I do have works that contains use of non-human assistance (by tools such as generative models 'LLM's) (listed below); I'll state this very clearly from now on in an effort to stay transparent about that in my work.
Semantics
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| "Assist" | Verb. To provide guidance, material or to walk through a problem. |
| "Content" | Noun. Resources; raw material from a given source. |
| "Non-human" | Adj. Of not human origin, as in, not created, emitted from or crafted by a human. Example: Synthesis is a human creation. Sound in a synthesizer is actively decided by human manipulation, even if the actual sound is not actually emitted from a human. |
| "Nullify" | Verb. Void something from its own arbitraly-defined integrality. Example: A tree only stands because of its trunk. Cut the trunk and it will fall down and you'll be in front of a fallen tree, rather than a standing tree. |
| "Tool-assisted" | Verb. To be consently guided, provided with useful information or material in the context of a problem by a third-party tool |
| "Tool" | Noun. A device that facilitates manual work. |
| "Statement" | Noun. An open, public, set-on-stone declaration of a public or private known fact |
Definitions
| State | Means | Footnote |
|---|---|---|
| None | Entirely crafted by human; use of resources and samples of human origin. (Not listed) | No non-human content ('LLMs') involved during in the production, development, improvement, conception or finalization of this track or its artwork. |
| ๐
ฟ๏ธ Partial |
Negligible; Non-human content assists work with negligible effect; Human work is not nullified after removal of the tool-assisted content. | Partial use of non-human content (from 'LLM's) involved in the production, development, or conception of this track. Please refer to the track's credits for more details. |
| ๐
ฐ๏ธ Abundant |
Dependency; Non-human content assists in a way that nullifies human work after its removal; Non-human parts are integral to the work. | Abundant use of non-human content ('LLM's) involved in the production, development, or conception of this track. Please refer to the track's credits for more details. |
Statements only applies to a single medium unless the statement is None for both. For example, one cannot apply a single statement for a release, because a release is often a compound of a track (audio) and image (cover art) which can have different statements. This is disambiguated by the "Medium" column.
List of works assisted by non-human content:
| Title | S. | Resource | Target | Tool Used |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Note | ||||
| 'Eu Sรณ Consigo Falar Por 3 Segundos' (2024) | P | ๐ Audio | ๐ฏ Vocal Timbre | Weights.gg |
| " Although the vocal is important to the track, it can be easily replaced by its unchanged original version, its timbre being modified only because it enhances the jokingly content. " | ||||
| 'Zeronamerespondeux' (2024) | P | ๐ Audio | ๐ฏ Vocal Timbre | Weights.gg |
| " Although the vocal is important to the track, it can be easily replaced by its unchanged original version, its timbre being modified only because it enhances the jokingly content. " | ||||
| 'K. Teto Marble Duet' (Single, 2024) | P | ๐ผ๏ธ Image | ๐ฏ Resolution/LOD | bigjpg |
| " The upscaling method used did not affect the artwork's content and was largely used to enhance the original content's resolution in a artificial manner. " | ||||
| 'Loves Apples Market' (2022) | A | ๐ผ๏ธ Image | ๐ฏ Image (Completely) | Midjourney |
| " Entirely assisted by tool with minimal human modification besides color-grading and framing; The artwork could not exist otherwise. " | ||||
| 'LoveComplex Pt. I' (2023) | A | ๐ผ๏ธ Image | ๐ฏ Character Render | PixAI and bigjpg |
| " The character covers a substantial amount of the image real estate in a way that it would nullify the artwork after its removal. " | ||||
| 'Fireheart' (EP, 2023) | A | ๐ผ๏ธ Image | ๐ฏ Character Render | Artbreeder and bigjpg |
| " The character, although mildly altered from its source version, covers a substantial amount of the image real estate in a way that it would nullify the artwork after its removal. " | ||||
| 'Blossom' (2023) | A | ๐ผ๏ธ Image | ๐ฏ Image (Partial) | Artbreeder |
| " The detail covers a gentle third of the image real estate, but removing it would reduce the artwork to a simple single-color background and text, which does not produce the desired effect. " | ||||
Why you do/did work with non-human content?
This section is impossible to write without subjectivity. Some people disagree with this content even existing, let alone be used for an inherently human-centric form of expression. Other people think it's good because it finally makes us notice that we take art for granted by giving them the confidence of how bad art without lived experience can be. In the internet, you will find a entire spectrum of opinions about it and how it should be used.
My position is that transparency is very important. There's a tradeoff in what appears to be free labor, but that tradeoff leans in artist side rather than the public side. If the artist failed to meet its own superfletched imagination from its ability to work with it, that's a very clear route to personally unsuccessful and temporarily fulfilling only (short-lived) projects.
I believe it's rude and misleading to guide people into thinking you made something you did not. Of course, the rules are funky for plunderphonics projects since the whole idea is to literally middle-finger copyright as a reaction to a system that robs the artists from their freedom of creating with something that came before, which I do very much align with as a big chunk of my work is free to sample and distribute commercially as your own.
At the same time, it's a new technology and a fascinating one. One that surely helps people into reaching (most times, inaccurate) information. It's very hard to stop the urge of wanting to create something it did not existed before, specially for artists. In fact I do reflect on this being our brain's default way of living. I openly disagree with the narrative of it 'democratizing art' since art was never in history so easy to master to a satisfying degree.
In conclusion, curiosity leads people into funny places, but they are always switching places to find something better. In other words, yes, while I do have works with non-human content, I do stay transparent as a responsibility to deal with my past decisions by opening this information to third-parties.