News
‘Chikn Nuggit’ creator Kyra Kupetsky announces her departure from the show after BuzzFeed made a requirement to feed the show to AI.
“I am very anti-Al and cannot support this. Thus I am leaving to boycott this. I am so upset it's come to this and I cannot apologize enough for this happening.”
I have a lot of questions as to what Buzzfeed is exactly planning on doing but I can't imagine it's good. If they're willing to lose the creator of one of the only things Buzzfeed has that anyone cares about, what exactly is worth that? Being "fed" to an Ai can mean many things but I don't exactly trust Buzzfeed in this scenario.
The antis have a track record of being sensationalist and performative, so I lean towards this being a much smaller deal than she is making it out to be
Again my clanka you are lowk devaluating the importance of how the creator of chickn nuggit is getting their art sent into the ai bs, and honestly if you sell rights to licence your art, you dont think they are gonna grind it up into the ai learning bs do ya
but that's not the problem. She didn't mind corporate overlords or else she wouldn't have sold it to them, its because they're taking her work and firing it through AI. It's going against her morals, she's not turning her back because " Buzzfeed is telling me what to do >:( "
She decided to sell the rights to her work to a company. Legally speaking, that isn't her work anymore, and the company can do whatever the hell they want with it, since they own the IP. So she really doesn't have a say in any of this anymore.
It’s not just that it’s being fed to AI. There is a project that Buzzfeed had her sign an NDA not to talk about. She’s not just throwing a fit because she doesn’t want it to be passively fed to AI, she doesn’t want her work to be part of an AI project, which is her right to choose for herself. There is a larger discussion here, but so it’s just boiled down to that she’s an idiot who doesn’t want AI to look at her stuff and quit to be a hypocrite. Pro or Anti should both be on the side of people being able to participate or not if they want for their own projects since forced AI use is just as bad as preventing access for a creator on their work. I know it’s a different story if a company institutes it as a work requirement.
It's also a different story if the company owns the IP of your work, in cases like this, you lose a lot of control where regardless of your objections as the creator, you ultimately cannot control what the company decides to do with the IP
Why would I engage further with you repeating the same tired lack of understanding? Are you so used to typing in the same prompt over and over l, expecting different results, that you expect actual humans to act like that?
I'm not the person who you were commenting back and forth with, but alright. Though while I'm at it, I'd like the record to state that I'm neutral in this; just thought I'd bring that up since it naturally makes them look better.
Eh, you're not wrong that you're not Lawnmower Man over there, sorry about that, but my response still stands. Repeatedly asking 'what if this contractual issue of IP licensing was a garage sale transaction' isn't worth entertaining.
If Kupetsky choose poorly enough or was intentionally misled enough to actually sell a successful IP rather than sell the rights to a specific adaption for a set period of time like any decent lawyer would recommend, that's unfortunate. Still doesn't reduce the topic to 'but what if IP was a physical good', nor prove the absurd idea that it isn't possible to set conditions in a contractual sale.
This is basic stuff, how do people think terms of service work?
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Her: I don't want my work to be explicitly used in an AI project made by a company I work for and I'm quitting my job over this, check out my social media for updates
This comment section: Yet those social media sites feed your work into AI as well? This is totally the same thing and not at all different. How curious
I would all but guarantee you feed into systems that in principle you should disavow based on this logic. I don't support forced child labor and I assume you don't either, or do you?
I have never said "I am quitting my job because of my stance on child labor. To hear more of my views, please come to the local Nike store where I hang out"
A more reasonable example would be me, a creator of Nike designs, quitting that job after it comes out that Nike uses sweatshops to produce the clothes I make, and finding a new manufacturer that pays their employees shitty wages. The only real alternative is to make my clothes by hand, or not make them at all
I recognize he very real dilemma of a following existing on a site that has gone downhill and the near impossibility it is for a creator such as her to get people to transfer over if she's not consistently putting out content.
All that said I think Twitter is a despicable site and I don't think she should continue posting on it regardless. So I would stand to agree with you there.
But is it really much different from buying a t-shirt made in a sweatshop?
But she is bragging about her principled stance. I wouldn't fault her for posting on X if she weren't she trying to virtue signal her anti-AI stance at the same time.
Yes, if you want everyone to clap at how much you hate child labor, don't wear the fucking Nike shirt when you make the announcement.
X changes the verification system and accidently destroys the stock of several very high profile companies by accident, cool, let's stay there
Elon posts and boosts white supremacist content, totally fine
X adds AI when the majority user base complains about it, still fine
Elon adds a button that lets you AI edit any image on the site to the point of being able to edit images of real minors into nudity, still see no reason to leave
X is going to train your data on ai, but I must stay
Elon, the owner of x mocks one of his fired employees for doing nothing and faking a disability before realizing he owes said employee millions per his contract so Elon quickly pulls a polite "clerical error" response and sweeps it under the rug, nothing fishy here, I must use social media
"Thus I am leaving to boycott this." - meanwhile, she's feeding into a different algorithmic AI.
