Could we seeing the light at the end of the AI tunnel?

These past few weeks has seen a rise in people opposing AI in the light of Meta announcing their change of policy allowing their AI model to scrap websites from any links posted on their socical media platforms. That came on top of people just being plain fed up with AI slop showing everywhere, including restaurants menu, and community events' flyers, and just this morning Etsy finally announced they were going to implement directives to combat the AI plague on their platform. So my big question is :

Could we be seeing a light at the end of the AI tunnel?

I am cautiously optimistic at this point. After all, big PoD platform like Society6 and Redbubble have been trying to curb the influx of AI slop since it started becoming an issue 3 years ago and not much has changed. Society6 went with a curated model and heavily vet what makes it on their website. Redbubble instated platform fees that haven't done anything to deter the scammer but is pissing off real artists and Teepublic simply decided to pay those who upload less original work less on each sales. None of it is really banning Gen AI garbage from being sold. Etsy's new announcement is coming as a bandaid on a broken leg if you ask me. There used to be a time when we had to list any production partner and drop shipping was against the seller's guideline. When I pulled the plug on that platform in 2022 it was already starting to look a bit too much like an Ali Express reselling website and it went from bad to worse when AI came in. Right now they are only reacting because the problem became so bad people are no longer trusting the marketplace and buying elsewhere. Their new measure is asking sellers to post at least one unedited picture of the actual product, along with banning the sale of AI generated patterns as digital file. Sellers can STILL use an AI picture among their product images, but each listing must have a real product picture. They are apparently extremely unclear about what counts as unedited with many sellers taking to social media asking if it includes simple edits like contrast, brightness and saturation. I for one am glad I am no longer selling on Etsy, but if it means bringing back actual product pictures, even for printable digital files, I'm happy to see that implemented for the sake of all the real artists and makers out there.

It's a case of too little too late, but it's also a sign that the anti AI concerns are starting to be too loud to sweep under the rug. I'm hoping that momentum keeps on building. The generation that seems to be spearheading this return to a more analog time is no other than the generation my daughter belongs to : Gen Z

They aren't against technology, they recognise the benefit of growing in a world that has gone digital, but they are also pushing for not loosing the beauty that there is in simpler analog things like drawing, crafting and buying music on a physical support again. This gives this younger Gen X hope! Along with more regulation for AI, we could maybe see an end to this insane overconsumption trend going on with influencers on social media as well.

I think that all generations confounded, we have reached a breaking point with being solicited for attention and our wallet non stop online. A push for valorising human creativity is being made, we still have a long way to go, but it's a start in the right direction.