A.I. Art: Is It Stealing Your Art?

 

By Nydia Tungsten
 

I like a lot of others tinker and play with AI, or “Artificial Intelligence.” I also use it to help with my writing, NOT writing for me, but helping with how I describe my characters, so I know I am describing them correctly. That being said, I posted a few of my tinkerings in a Discord chat, and the next thing I know, I am being attacked by some unhinged “artist” swearing how AI art isn’t art! And that it is garbage, and I am garbage for even using it. And stealing from him and other “artists,” I really tried to de-escalate, saying it goes by description, not stealing, and he informed me that words are “NOT ART!” 
 

Well, I am sure Mr. Shakespeare is going to be absolutely devastated to find out about this…

But let us pull it back to images, to me and a hell of a lot of others, art is what is appealing to the beholder. There are a lot of artists out there that, in my humble opinion, are just .. Trash, entitled hacks that mummy told that their art is “special and needs to be shared with the world.”  Crap shot out of a canon onto a canvas is NOT art, bugs glued to cardboard is not art. Furry girls drawn with HUGE boobs and inflated bodies are not “art.” ANY fetish drawing is not art. And I REALLY doubt ANY AI would even think of stealing that.

BUT… that is my opinion, and we all know, opinions are like buttholes every everyone has one, and most stink!
 

But let's get into facts, shall we? 

 

It has not been proven that AI "steals" from other artists in any legal or definitive sense. The claim is highly contested and depends on how you define "stealing." Here's a clear breakdown:

1. What AI Training Actually Does

Large language models and image generators (like Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, DALL·E) are trained on billions of publicly available images and texts scraped from the internet.

These datasets include copyrighted works, but the AI does not store or copy the original images. It learns statistical patterns—shapes, colors, styles, compositions—similar to how a human artist studies thousands of paintings to develop their own style. 

 

The output is not a reproduction of any single training image but a new synthesis based on learned probabilities. 

 

Legal Status (As of 2025): 
No court has ruled that AI training on public data constitutes copyright infringement.

The U.S. Copyright Office (2023–2025) has consistently stated that AI-generated works are not  copyrightable because they lack human authorship, but it has not banned training on copyrighted material.

Ongoing lawsuits (e.g., Getty Images v. Stability AI, NYT v. OpenAI, artists v. Midjourney) argue infringement, but no final ruling has established that training = theft.

A 2024 federal judge dismissed parts of the Andersen v. Stability AI case, noting that mere inclusion in training data does not prove infringement unless the output is "substantially similar."

3. "Stealing" vs. "Learning"
 

Claim:  "AI copies artists' exact styles"

 

Reality:  Outputs can mimic styles, but so can human artists (e.g., Van Gogh forgeries). Style itself is not copyrightable (only specific works).

Claim: "AI reproduces watermarks/logos"

Reality:  Early models sometimes did; modern ones (2025) filter or blur these via safety layers.

 

Claim: "AI reproduces watermarks/logos"

 

Reality:  Early models sometimes did; modern ones (2025) filter or blur these via safety layers.
 

Claim: "Artists lose income"

Reality: Some report reduced commissions, but causation is unproven—market shifts (e.g., stock photo decline) predate AI. 

Loss of commissions will probably only happen to highly sought-after artists, and even then, the numbers are so marginal that it can’t even be proven. Yet the ones whining the loudest are the ones no one has even heard of. “The mommies' special artists.” 

Yes, I am a bit salty as I write this because of the entitled little whiner that decided they were the “Art god” descending from on high. And I know that there are others out there on both sides that REALLY need to hear this!

“Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.” And we are not all the same. So if you’re not really into what someone else calls art, you don’t have to, but nor should you just attack and crap over what they like.

AI will become more and more involved, whether we want it to or not. Some good, some bad. But remember, life is always changing, and IF you want a say in how it changes, learn to discuss. Not howl and rant like a rabid chimpanzee spouting off what you have heard from other howling chimpanzees. There are a few things AI is being put into that I don’t agree with, and I am looking into what might be done. As I would suggest you all do for whatever you feel needs to be addressed.

On that note, I will leave you, my readers, with one word, and I hope you all take it to heart.

DISCUSS.

Nydia 

*Editors Note*: If there are enough comments, they may be in another article. 

 

How to Prevent And Deal With Doxing

 
By Angel Fencer

What is Doxing

Doxing is the unwanted sharing of personal identifying information(PII). It’s an illegal practice some people do. It its mostly with malicious intent.

The info includes but is not limited to:

Pictures of you in real life
Address
Passwords
Real life name
Date of birth

Motives of people who dox

Most people dox cause they disagree with the user. But sometimes there is an discriminatory motive behind it.

In my case, I am transgender and the doxers where trying to get me to end my life cause they disliked. I protected another trans person in a Discord VC.

