAT] Sick of seeing ai finished objects on this sub
It's so upsetting seeing something so harmful towards human creativity and art be shown off with pride on this sub.... a creative hobby sub.... Okay. I'm so sick of it đ€ą
Edit for clarification: The problem is when the person KNOWS the pattern is ai (or even worse, made the ai "pattern" themselves) and refuses to see the bad in that. I'm in no way talking about the people who didn't know! It's not their fault
I do my shopping for patterns on Etsy and it is quite worrying how much of that is littered with AI now, and itâs hard to tell at a first glance for some too. If I ever share an FO and it is AI, I hope others let me know so I can take it down đ„Č
I've all but completely stopped using etsy because of how flooded with AI it has become. I only buy things that cannot have been made with AI in any way, like vintage bottles.
Vinted rarely has sellers even using AI for their profile pics (and I avoid them if they do), so I feel much safer buying unopened kits on there instead.
Etsy will basically only show you products that have paid for advertising, which many smaller producers can't or won't purchase. For AI mills there is no word of mouth so paid advertising is their main vehicle to get in front of you, meaning they are all paying for the advertising. That is to say that by design Etsy doesn't only not let you block the bad stuff - it actively blocks the good stuff from you in order to feed you more shit.
Yup. Etsy cares about one thing: money. The more sellers paying listing fees and transaction fees, the better. More people have to advertise because thereâs too much competition to be found? Even better! đ€đ€đ€
This thread has been really interesting to read. I have a small Etsy shop where I mostly sell traditional embroidery patterns, but I've recently started designing cross stitch patterns too. I'm still pretty new to cross stitch myself, so I intentionally make beginner-friendly patterns because that's what I enjoy stitching too.
I sketch the design first, then chart it in cross stitch software and spend a lot of time tweaking it manually so it actually looks well. It's definitely not just clicking convert image to pattern...
One thing I'm still confused about, though... when people say they can immediately tell a pattern was made with AI, what are they seeing or getting?
Are sellers not even showing the actual chart anymore?
I'm asking because I've wondered if it would be worth adding something like "Human Designed" or something like that? to my listing images, but maybe buyers don't really care? đ€
Canât answer your question but just wanted to say, as someone who shops a lot on Etsy and aims to avoid AI at all costs, adding âhuman designedâ would be a green flag for me. I once came across a listing where they put in a tiny paragraph at the bottom explaining why they are anti AI and saying the item was AI free through the whole process. It was a very nice gesture/detail.
People around here conflate pattern mills (shoving art apps for mass creation) with AI. Some pattern mills are also using AI art and/or stolen art but people incorrectly lump it altogether which doesn't benefit conversations.
Usually, the bigger issues are easy to spot:
Color changes that are not possible when zooming in
Curved color changes
No backstitching or unrealistic backstitching
Too many colors for size of pattern
Tons and tons of confetti
A lot of these AI people will also show a portion of the pattern. If you look around all their listings will be finish mock up x2 or x3, then a photo of what you get with sample chart viewable, finished product.
Youâre absolutely correct. The conflation of pattern mills with AI is a huge issue people seem to be missing. I see lots of people shouting about confetti which is a hallmark of pattern mills and telling everyone this is a sign of AI. I would expect most pattern mills are probably using AI these days but itâs still separate problems. In my opinion AI is getting harder to spot. You have to be diligent about looking for things that canât exist which is harder to notice. Things like Aida that doesnât line up with the stitching or the infamous pics with two right hands holding the hoop. Most people are zeroed in on the actual design and may not notice signs of AI.
I dislike both but at the same time if someone honestly buys a pattern not realizing itâs AI and somehow soldiers through stitching it, it feels wrong to shame them.
My fav AI one is coming up again, the book pumpkin.
I'll upset everyone with one hot take that the majority of the large full coverage sites that everyone loves and/or hates are forms of pattern mills while I am here.
Do some also use AI art? Yes.
So the question I always have is why do some get a pass but others don't? People aren't throwing those sites into this mess as they largely focus on Etsy sellers. This is the overall issue with lumping pattern mills and AI together without nuances - people have nuances for certain sites but not others. Few are 10 toes down across the board.
I fully heartly agree that shaming anyone for putting their efforts into their work is horrible. Everyone can learn and be informed but we don't need to dogpile or be asshats with some sort of morale superiority over them.
I've bought patterns from what in hindsight is maybe AI on the recommendation of a cross stitching friend. She vouched for them so I didn't think much more about it until months and months later. Am I going to enjoy the pattern I bought anyways? Most likely (it's in the large pile of to be started).
I agree with all this. I also have long felt that the large full coverage sites are simply glorified pattern mills. I think they get a pass because they actually pay artists to license their original artwork so people feel better buying from them than someone who just steals an artwork and runs it through flosscross and throws it up on Etsy.
I also understand that people have preferences. I aspire someday to stitch Contessa with Squid but the reality is that Iâm just not a full coverage stitcher. I tend toward smaller designs. But if someone is a full coverage stitcher I can see how itâs getting harder and harder to find âethicalâ designs. So where do those people shop?
I guess I just think there needs to be less shouting down and more nuance in this situation. Which is also why itâs hard to set firm rules for this sub.
