Image source: Generated by Unbounded AI
"Can the pictures posted by painters in Xiaohongshu be used for refining at will?"
In the past month, the topic of "Xiaohongshu stealing user works to refine its own AI model" has been continuously fermented, and users have launched boycott actions on Xiaohongshu and other social platforms. Some painters stopped updating their works on Xiaohongshu, and some chose to delete pictures and go to other platforms for development. At present, Xiaohongshu has not yet made a public response to the incident and the parties involved.
The cause of the incident was that a freelance painter of "Snowfish" accused the official Xiaohongshu of using the works to train AI without the user's knowledge on the Xiaohongshu platform on July 30. The next day, the user used his two works as an example to list in detail the evidence that Xiaohongshu stole the artist's work and fed it to AI. For example, in the original work "Kuafu Chasing the Sun", in order to express Kuafu's dedication to chasing the sun, the negative emotions such as fear and fatigue are realized and painted as the image of a wild beast, which is left behind by Kuafu. Other users used pictures generated by Xiaohongshu's official AI tool Trik AI to replace the beast with a wolf's head. For another example, in the work "Gao Xin Creates Everything", the user flattened the animals created by Gao Xin, referring to the bronzes mixed with gold and silver, and painted them as decorations around Gao Xin, but the AI didn't know what the lines in it were and just randomly drew them. A mess of lines messed things up.
(On the left of the picture, the comparison of "Kua Fu Chasing the Sun"; on the right, the comparison of "Gao Xin Created Everything". Source: Xiaohongshu)
It is not only "Snowfish" whose works are fed to AI, more victims have surfaced.
Weibo nicknamed "Genuine Qingtuanzi" posted his own work, which was used by Xiaohongshu's AI tool to feed pictures and wash manuscripts.
(Left picture: user original work. Right picture: AI tool work, picture source: Weibo)
Weibo's nickname "Painting Clouds and Winds" indicates that many of his works have been used for alchemy.
(Left picture: user original work. Right picture: AI tool work, picture source: Weibo)
The work nicknamed "RedMatcha" on Weibo was used for alchemy.
(Left picture: user original works. Right picture: AI tool works. Source of picture: Weibo)
01
The little red book that couldn’t keep up with the last train of the big model and the overturned Trik AI
The large model has become the standard configuration of domestic Internet companies. If any company has not launched a large model until now, it is estimated that I am embarrassed.
Xiaohongshu has not released a large model so far, but the team has been working. According to 36 Krypton reports, Xiaohongshu has prepared an independent large-scale model team since March, and there are multiple independent departments to promote the landing exploration of AIGC at the same time. In April this year, Xiaohongshu quietly launched an AI painting application called "Trik". In July, Xiaohongshu launched graffiti and the "now" function.
Regarding the AI layout of Xiaohongshu, the author pointed out in the article "Xiaohongshu selects the AIGC landing scene as the cover image, the direction is correct but not enough to care" that the operation rhythm of Trik AI is too slow, and the day lily was cold when it was launched. up.
However, it never occurred to me that Trik AI is now in a panic and has the idea of user works. However, misappropriating user works for AI alchemy is actually an open secret in the industry. In January this year, foreign artists jointly launched a class action lawsuit against Stability Al, DeviantArt and Midjourney, accusing their training data of infringing the copyrights of a large number of artists, but the result was nothing.
Specifically for Xiaohongshu, the most criticized is the overlord clause in the user service agreement. The works published by users on Xiaohongshu can not only be used "at will" by Xiaohongshu, but also can be used by third parties. This is why Trik AI can use the works of users on the Xiaohongshu platform to make alchemy.
02
User's struggle, Xiaohongshu's silence
Apparently, Xiaohongshu’s actions are inconsistent with the provisions of the “Interim Measures for the Administration of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services” that came into force on August 15.
Article 4 of Chapter 1 of the "Measures" clearly states, "Respect intellectual property rights, business ethics, keep business secrets, and do not take advantage of algorithms, data, platforms, etc. to implement monopoly and unfair competition." Article 7 of Chapter II also stated that "where intellectual property rights are involved, the intellectual property rights enjoyed by others in accordance with the law shall not be infringed".
Before Xiaohongshu, the "Miaoya Camera", known as the first AIGC hot product in China, also had a dispute over the overlord clause. After receiving feedback from users, the official quickly revised the agreement and issued an apology statement. It promises that the photos uploaded by users will only be used for making digital avatars, and will not be extracted or used for identification and other purposes, and will be automatically deleted after the avatar is made.
In fact, it took only one day for the public opinion turmoil of Miaoya Camera to go from the outbreak to the official apology, and the emergency response speed of the crisis is not uncommon. Some people may think that Miaoya Camera is a start-up team with insufficient confidence and cannot afford to provoke users. In fact, Miaoya Camera is affiliated to Ali Entertainment, backed by Ali. Even so, there is no airs to the user.
As for Xiaohongshu, although it is also a start-up company, it is a super unicorn with a monthly life of 200 million and a valuation of more than 20 billion US dollars. It is not clear whether the store is big enough to deceive customers, but it is already difficult to listen to the voice of users.
(Users resist AI on Xiaohongshu, source: Xiaohongshu)
From August 1 to the present, users have protested Xiaohongshu’s use of painters’ works to train AI by deleting pictures and transferring them to other platforms. However, Xiaohongshu has not made a sound so far.
The artist nicknamed "Qing Sisi" has previously published many works on Xiaohongshu. "Qing Sisi" told Babbitt that after learning that Xiaohongshu stole user works to train its own AI model, it felt outrageous, but it did not expect that the theft of works was so blatant.
Compared with the global artist’s boycott of AI painting at the end of last year, which caused a big disturbance, the boycott of Xiaohongshu users this time has not had much impact. "Qing Sisi" believes that if everyone resists together, Xiaohongshu may not be able to give up the infringement in a short period of time, but when the number of boycotts and time reaches a certain amount, it will have an impact on Xiaohongshu, and the chances of users fighting for their interests will be affected will be big.
At present, "Qingsisi" no longer publishes works on this platform, and only serves as a platform for soliciting manuscripts.
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