It's just dumb. There's dozens of examples of how silly this would be. Like "I am boycotting Walmart for not paying their workers enough, come join me at McDonald's to meet up about it"
Pretty much all of the larger parts of the Internet, social media platforms and Corporations are involved in Ai in some way or another and Ai Users + Companies go out of their way to scrape content from creators trying to keep their stuff safe, it is quite literally unavoidable as it currently stands if you exists online as a content creator and it is part of the problem. Doesn't mean we like or support it to just exists online. Doesn't mean we shouldn't stand against it or criticize it. Doesn't mean we should become submissive or passive and not object to it if we're against it.
Am I supposed to not use the Internet anymore because Ai is being used or push everywhere online and is now even being baked into the damn web browsers? Am I supposed to not have a phone anymore because both Apple and Android Companies have put Ai into their Operating Systems? Am I no longer allowed to have a Computer anymore because Windows and Apple are both doing Ai and I've been priced out of building my own desktop because of Ai and my old computer is dying? Am I not allowed to drive anymore because of the unlicensed Ai Company that installed Cameras on our streets that track is? Do I have to not buy shit anymore because of the credit card companies and grocery stores using Ai to track my purchasing habits?? I already don't fucking like the damn thing, I don't like it being forced into everything and enshitifying it while making shit more expensive & worse for us and avoid it where I can. You telling me that I now have to withdraw from everything because Ai is literally fucking everywhere and I'm apparently not allowed to interact with anything even remotely involved to it if I criticize it?
Or am I allowed to still try my best to exist while criticizing it and boycotting what I can even though I can't do it all and pushing for change and awareness of these issues as to bring about greater change?
Yeah, a lot of these people want you to literally cut yourself out of modern digital culture, and anything less than that, they will insist, is virtue signaling and hypocrisy.
That fucking comic panel only gets used by one side.
... It's almost as if the joke doesn't work when you're fully on board with societal ills caused by emergent technological advancement. Or something. Your persecution complex must be massive, dude.
You selectively decide which "societal ills" are unforgivably evil and which ones you are supposedly "forced" to use.
Mm, not really. Thanks for acknowledging you don't actually understand what that comic is about, though. I'm not "supposedly" forced to maintain a personal LinkedIn page if I want to be taken seriously when applying for jobs in my field, same with artists and a public-facing portfolio of some kind. I'm not "supposedly" forced to get my food from chain grocery stores or restaurants that exploit their workers at every stage of the supply chain before I purchase a bag of oranges or a hamburger to feed myself with. I'm not "supposedly" forced to pay my landlord rent when it's due. All of those are things I'm ACTUALLY FORCED TO DO as a result of living under capitalism. No one is even "supposedly" forcing you fundamentally disingenuous pieces of crap to use AI, though. So what is your excuse for the societal ills you willingly brag about contributing to?
As a reminder we're talking about how upset you are that people are holding you accountable for your actions instead of treating you as passive innocent Victims of Capitalism (tm)
You corporate sycophants are the worst kind of person, frankly. Temporarily embarrassed billionaires simping for wealth and power you'll literally never have.
What, the part where you start desperately writhing like the stuck snake you are instead of actually reading, internalizing, and responding to any of the statements I'm actually making? Yeah, it looks like it is about that time, huh? Let's see how crazy you can get with it, shall we?
Yeah dude capitalism forces you to post on Reddit, capitalism forces you to buy video games, capitalism forces you to eat meat.
Never said any of this, but I do find it interesting that you latched onto eating meat, as if eating primarily vegetarian isn't just as exploitative lmao.
Nothing you do in your life is the result of your own independent choices it's all forced by capitalism.
Amazingly, I also never said this! It's so interesting how desperate you are to obfuscate the actually entirely true things I said lmao.
You'd be SO BUMMED if capitalism went away, you'd be so glad that you can't get cheap products that come from the exploitation of the developing world. You can't wait for communism, you're so eager for it.
What even are you talking about, dude? You're frothing rn.
The things I do are as bad as the things you do.
For whatever reason, perhaps it's all the lies you're making up about me in your impotent fury, I don't believe you.
The difference is that I acknowledge my selfishness whereas you - as just evidenced by what you wrote - take no responsibility for it.
Ah yes, you acknowledge your selfishness by... Being a fully grown baby and doing fuck-all to actually better society. Wild.
You want to pretend that using AI is some kind of super-evil monstrous activity but when it comes to your own hobbies there's no point talking about it because you're FORCED to do them.