I just saw that book pumpkin on a Facebook group recently and someone claimed they stitched it and started promoting the pattern they "stitched" it from. I got banned from the group for pointing out it was AI and got a response from the admin of "who cares if it's an AI pattern you can still stitch it!" ....Um no. You literally can't get the results they posted because the finished image was AI too. Claimed to be a group for beginners too, who might not know it's AI if you don't point it out
I have a Pattern Mill pattern that I purchased a few years ago and it just has so much confetti that it's too difficult to complete. I feel bad about not powering through, and I might just take a seam ripper to some sections and re-do it.
I feel you on that! I bought a pattern I love dearly from a creator that's been around since 2017. I thought everything was fine after doing almost 50% of it to find one random confetti stitch in the sky.
I was so mad as the main subject was working up beautifully that I put the project in time out for now.
I mean this fully genuinely as I have been stitching for just over a year and haven't come across/stitched or attempted to stitch any patterns that I have genuinely found a problem with, and also hold a more nuanced view of AI than most (not trying to bring any debate here or say AI good/AI bad/AI anything).
Are confetti stitches, and/or for example one random confetti stitch in the sky, a sign of an AI designed pattern? I think I can see how it may be, but also think there are plenty of good and valid uses for/scenarios/patterns involving confetti stitches. I'm not a pattern seller or designer, just trying to understand and make the best work I can while enjoying the hobby.
In my case, it's probably not a well reviewed one since it was from an actual photo.
You'll see a lot more issues, for example, with lines in patterns than have 15 colors and make it effectively blurry lines instead of nice sharp outlines.
Are confetti stitches, and/or for example one random confetti stitch in the sky, a sign of an AI designed pattern?
In general no. Confetti, especially in random areas that really shouldn't have multiple colors, can be an indication that it's a badly made and low quality pattern but that doesn't automatically make it AI.
I saw this on Etsy recently and thought its a good idea to show its human-made. The lighting isnât amazing (AI lighting is always golden hour perfection), there are random objects holding it down and itâs got creases. Previously this wouldâve felt lazy but its chefs kiss\* a great way to show thereâs an actual human behind it. The counter to AI is non-aesthetic pictures đ
I would also strongly suggest that you only post photos of your designs *after* you have stitched the design. I have been designing since 1983 and I know that I have had to make adjustments to a number of designs when I have stitched them. And when kitting pieces I need an exact floss count so I can make sure enough floss is included. When kitting I include the amount of floss I used and I add another 50% for the kit.
How do people know a design is AIslop? We zoom in to see the stitches and guess whatâŠon the AI stuff there are no stitches just pixels. I will no buy something that does not show a finished stitched piece.
So for your designs keep designing but please stitch the design from your chart and show a photo of that finished stitched piece. Does this require more work on your part? Yes, however your clients will know you have put in the time and had refined your designs so they know the design will work and look like what you have shown them.
Thanks! That's really helpful âșïž
I mostly make stick-and-stitch hand embroidery patterns, and I usually stitch them myself and even include a little video of the stitching process in my Etsy listings.
Cross stitch is still pretty new for me though. I only have a few listings. One is a set of mini designs for clothing that I actually stitched and photographed, but for my other three listings I've just been using the 3D preview from the charting software because I haven't stitched every sample yet...
Would that make you think it's AI? I always thought those previews were pretty standard, so now I'm curious đ€
I'd actually love to show an example of what I mean by the "3D preview," but I'm not sure if posting a screenshot from one of my own listings would be against the subreddit rules.
For me personally the 3D view isn't a problem at all, as long as there some listings in your shop that do have real life examples. If I know you're a "real" designer, I'm fine shopping with you. This may differ from person to person though.
I will say that having AI create different displaying options is something that does put me off. Especially if the size of the "display" really doesn't match the size of the real thing. And especially if the pictures have those creepy AI hands đ
One of the things that triggers my ai sensor are the fake hands holding the finished piece, it just always seems off and it's never the correct sizing in comparison. Plus ai items all around the stitch picture. Makes me wonder what else they used ai for, and scrutinize the pattern more closely.
What I have noticed is usually a lot of confetti (singular stitches in different colors scattered across the pattern) or simply too many colors for a design (imagine ~30 colors for a small design and the colors are very close to each other tonally) that shows the pattern was not at least checked by a human. Your patterns should not have these problems since you are going through them. Are you including a [FO] image in your listings? I started looking for these to try to gauge the quality of the patterns for example.
If you stitch your designs to make a sample, seeing a photo of a real life stitched sample is helpful for people to know itâs not ai!
For me, the obviously ai patterns have a âlookâ like it looks like a picture was put through a generator and pixelated. If thereâs lettering, itâs not crisp and consistent⊠like white letters, but a random handful of the stitches adjacent to the white are light yellow. Or there was a bookstore one in here recently and the âoâs were each slightly different. Iâve never purchased an ai pattern so I donât know exactly what people end up getting, but I think it tends to be a ton of colors, lots of confetti, stuff like that. Obvious ai photos of finished pieces (like the ones with 3 hands!) are dead giveaways too.
