Singapore photographer devastated after 12 million images on anti-AI art platform scraped: 'I've tried so damn hard'

She built an art platform to keep images generated by artificial intelligence (AI) out — but that platform has now been compromised by AI enthusiasts.

The platform, Cara, was scraped by an AI enthusiast as part of a "fun project", Singapore photographer Zhang Jingna revealed in an Instagram post last Friday (Aug 14).

Scraping refers to an automated process where data is extracted from a website to teach AI — which can in turn be used to create AI-generated art based on what it learns.

Taking to the DefendingAIArt subreddit, the enthusiast gloated: "I scraped all of Cara, an anti-AI art platform!"

"Was a fun project, happy to answer any questions here," the user added.

The post has since been deleted and the user banned.

Expressing her frustrations, Zhang wrote: "What the hell must I do?

"Artists just want a place online where platforms don't feed their work to AI. So I built Cara. But people just won't leave us alone.

"The laws don't help us, the governments don't help us. What are artists supposed to do?"

She claimed that Cara implements anti-bot and anti-scraping measures, making it clear that they didn't want their users' data scraped.

"Over 12 million images on Cara," she said.

"That's the love and heart and effort of over a million users who just want to create and share their art with a community that respects one another.

"People just want a safe space, but AI users go out of their way to destroy it."

Is consent needed?

Zhang claimed that AI enthusiasts have criticised artists like herself, saying that "consent isn't always valid" and that they shouldn't post online if they don't want their posts used.

Likening the situation to a store broken into being faulted for not having windows, she added: "A door not being bank vault-strong isn't an invitation to violate."

Some have also advised her to take legal action, which Zhang said she has: two class action lawsuits on copyright and Cara itself are proof of that.

She further stressed the need for laws to protect netizens, highlighting that she is expected to have "sophisticated abilities to stop attacks".

"I've done the best I could these four years. I've worked and stressed to the point my body is falling apart, my hair now falls out in clumps.

"I've tried so damned hard. But where are the government officials and lawmakers who can help? Please stop this."

Community divided

While Zhang addressed the community as a whole, many users within the subreddit shared that they had divergent opinions on the matter.

Some users lauded the scraper as a hero for breaching a website that was "anti-AI", while others felt that the ethics behind the breach were a concern.

"What annoys me more is the generalisation that all of us agree with what was done, which simply isn't the case," one user stated.

Another commented: "The Cara scraping incident is a good example of being pro-AI having some limits.

"We don't like evil behaviour that… incite others, and that incident is basically that. We can be pro-AI and still ethical."

A user also asserted that this isn't something to be celebrated by the community.

"Going into a community that's advertised as protecting an artists artwork from scraping and then proceeding to find a way to scrape it anyway is not a good look.

"It shows a lack of respect and boundaries for the community that was affected."

Meanwhile, some users instead highlighted the fact that Cara, which uses a tool that was "easy to scrape".

"It's like putting up a sign that says 'I hate burglars' in your front yard and leaving your door unlocked when you leave. It's basically asking for trouble," said one.

Another user added: "(Cara's) promise to protect against scraping is meaningless… Any artist thinking uploading there keeps their work away from scraping, is under false security.

"If you can see an image on the internet, bots can see it too."

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khooyihang@asiaone.com