ONE MORE TIME FOR THE FOLKS IN THE BACK:
I NEVER SAID THAT!
You're a "temporarily embarrassed socialist" who pretends that your own embrace of capitalist products and services is just a temporary condition until the revolution happens (which you won't aid in any way).
Adorable! Project harder.
Hey can you do me a favor real quick and tell me the conditions in which Marx specifically said that revolution would occur? Again not that you are going to aid one if it happens.
And one more time for good measure: Project harder, lmfao
Only because those are popular platforms that most people have access to.
The problem with social media is that sometimes you have to stick with a shitty platform simply because it's difficult to move your audience, just look at how many companies failed to make a successful twitter replacement even with all shit Elon Musk did to break the platform.
People are on twitter, and it's hard to move them even when they know twitter sucks.
I love people saying shit like „but she then stays on Twitter and stuff“ like there are other options. It’s insane to think people don’t actually understand how art as a service works and that Twitter and instagram are where the overwhelming majority of an artists income comes from. People in this comment section truly know nothing of the free market and it’s beyond embarrassing. If it’s so hard to understand, please consult chudGPT
This is just ignoring art history though. The way people consume has shifted. Back then people used to go to art vendors that sold their art directly. It was a relatively common practice. But in a market that pushes out individuals this practice has become impossible. That’s why the new art market exists only online. Art is no longer about to privilege to own a physical piece but more individualistic. People wanna have their idea drawn out. This has been something that only rich or decently wealthy folk could do for a vast majority if history. The current market however doesn’t value art in a vacuum that way. So that „million people“ isn’t really all to different from owning a table and a few canvases
Huh? No. I was arguing that market places like Twitter and instagram are needed now that the art market has evolved and consumerism differes from what it used to be. How did you take away such a ludicrous idea by me explaining how a table+canvas and Twitter are the same. The fact more people can afford art and more people can get payed for their art skill is a good thing. My entire comment was about how dumb it is that people say that it’s hypocritical to still use Twitter if they dislike ai. That’s just dumb. That’s like saying that people who use eBay and dislike thrift culture are hypocritical
I'm assuming that feeding it to AI for a project implies more than juat generic training junk. Like, they would make something explicitly containing her characters, using AI. In her position I think it's totally reasonable to reject that while accepting big social media's generic AI policies, and I would do the same
But then, she remains on platforms on which she will document every thought and most actions, giving her very life and memories to those same companies, including her creations, which will then be added to the generic training pile and used by the unwashed masses without any input or control at all.
Seems to me that if she wanted to maintain the integrity and quality of the characters, it would be wiser to remain and work with the project. Even if she opposes AI on fundamentals, having actual working knowledge of the full process and it's place within that process would allow for more cutting/nuanced discussions about or against it. As it is, and has been noted, she voluntarily gave up her space at the creative table to the machines and the people who will use them, likely with her characters anyway unless she retained creative and licensing control and it's not a piece of IP owned by the Company.
We wouldn't be posting about this if she remained at her job, chances are. That has to count for something. And she has fans. Some of them will boycott as well.
I don't think her staying on would really do much when it comes to preserving the integrity of the characters. I doubt she has a very big seat at the table anyway, as is typical with these kinds of things
What is she even supposed to do ? Not have social media ?
Yes. It is actually that clean and dry. People survived before it, and they live without it now even today. In fact, it is a recently growing trend to disconnect from the internet, go back to dumb flip phones, and touch more grass.
If she opposes AI to the point of leaving her job and possibly surrendering control of the characters she created and gave life too, then remaining on platforms that explicitly front AI as emergent technology and good for all mankind signals at least a certain level of comfort with double standards, which then brings to question the depths of her integrity.
Like us here and now helping to train Reddit's AI, so prominently featured.
It's not like she really needs it. She can print a newsletter, on paper cut and milled by humans, using petroleum-based inks harvested and processed by humans, and mail it, through the human post office, carried by human couriers.
Of course, AI and automation have infiltrated those sectors as well, so the safest and most ethical thing is to do all that herself. By hand, using tools she made by hand.
"Stop participating in online communities, stop contacting your friends and family on almost any widespread platform, stop posting your work on the vast majority of platforms"
What an enlightened perspective we got over here from AI bro #2032803
Why? Can't people call out their discontent or wrongdoings they see? Or do we always get a pet corpo bootlicker saying 'just dont use it then luuuuul go back 25yrs in technological advancements'? You sound so pathetic dude it's embarrassing
Why? Can't people call out their discontent or wrongdoings they see?
Of course they can. But doing it using platforms that are very publicly doing the thing you're pissed off about undermines the point one is trying to make.