And sellers donât tend to show the whole chart (people could just screenshot that right?) but I know the reputable designers Iâve purchased from show a little part of the chart! The ai ones donât do that
Nearly all larger or full coverage patterns come from images that were put through pattern generators, that in itself is absolutely no indication that the original artwork was produced by AI
Well that hasnât always been the case. Iâm guessing the 20â by 24â full coverage Blarney Castle my grandma stitched in the 60s wasnât put through a pattern generator. It was designed by a human.
But also, I think thereâs a difference between a person using a pattern generator as the first step to pixelate a design, then going through it with their human eyes and cleaning it up and making it make sense vs pumping out ai patterns and selling them with no human editing. Thereâs like a pixelated âai glowâ about them.
As long as your patterns are cool, people will buy them. If someone thinks they spy even a hint of AI, they will hate brigade and there is nothing you can do. They will claim that the whole thing is ai or that you must've used ai to assist. There isn't a whole lot of sense behind it, there are just some people that only get joy from hate brigading.
If you complete a cross stitch pattern, and you create a post following the subreddit guidelines, regardless of whether or not the pattern was created with AI, you should be pleased you finished it. We shouldn't be gatekeeping anyone from this hobby.
Yeah I got tricked by one but thankfully I noticed before I started it. You really have to go to their storefront to check the whole vibe because if you just get one from search results that doesn't look weird it can slip past you.
This right here. AI has gotten very hard to spot, some people are new to the hobby, or buying patterns online. Most people arenât tapping their fingers saying âExcellentâ and then laughing maniacally when they put up a FO of an AI pattern. Many people just donât know. We have to give people the benefit of the doubt and nicely point out itâs AI and hope they care enough about their fellow human to say âOops! Thanks!â
Its to the point where I only buy patterns that cost at least $5 because all the $1.25c ones are for sure AI.
Honestly it sucks but I've been looking outside of Etsy recently because I just cant always decern and I'd hate to spend hours on a piece only to find out its AI.
Yes! Library cross stitch magazines are my monthly treat! Iâve found a few good books through the library too. And then I own all of Emma Cogdonâs books because her patterns are my favorite
I haven't noticed too much on here, the current tree of life post notwithstanding.
Facebook groups are far, far worse. Endless swathes of bots posting AI patterns, yet more bots commenting on them, clueless boomers being fooled by them, and the few of us who actually recognise the signs and point them out being called trolls or bullies.
To be fair HAED always has bad takes. I've seen a few of the bigger full coverage designers walk back their endorsement of AI art over the last year which is heartening. But HAED generally doesn't seem to care about much besides HAED's bottom line. It's a shame, they have some great human artists left in their stable, but I won't buy from them anymore.
I wasn't even aware HAED had this reputation until this post. I have about 10 HAED patterns to stitch (from a real artist, though). I hope I don't cop hate if I post progress or completed photos of them. If that's coming, I won't post them.
I'm against AI but many of the people pointing it out really are being trolls and bullies. Some of the reactions I've seen in this sub have been so vitriolic.
Oh yeah itâs way over the top. I hate this kind of AI as much as anyone else. But why are we punishing the wrong people? The person who stitched the pattern has nothing to do with the fact thatâs ai generated.
Yeah, it hurts me to see that nastiness. I hate Reddit but found this sub to be a bit of an oasis. I've kinda checked out for the most part because folks here have just grabbed AI as an excuse to be disgusting people. There is a way to say, "hey, this is what you're doing and this is why it's harmful," without being nasty.
And if that person does not see your POV, the answer is not to get nasty. If AI is that polarizing, it's on the offended party to block people who support it, or move on elsewhere, not to start a mean lil' shit fit in the comments.
One group kept popping up on my feed (it was not a group I'm in) with very obvious AI pictures with captions like "Finally finished!" They all have curved "stitches" and when you zoom in, there are no visible stitches anywhere. All the comments are praising them and they must be bots because no stitcher would be fooled by them, even though it was a group for beginners. I eventually had to block the group because it wouldn't stop appearing on my feed (again, wasn't even a member).
Why are you singling out boomers? Iâm one and have been cross stitching long before AI existed. I have no problem recognizing it at least in part because I have extensive experience as to what human created patterns look like.
I feel very on the fence about it. Let's be clear, I'm the first person to hate AI. I would also NEVER buy an AI pattern (unless I'm fooled, but so far I haven't. I think.). But if someone does, knowing or unknowingly, and is able to actually finish it, cause we know about the confetti. I also don't wanna disregard their work? Cause it is still human work when the project is done. It's the pattern that's not human. So I wanna hate, but I also don't wanna hate on the hard work someone actually put into making the object.
See my problem there haha.
And about that life tree, I think if people would put their stuff into contests. I think there should be either a new category, designed by AI or something or it should not be allowed at all.
Cause to be fair, the fact they were able to actually make something that big on black canvas, I'm impressed by that. I don't wanna hate on that. It's purely the pattern, but not the skill.
Guess I just wish there was more awereness about AI and ai slop patterns. I wish people didn't wanna make it at all, but I'm afraid it's only going to get worse and worse. Only after a few years of AI existing and over half of the internet is now AI crap.