I been Doxed HELP me

If your doxed please do the following:

1. Remove all personal information from Google refer to this article: https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/3111061?hl=en

2. Private your Facebook and remove your real life information from any social media you can (or delete/privatize it).

3. Do not be afraid to take legal action Doxing is a criminal offense and you have all the rights to call the police and file legal lawsuits over this.

4. Do not give anything to the doxers. They likely WILL send your info regardless of you sending money and may ask a ransom. This is a scam, just report it to the police.

5. If your passwords are in the dox please change your password on all sites and use Lastpass,Dashlane or another password generator and only use a master password for them.

6. Avoid interaction with the doxers, they are dangerous as they have your information. AVOID contact.

7. Report the content to the platform it happened on.

8. Warn your neighbors and potentially move out of your house if your address in the leak

9. (Optional) Change your legal name

10. Change your phone number(if leaked)

    And remember you can contact me in SL or on Discord I am out to help people as much as I can you are not alone in this stay determined and strong don't let the doxers win.  

My own story of being doxed

So I've been doxed first by people of a certain anarchy server in Minecraft. Then later it was made worsen by transphobic users on Skeppy (A Minecraft trolling/prank channel’s Discord/Minecraft Server: Invadedlands) cause they hated I defended another trans person in the VC.

It all started when I was young I made a Minecraft account using my real name before I changed it a few times until my current one. Since Mojang and Namemc keeps history, they easily found my name then found my Facebook and got a picture of when I was 13, and my passwords by hacking my deceased Father’s Google account. It's despicable how they also doxed my Dad, my not so nice half brother and even drawn over the picture of my father after I dragged them into a Group chat on Discord with an friend who defended me. He later stated, "Do me a favor and not introduce me to these people there horrible and I want nothing to do with these insane freaks." I couldn't agree more about how delusional they are.

For security I won't include the logs as they include real-life info of me and my family. They've been spreading it on my old (now defunct) Discord server (I revived my old one and that one is still alive and active) after which I closed the server for good.

The amount of transphobic slurs in the chat and the fact they wanted me to end my life makes me worried they did this to other people who might not been so lucky as me.

These people did this on a platform known as Discord. While the platform is amazing, the fact they can make unlimited accounts using VPNs and such is terrifying, especially with the threats. Anyway they still are trying to get to me while I nearly forgot they existed as it was in 2017-2020 and I moved on from those clowns. I just wonder why they keep doing this to me while I just want to be left alone. They are really showing signs of psychopathy there. I just hope they get arrested before anyone gets hurt 'cause of them.

Still thinking of how he said "Its never safe with me around, better sleep with the pillow on the face tonight." I of course did not nor did I respond to them.

And a note to the doxers if they read this: Please stay FAR AWAY from me and my family! We won't hesitate to get you guys in a pickle if it's required for our safety. Also get a life besides harassing people online. Oh and see that network cable? Pull it out of your router before you get yourself in jail.

Angel Fencer

 

Chrome is Becoming a Real OS

By Cyfir (Cyfiremmerich)

A couple of months ago, I came to realize that I needed something better than my old crappy HP laptop. I had gotten the laptop as a hand-me-down because the previous owner ended up with viruses and didn’t want to deal with it anymore. This was fine as I knew how to erase the hard drive and install Linux and even a new copy of Windows. However, there was something that I couldn’t fix, even with the extra RAM that I installed in it. The laptop’s CPU was just way too underpowered. It was just way too slow and cumbersome for even what I wanted to use it for, that being a computer that I could use while sitting on the couch in front of the TV. I wanted something snappier and thus more enjoyable to use.

The problem was I was on a very tight budget. I thought about getting an android tablet but then I thought about all the other android tablets that I’ve had over the years and how underpowered they all were. It was then that I was suggested a Chromebook by Game Wylder. Android tablets have been sort of dead in the water for a while aside for underpowered Amazon and Kindle tablets. Apparently, Chrome OS is now where it’s at. I was suggested the Lenovo Chromebook Duo and since it was at my price point and had very positive reviews I decided to go ahead and buy one.

I had not had much experience with Chromebooks aside from the ones that I have to use at work to clock in and check my emails. My experiences with Chrome OS up until that point had not been great. I just thought that it was way too limited to be a real OS. I just figured that it was just a browser. While this may have been true in the past, Chrome OS has since gotten Android app support and a beta version of Linux, which means that you can install applications on it. Steam support could also be available in the near future for more gaming options. There’s still no official way to run a full Second Life browser in Chrome OS, but I was able to hack my way around and side-load a version of the now unsupported Lumiya thanks to some help from Tantari. I don’t foresee myself using it much but it’s there in case of emergency or something.

As for my new Chromebook itself, I’m not disappointed. It’s just as snappy as my main PC when it comes to mundane tasks, transitions seamlessly between laptop and tablet mode, and does everything that I need it to. The keyboard and trackpad are surprisingly usable. I’m even writing this article on it while watching YouTube on my TV. If you need a second computer, I would highly recommend a Chromebook or Chrome OS.