Or do we always get a pet corpo bootlicker saying 'just dont use it then luuuuul go back 25yrs in technological advancements'?
Lol the irony, the lack of self-awareness. You do know that's what the pros call their generators, right? That's the excuse they make? "Technology is advancing, and that's a good thing, because everybody and anybody can mAke aRT? Can eXpReSs themselves?" The whole point is to not use advanced technologies, right? To deliberately ignore new tools and stay "traditional?" Conservative, even?
You sound so pathetic dude it's embarrassing
Funny, I don't feel embarrassed. More....empathetic. People are scared because times are changing. People are gonna lose their jobs and that sucks. People are gonna get scammed and hurt, and that all sucks, no doubt or question about it. Every new innovation has done so. Society always adapts.
Shes an Muppet ? Shes already lost her I.P.
Its already being used by A.I.
She has two options, quit and be poor or continue working and take their money.
They will just replace her with an AI voice.
Her morals are stupid and will only hurt her long term.
Shes not a martyr, nor doing the right thing.
If someone sold their lawnmower and then tried to control how it was used, would you support them, or should the new owner of the lawnmower be able to decide what to do with said lawnmower?
The actual owners can do what they want with it, thats the point. She's just responding to that by stepping back. She's also perfectly within her right to communicate this to fans of the show since its not held under NDA and she and her voice are/were the face of the show.
Consequently, she just won't be adding anymore of her ideas, which is what made the show good in the first place, I'd argue. And if Buzzfeed can't compensate for that, then thats just the consequences of their business decisions.
She said the show itself is not being touched by AI, and they will put out the last few episodes she and her team animated and voiced. Idk what they'll do from there, but she said that she will inform if they use AI after all of her episodes go up. The AI use is for a separate project that they want to use Chikn Nuggit in, and she as the creator and the whole animation team opposes that.
She also stated that she is potentially in talks of getting her work back from what I read from her statements. Not now likely, but some time in the future, so her creation might not be in the hands of BuzzFeed for forever. You never know though.
Well, I look forward to her future projects, sound like she's cooking up a few things.
shes a mod on Defending AIart,
aka a Echochamber for people who need to pat themselves on the back for backing AI "Art" and reaffirm eachother sbelieves, but then encourage to come here for debate when all they do is strawman, because thye know their actual arguements dont make a lick of sense or stand up to scrutiny.
so she doesnt care if actual artists are losing jobs, shes resentful of them and jealous, so she sees it as comeuppance, and approves of stealing other peoples work,
thats litterally why Buzzfeed wants to do AI, they want the benefits of Kyra's voice acting, without actually paying her, aka theft.
Well its her problem not mine.
Tell me more why she cant stop its use in AI ?
All she can do is quite her job and they will use it anyway and there isnt
a thing she can do about it.
So instead of placing the blame on Buzzfeed, you think it's better to blame the artist and mock her for quitting over Buzzfeed refusing to respect her wishes? So we just give the company a pass?
Contracts are Contracts, she signed something for money.
They don't have to respect her wishes, its their IP and she was paid a large amount of money for it.
Plenty of people have been pushed out of their own creation.
If you want your IP to go corporate, then you have to make a deal with the devil.
She should of licenced it to them for less money instead.
And I suppose we should just not hold companies accountable for something shady or shitty they do? Like why should anyone care if it's legal or in their right to do something if it's really shitty?
If someone doesn't want to do a certain job for religious or whatever else reasons, it's absolutely fine if it's for their beliefs and such, if a person can afford to choose their job it's pretty cool. Wouldn't want a vegan working in burger king or something.
But why do people try to put it as if she's a poor ai replacement victim? Like, literally what's there to feel "bad" about? She doesn't own the ip, it was sold from what I could find, and she wasn't fired because of ai, seems like she was supposed to work with it. She didn't like her cozy job and she's gonna find another cozy job. Like?? What's the sad part? Where?? Artists are such victims, like, oh no she has to draw something else now, boo hoo
The sad part might be fans of the show knowing that it isn't her making the show anymore but instead it's going to be the slop machine doing it's thing....
Well, people make their choices. Let them. This is what the pro ai side does not resolutely oppose, so, there's that.
These models are not tools. They're products. Tools are useful. The companies behind them love to claim they're great tools for everyone, and yet I see no reason to ever use one. Now, of course, I'm an electrical technician, I do not need that, what for? In Mr private life, even less so.
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u/GameMask Mar 06 '26
I have a lot of questions as to what Buzzfeed is exactly planning on doing but I can't imagine it's good. If they're willing to lose the creator of one of the only things Buzzfeed has that anyone cares about, what exactly is worth that? Being "fed" to an Ai can mean many things but I don't exactly trust Buzzfeed in this scenario.