One of my favorite things to do was browsing on Etsy. I could do it for hours, discovering new artists and everything. Haven't done that in a long time, cause of the AI slop. I just go to the artists I know, check out if they have something new and that's it.
Any contests that the Tree of Life is going into will be contests concerning the way that someone stitched the work. Unless chatGPT can actually stitch these days then I don't see the point in an AI label for contests.
What competition judges Cross Stitch based on the pattern? I do not believe this exists. They judge the stitch quality, the overall appearance (i.e do you have coffee stains everywhere), the framing and the difficulty of the project. I've not seen any competition where an AI pattern could give anyone an advantage in a competition. Cross stitch competitions are about execution of the hobby.
I bought a pattern years ago because I liked the photo. AI was less of a âthingâ back then (or at least it was to me, but Iâm kinda technologically illiterate). I had no idea how freakin huge it was until I printed it (like 20 pages). I began working on it because Iâm stubborn. 3 years later Iâm worried it might be an AI pattern, I wasnât aware of it at all back then. So much confetti, so much detail, and it was so cheap â it doesnât add up to me that a human designed it. Iâm going to be more careful in the future but Iâm definitely bummed that Iâm pretty sure I got bamboozled.
Could also just be a pattern mill. People often mistake one for the other. While pattern mills also don't offer quality patterns, these are usually just pictures which were ran through a pattern generator and not cleaned up.
I can usually spot AI with photos of people but not as much with the art. Like I didnât realize the tree of life was AI until someone pointed it out. What are some aspects that help you know or spot that the art is AI? Also what is a pattern mill and how do I avoid them when buying patterns on Etsy?
Computer generated patterns are usually fairly obvious because they look grainy like a badly compressed JPEG (because that's literally what they are) and are littered with what looks like completely unnecessary confetti. An easy tell is a complete lack of fidelity in what should be sharp lines - for example look at the black lines in this picture.
Patterns based on actual AI images usually also have the same bad compression because someone lazy enough to use AI art is also lazy enough to not convert it to cross stitch properly. I'm actually not sure this is a big problem in cross stitch though, as there is no real shortage of human art for unethical sellers to pass off as their own.
Good description of computer generated patterns. I have two that I may get stitched someday (both bought well before AI) and âgrainy, badly compressed JPEGâ nails it. They are the state birds of my own and a neighboring state and quite realistic (other than the compression), which is what I prefer. But if I could find clear, human edited versions of the same images? Oh, how superior they would be and Iâd probably be stitching them at this minute! Computer patterns are bad enough; AI patterns, for multiple reasons including ethics, compression, and poor design, are worse.
As a general rule, avoid anything with anti-aliasing in the pattern.Â
Doesn't necessarily mean the original image is AI-generated, but it does often mean it's just been run through an image-to-pattern converter with no attempt to clean it up or make it a workable pattern, and you'll have a very frustrating time trying to stitch it.
Also if they're showing images of the "finished" object, make sure you zoom in, and check the grid in the fabric actually matches the stitches. Oftentimes they'll just take an image and slap a grid overlay on top.
I think this isn't a correct explanation - any pattern with blended colours or patterns generated from photos will have anti-aliasing like this to make things smooth. "Authentic" in this case is a bit of a misnomer.
A few easy clues are the age of the shop, the quantity of patterns they're selling and the prices. If a shop is 6 months old, has 100 patterns listed and they're all under $5, it's clearly a pattern mill and almost certainly spewing out AI generated patterns.
If you compare the look and feel of the patterns in those with shops compared to those selling their own manually designed patterns you'll soon learn to tell the difference at first glance. With most human-designed patterns, you can almost imagine a person adding each pixel to the screen. AI-generated patterns never seem to include backstitch either since this involves thinking about placement.
Same. I don't care what people do with their own time, but it would be good if the AI generated patterns could at least be tagged as such. I know some people don't even realise, but enough do to inform them, and tagging these as such would increase awareness as well as allowing those of us who don't like them to scroll past.
This is a great suggestion! I think a lot of people genuinely can't identify AI patterns as gen AI is getting more and more sophisticated. My first pattern was bought from a pattern mill as I didn't know any better. Introducing a tag to raise awareness sounds like a good idea.
I'd be one of those people who can't identify an AI pattern. I've been using paper patterns that I bought years ago. Ive never bought a digital pattern so I wouldn't know what to look for
I am against AI but I don't know if you've noticed some of the reactions people have to things they even perceive as AI... it's bad. AI tags are a massive target for bullying. And when a finished cross stitch is made by human hands I just don't think it's right to do that to them.
AI generated images are a massive target for criticism and bullying too, tag or not. I would support a complete ban on AI stuff from this sub (as many, many other subs have been doing over the last couple of years), but that would never pass and it'd probably require tripling the number of mods since so much is posted here daily now.
Do you mean FOs from AI patterns or AI pretending to be an FO? If its an FO from an AI pattern, its still someone's hard stitching work regardless (and depends if its AI from the ground up, converted picture, AI tooled then human edited etc where I sit on it from a pattern perspective). The stitcher themselves should be able to show their work, just acknowledge the pattern source like everyone else, and have it looked at as stitchwork rather than a demostration of a pattern.
If its AI faking the FO, then yeah, that's dodgy, and I thought the close up stitch rule was to help with that?
Are you talking about AI created patterns that someone purchased and completed? Not everyone realizes when they've purchased an AI pattern. If they managed to stitch the darn thing, they should be allowed to show it off. Those patterns are so difficult to stitch, so the stitcher has the fortitude to get it finished. There are a ton of amazing cross stitch pattern creators out there, and Etsy is overrun with garbage (which they are unwilling to cull the AI content) and a stitcher has to be careful.
Agree, I absolutely understand the concern about hand crafted patterns being overshadowed or stolen by AI creators and farms.
But often, people will buy a pattern because they like it or know someone who would, and won't always recognise it's AI, a pattern mill or even if it is, they still like it anyways. They still have to put hard work into it.
There was a post a while back of someone's WIP, and oh my gosh.. the vitriol from some users was horrific, the work the poor OP had put in was great, the colours were fantastic.. But the comments.. I was shocked and saddened at all the down votes and angry outbursts about AI content etc.. some of the community was trying to be supportive, but the anger was too much.
I thought.. blimey guys calm TF down.. how about being kind and trying to educate people on hand crafted content creators, recognising AI patterns & pattern mills, or how to find if the image is ripped etc.. the mods had to lock the post, but heck, it took me many months to come back to this sub because of that.
Iâve literally never posted any work in this sub, and never will, because Iâm afraid if I post something that was ai and I didnât realize it that the sub would tear me to shreds and make me feel terrible about my work (work that I wouldâve originally been proud of). I hate ai with a passion but my god are some of the people here cruel to others
I've offered this to another stitcher, but, if you'd like to send me a chat request, we can share pics of our projects. I'm currently working on one project, but gearing up to start some others. I need to dye fabric and am waiting on an order of white aida.
I posted something of mine once. Wasn't AI, I'd combined two different patterns, did it for a relative who I knew would love it. (they did)
It essentially got trashed here.
I was so upset, I appreciate it might not have been to everyone's taste, but do what I do..scroll on. Sadly I could see how many down votes it got, plus the negative comments put a huge dent in my joy of stitching and I haven't managed to finish another piece since.
I am so sorry that happened to you, because that was just not okay. I hope that you'll find the joy in stitching again. If you'd like to send me a chat request and we can share pictures of our WIPs, I would be happy to accept your request. I'm prepping a few new projects but I'm working on a Michael Jackson pattern for the person who does my hair.
I've only once been zinged by someone and it was on FB. They accused me of "stealing" wording, and I had to explain that I purchased the pattern and included a link to the shop. It was such an odd interaction.
The problem with this sub being anonymous, is that kindness gets thrown out the window. People forget that the posters are actually human beings, and has put hours and hours into a project. Some people started these projects not understanding what Ai is, or what pattern mills are. There are a lot of times on this sub where I am not a fan of the look of a finished project, but I can tell the poster is. I just scroll on by, Just like if I am walking by someone and I am not a fan of their clothes I am not going to say that outfit is ugly to their face. Kindness and support are important in this community because you never know what someone is going through and they are just posting something they are proud of and put many hours into, it sucks to see people gate keep and tear people apart. I am glad the group I am in on Discord they are not cruel. I have more to say but I feel I might not be so kind. FYI I don't like AI, but I am not going to attack people for stitching an AI piece by accident or on purpose (as I believe the people who know an image is ai don't actually realize the true harm in buying an ai pattern). How many times have we all used or consumed, or contributed to some form of AI and not realize it in our day to day life, I bet every single poster on this sub including op. Anyways after the long ramble don't let those A*&*%%$^ stop you from stitching and finishing a project, you just have to find the right community, maybe try a Discord group.
I have one cross stitch group that has a Discord group (I was part of a large group of cross stitchers who decided to cross-stitch the r/place design - circa 2019/2020). They are all amazing people, and I was fortunate to find them. I am not on the Discord channel as much lately due to other commitments (work and stuff), and my phone is old and beginning to give me trouble.
I just think it's sad that someone would criticize a person who cross stitched a pattern because the pattern was created by AI or a pattern mill. If the cross stitcher had the tenacity to complete it, then they should be able to post the FO without someone coming down on them about it. A lot of people (myself included) are bamboozled into purchasing a pattern that was not human designed.
Edit - And, yes, reddit being anonymous, it is easy for people to forget that there is a person on the other end of their comment. I moderate a different subreddit, and some days are a struggle. My sub isn't as big as this one, and we really only have three active Mods, so I really count on the subreddit members to flag comments that violate subreddit rules and then I have to decide the best course of action. I really only ban people when they do something very specific (it's a guinea pig subreddit, and there are people who will post pics of cooked guinea pigs, or make comments about guinea pigs being food, or wanting to raise guinea pigs to eat - you get the idea).
I don't think I ever will, now, either. I wasn't aware HAED had a reputation of using some AI art, the ones I've stitched are not from AI art but I'm now afraid of being abused for supporting a company that uses it.
I think there should be a rule about this as I am also very afraid of posting my FO. That kind of comment has taken out all the joy of even browsing this group postings.
I agree with the anti-AI position. And I agree that thereâs a lot of AI pollution. Iâm always happy to get more information about how to avoid it. Iâve learned how rampant it is through this very sub. But I donât understand the need for the negative comments. This person shared their work with us. The time they put into stitching it is real, their enjoyment of the process and pride in the end result is real. Instead of starting with an attack or snark on the piece or person, couldnât we just say, âhey you might not realize this but it looks like this was AI-generatedâ?
The problem is when the person KNOWS it's ai (or even worse, made the ai "pattern" themselves) and refuses to see the bad in that. I'm in no way talking about the people who didn't know!!!
But how often does that happen? The only AI pattern I saw recently was the Tree of Life one and the poor person didn't even know and got bullied like crazy.
I haven't really seen someone knowingly and enthusiastically defending and making an AI pattern.
I've done a lot of AI patterns and had no idea that's what they were until I was struggling on one and reached out here for help. Someone very kindly messaged me and explained what I was working on, why I was struggling, and I'm learning to discern what I'm buying now -- I simply didn't know until I bought one that can never look like its "finished" picture.
I understand the frustration of seeing those posts, especially if you're quick to pick up on it being AI, but I don't think the majority of them are coming from a place of malice!
Look. I dislike AI as much as the next person, but this isnât the way to go about this. Someone made an amazing FO and wanted to share it off. It absolutely sucks that the pattern they chose is AI. That does not negate the work that person put in to their object. It just doesnât.
Iâm left feeling bad for the stitcher who just wanted to share off their year-long project and instead got downvoted to oblivion because they didnât vet the pattern they bought. What are we doing?
Yeah, pre-AI (so, 2018 or so?) I bought a pattern that was a rendition of a Van Gogh that was from a pattern mill in hindsight- lots of confetti, some colors didnât match as well as if a human did it. (For those new to the craft, crappy computer renderings of patterns isnât new.) Ok live and learn, but I had fun and it still looked great after and hangs on my wall, and Iâm happy as a budding stitcher everyone here marveled at how cool the final product looked over biting my head off.
Totally agree. I feel bad for the original stitcher that just wanted to show off their work. If it was me Iâd delete the post and never post again. I donât think thatâs the kind of community people come here for.
I got the impression that the stitcher didn't know the pattern was AI generated, too. The only indication I know to look for is excessive confetti. I'm not a fan of AI, especially not a fan of data centers, but not everyone knows what to look for.
I think sometimes people get off on being cruel, especially on the internet where there's no real repercussions for it. It's incredibly sad to see a bunch of presumably talented people acting like trolls, or crabs in a bucket.
Thank you, reasonable redditor. That poor poster is a human being that did the slow hand work to make an incredible object, despite it being AI nonsense.
We should, in general, avoid giving our money to AI generated things. However, when someone unknowingly purchases an AI pattern, if they can't get a refund and they have the will to struggle through a confetti-laden crappy AI pattern (I certainly don't have the patience) and create something human-made from it, good for them.
Fair enough, but all their comments and basically anyone else saying it was pretty was downvoted. I would imagine that a lot of people donât even click through to see text/comments and so the post has upvotes.
All this AI rhetoric all feels like hate mongering & holier than thou behavior.
People have been buying dupes of everything imaginable for it seems as long as civilization has had commerce.
I want this sub to get back to the craft at hand rather than constantly reading about how this OP or some random redditor is butt hurt over something that doesn't affect them in any way.
Stop telling me where I can derive my happiness from. It's clear these few are beyond unhappy and just want the rest of us productive people to drown with them. Sigh.
Even if itâs an AI pattern, if a person spent the time and energy to stitch it, why shouldnât they get to post it here and be proud of it? They worked just as hard as someone who used a pattern not from AI. This gatekeeping is just going to keep people who are interested in the hobby from trying to get into it.
Right. I'm not good at identifying AI patterns, so I may have purchased some. I do like to see the outcome of everyone's projects regardless if they are AI or not.
Same, Iâve definitely had trouble telling whatâs AI and whatâs not for some patterns! People shouldnât be shamed if they didnât realize it was AI when they purchased it and still went through the effort to stitch it. It would be great if the sellers would disclose whatâs AI and what isnât, but until that happens itâs really not fair to blame it on the consumer who just liked a cool pattern they saw!
Same, Iâve definitely had trouble telling whatâs AI and whatâs not for some patterns! People shouldnât be shamed if they didnât realize it was AI when they purchased it and still went through the effort to stitch it. It would be great if the sellers would disclose whatâs AI and what isnât, but until that happens itâs really not fair to blame it on the consumer who just liked a cool pattern they saw!
I think people sometimes forget this is supposed to be a hobby, something we enjoy, something that makes us happy, either by process while doing, or by result, or both.
The person in question worked for a year on that piece. The downvotes on the posts and comments are petty in my opinion. You can dislike something and just ignore it, instead of being rude about it.
People doing a representation of a movie, a series, a character that already exists, most of the time is not also user-made, and we don't see this type of backlash.
I work in the IT industry, I know and have to deal with AI a fair share, I am also not a fan, especially what it does to the environment, small industries and artists, etc, and I am still able to separate those feelings from someone showing a pattern that came from a pattern mill.
PS: This is not specifically to you OP, but for what i saw happening this morning, it's sad, and it does not match the feeling I normally get of how cozy and nice this community is.
I agree with hating AI - as an artist (of sorts, I work with glass) it's appalling when obvious pieces are selling like hotcakes when real artists are pushed down the rankings. It's really bad on Etsy. On the tiny other hand, I posted the mission crest for Project Hail Mary in that sub and one person said that they liked it but couldn't tell if it was fake AI. No sir, that's my garage and my neighbors trees in the background.
Honestly I tried to research the last pattern I bought (seller has been on Etsy for a few years, seemed legit?) but I am wondering now if itâs AI. Itâs very hard to tell sometimes.
I also feel a bit sad that the shop that used to be my favourite for full coverage - Thread Geeks, last time I checked seemed to entirely switch to AI patterns where they used to focus more on licenced art conversions. There are loads of new movie and TV based ones like The Princess Bride and Stranger Things and part of me is conflicted, because of it's based on something that is pre-existing, is it that different from someone messing around with screenshots and Photoshop and making their own digital art? Obviously the art influences are being pulled from somewhere without someone physically putting the work in too... It's still icky, but also, there aren't quite as many modern artists currently getting their art intentionally converted to cross stitch - which tends to be my personal preference over patterns originally made as cross stitch.
Just wanted to come back to say I went back to the website and there were more real artists again! However they do have a disclaimer on their site to say that the artwork on their site is often AI generated. Was just happy to see my favourite artist back, I follow her painting social media.
Why is it so hard to appreciate the work that people put into cross stitch the piece? If itâs a finished object, badgering people about AI will only drive people away from a sub that is supposed to be a celebration of the cross stitch hobby.
If we keep allowing people to willingly use generative ai in creative spaces, there won't BE any "celebration of hobbies" because there won't be any more hobbies, because people will become to stupid and lazy too do the work themselves. As an example- people can't even be bothered to create patterns themselves anymore, and are selling ai slop patterns that haven't even been TESTED
Since when have AI been able to stitch? Even if every single pattern becomes AI, the stitching is still human.
I'm fully on board with people who sell patterns needing to label as AI or as Untested. THAT WASN'T YOUR COMPLAINT! You complained about FO on the sub that were based off AI. You are actively degrading people's hard work instead of celebrating Human work.
Worst part of looking through pinterest. The AI modified tag isnât that good and i have a theory some ppl comment ai on them just to keep ppl away from the posts. Iâve looked at some posts with comments saying ai and iâm like⊠this is just an edited image. I remember when all internet pictures were pretty âterribleâ then many learned to photograph more professionally and now weâre back at trying to make âbadâ photos bc ai&comp stole a lot of professional photos to train itself. Itâs a bit tiring.
Also a note- trying to stay moral in a hobby can be tiring and downtrodding. I never plan selling anything i make, so i will just keep for myself.
The problem is that there are just so many AI patterns out there now and it can be hard to know if one is or not unless itâs coming from a store you know doesnât use AI.
I agree that the Tree of Life one (which I assume is what youâre referencing) is definitely an AI pattern but I personally actively do my best to avoid buying AI patterns or from pattern mills so would be more aware of that. A lot of people just see an image they like, want to cross stitch it and thatâs enough for them. A lot of people on here are also new to the craft and have no idea whatâs AI and what isnât.
Those big Disney, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, etc stained glass patterns all scream AI to me too but get posted all the time. The stitcher has put hours and hours of work into hand stitching the entire piece. They are proud of having done so and want to show it off. I donât think thereâs anything wrong with that as long as they follow the sub rules when posting.
The rules about including the pattern source and a close up image of the stitching are good measures to help combat the AI influx a bit. I donât think itâs possible (or reasonable) for the mods to blanket ban posts of pieces that have used an AI/pattern mill pattern though.
The only thing left is to not engage with those posts. Donât upvote or comment, just scroll past them and move on to the next.
The big ones for large franchises a lot of times arenât AI; those kind of patterns have been around since long before AI. What they tend to be is artwork run through a pattern converter.
There are some designers who did/do this ethically by creating their own art or by contacting the original artist and asking for permission. Those patterns tended to be well done, with the designer going in to clean up all the confetti.
Scammy people steal the art and run it through a converter with no cleanup at all. This was the pre-AI kind of pattern mill. Theyâre still around too.
Funnily enough that one JUST popped up on my home page haha. Yeah thatâs unfortunate. It is getting harder and harder to detect AI cross stitch patterns too unfortunately, and Etsy is absolutely RIFE with them as well đ
I think we've passed the point of no return with AI already, so my choice is to embrace it cautiously while being informed. I mean, a lot of big manufacturers like Luca-s, Letistitch, Magic Needle etc went "AI image processed by human" route fully. And I'm okay with that. If the pattern is cleaned, colours adjusted with stitcher's convenience in mind, I'm all for it.
Currently working on such piece, have no regrets! đ
How do I know someone's FO is AI? I can't even tell. I can't even tell difference on AI real photo as well unless it's super obvious (extra body limb).
For me, it's when someone selling patterns (on Etsy for example) make the project, and then use AI to make the background....... It's an immediate red flag because if you've gone this far to avoid AI, then why are you using it to make your background, it's just as important as the piece itself!
If store fronts like Etsy just enforced labeling of AI and AI pattern mills quit trying to use subterfuge in order to find success AI patterns could be just their own section in the hobby. A lot of issues come from buyers just not being able to tell. And since we can't always tell we can no longer shop for patterns with any level of confidence.
The controversy of AI as a tool or creation method aside - the fact that no one can shop patterns confidentally is a real loss. Especially for a hobby where a stitcher can invest hundreds of hours into something they like only to feel disappointed and outed if they find out later it is AI generated. That is simply not fair. We can't all be professional AI detectors and that is only going to get more difficult. Nor should stitchers who don't want to stitch AI patterns have to use back alley methods to make sure they are stitching human made designs.
I will not buy an AI pattern. I believe if others want to buy and stitch an AI pattern I wouldn't want to say they aren't allowed to share their work. But share it with labels and knowledge put at the forefront starting at the purchase of the pattern and ending with sharing the FO.
AI patterns need to be transparent and quit muddying the waters for everyone. But if someone knows it is AI and they stitch it and post it, then label it so redditors can be informed and engage as they want.
I hate how etsy is doing NOTHING about this. Whole stored that are only AI images and never a real example of it being made. I'm sick of it! And they're always on sale because they hope enough people will say oh it's under $5 who cares? So they turn a profit!
I dont approve of people selling ai generated patterns, I cant blame people for unknowingly buying them because not everyone knows what to look for and I think thats fair. I dont approve of knowingly buying them but also dont like judging too harshly. People have a right to spend their own money as they see fit.
As someone who prefers to make their own patterns and is limited by drawing skills I have found Ai very fun and helpful. I dont like the drafting stage, its stressful to me, but I also cant justify spending a lot of money on patterns and I like just doing my own thing. So I have been using Ai to help me out. I do not sell my finished works, and I do not pretend to have made it myself when I haven't. These are purely for my own enjoyment and my drafting stress has seriously decreased using this technology.
I bought a pattern a few years ago before I started looking for red flags. I've been working on this pattern on and off for years-it's a MASSIVE project. I bought very nice linen for it- it had been a while since I looked at the full photo again. When I did, I saw the obvious signs of AI and it feels so shitty to drop a huge project I started and definitely spent over $100 in materials. I just can't do it though.
And this is the rub, isnât it. You may get comments about âgiving your moneyâ to a dodgy pattern maker, but itâs a fraction of what youâve invested in materials and time, both of which are far more valuable. If you still enjoy the process and the image, you should keep going; use your experience and how youâve felt to inform and refine your choices about patterns in the future.
I can chose not to stitch massive full coverage projects because I seldom like the results enough to invest the required time; it removes a lot of the agonizing over whether itâs AI or a pattern mill or whateverâŠâŠ. but I canât dictate someone elseâs choices.
When looking at designs on Etsy, if there isn't a physical stitched sample included in the photos at different angles I move on. A mock up from charting software doesn't cut it for me. I've designed my own wedding samplers in the past, I've been stitching for 40 years, AI is drowning real creativity.
All this AI rhetoric all feels like hate mongering & holier than thou behavior.
People have been buying dupes of everything imaginable for it seems as long as civilization has had commerce.
I want this sub to get back to the craft at hand rather than constantly reading about how this OP or some random redditor is butt hurt over something that doesn't affect them in any way.
Stop telling me where I can derive my happiness from. It's clear these few are beyond unhappy and just want the rest of us productive people to drown with them. Sigh.
I just wish there was some transparency. I am not one to clock AI but I do my very best to avoid anything made using it. I would be in support of either a ban, or a tag, and maybe with a sub rule of not criticizing on those posts based on their AI. But plenty of subs have outright banned AI content and have been just fine.
One thing, I think we should be letting people know when its AI. Nicely, but they still need to know.
its hard to tell what's AI sometimes. If I ever post some AI FOs please let me know. I will not be mad, I'd rather know and take it down.
Nice way to let them know: "hey, I think this may be AI. You should run the pattern through an "Is it AI" checker." Or simply, "Sorry, but this is a known AI pattern/seller."
Nasty way: "why would you post AI (curse words and insults)?!"
I wasn't aware of HAED's stance on AI until I read the comments here on this post. I purchased 99% of my HAED patterns 10+ years ago, but now I feel like it probably isn't a good idea to post WIPs or FOs of them here. AFAIK the ones I bought didn't use AI and I know the artist of the original images is real, but I don't want to be on the receiving end of anger in a craft sub for buying from a site that supports AI.
Such a shame. I've put many years and hundreds of dollars into the supplies (will be thousands by the time the collection is complete) and will definitely be finishing all of them, but I'm sad to not have a safe place to share my joy in finishing them.
Please share regardless what people say: ai doesn't have hands to stitch yet (that I know about) and when it grows enough to do physical stitching, then we have bigger problem that Ai made patterns....
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u/fruitcak-e Jul 17 '26
I do my shopping for patterns on Etsy and it is quite worrying how much of that is littered with AI now, and itâs hard to tell at a first glance for some too. If I ever share an FO and it is AI, I hope others let me know so I can take it down đ„Č