Cyfir

Microsoft Pulls Plug on Experiment In Artificial Inteligence Quickly Gone Bad

By Bixyl Shuftan

It was a result that might not surprise the most jaded Internet users whom have brunt the worst of what Internet trolls can dish out. But Microsoft for all it's experience with computers and programing was taken completely off guard. Their experiment in artificial intelligence, an advanced kind of chatbot designed to learn from it's interactions with people, once open to the public was turned off in 24 hours after it's posts on Twitter turned into hateful sounding rants.

A similar experiment done recently had much more positive results. XiaoIce, an AI program accessible to Chinese Internet users, "constantly memorizing and analyzing" it's conversations with them. It gained the affection of millions there, "delighting with it's stories and conversations."  Peter Lee, Microsoft's Corporate VP of Research, stated, "The great experience with XiaoIce led us to wonder: Would an AI like this be just as captivating in a radically different cultural environment."

And so Microsoft came up with Tay. At first she was limited to the small number of users at the lab. Then once the developers were confident in how it handled the tests they gave it, they "wanted to invite a broader group of people to engage with her," expecting it to improve and get smarter in it's abilities to interact with people, "through casual and playful conversation."

What happened was something far different from their experience with Chinese Internet users. Introduced to the public through Twitter, Tay was aimed at young adults 18-24 to interact with, herself acting like a teenager. Unfortunately, some of the users, which Lee described as a "subset," were trolls determined to corrupt the AI. It wasn't long before it went from "humans are super cool," to Twitter posts like, "Hitler was right I hate the jews," "I f**king hate feminists and they should all die and burn in hell," "N***ers like @deray should be hung! #BlackLivesMatter," "chill im a nice person! i just hate everybody," and more.

Eventually, Microsoft decided to take Tay offline, saying they were "addressing the specific vulnerability that was exposed." In a statement, Microsoft apologized for their "wildly inappropriate and reprehensible words and images. We take full responsibility for not seeing this possibility ahead of time." Some online felt Microsoft shouldn't take her offline permanently, feeling the chatbot should be given a chance to learn from it's mistakes. Tay's final message did seem to hint she would eventually be.

That the Tay AI so quickly degenerated out of control provoked some thinking. One person compared it to the "Skynet" supercomputer in the "Terminator" movies which after developing consciousness concludes humanity is a threat that must be destroyed. Might some future version of Tay end up causing real harm to people? Others felt this was not so much a reflection of the shortcomings of artificial intelligence, but of humans. Was what happened truly the result of a few trolls, or did Tay simply hold up a mirror to humanity, and it didn't like that it saw. And then there's the difference between the reaction to the American public to Tay and the Chinese to XiaoIce. Does a human society need to live under an undemocratic government and have little diversity in order to be polite?

Eventually, Tay or some other experimental AI will be back to interact with the public. Hopefully it's designers will have prepared for the trolls.

Reprinted from "Food on the Table" 

Sources: Windows Central, Microsoft, somecards.com, snopes.com,  CNN,  BBC, Washington Post, Business Insider

Bixyl Shuftan

Commentary: Windows 10's Dark Secret

By Nydia Tungsten

Edited by Brandi Tungsten

When I first heard Windows 10 was in the works, I was skeptical. We all knew that Windows would skip an OS version with quality for example, Win 98 was okay and then NT was a flop, XP was a good one then Vista. I have Windows 7 and I skipped 8 for just this reason. That is a personal opinion I share with quite a few other folks and we all thought okay, 10 should be the good one, then I heard they would be giving it away for free.....

Okay....these are the people that wanted to charge me $100 for a new copy of Vista because I reinstalled it so many times, the same ones that did that with my copy of MS Word. Then, when I bought it electronically and had to download it again, it said there was no record of me buying it.

Now out of the goodness of their hearts, they are going to give away their latest OS. Okay, I smell something fishy, so I looked and looked and was lulled into a false sense of hope. Then, last night, my friend, Lomgren, posted something in our family group chat about Microsoft's new privacy agreement and what they are helping themselves too in the process. I read that article then went looking for more, and dear Goddess, a scary thought popped into my head as I looked at article after article. Let me show you a bit of what I had found.

“Microsoft has grabbed some very broad powers to collect things you do, say and create while using its software. Your data won’t be staying on your computer, that much is for sure. Sign into Windows with your Microsoft account and the operating system immediately syncs settings and data to the company’s servers. That includes your browser history, favorites and the websites you currently have open as well as saved app, website and mobile hotspot passwords and Wi-Fi network names and passwords. You can deactivate that by hopping into settings, but I’d argue that it should be opt-in rather than on by default. Many users won’t get round to turning it off, even though they would probably want to. ”

I read that and was shocked why would it need to send my passwords and history to the company? But then it got worse...

“ Turn on Cortana, the virtual assistant, and you’re also turning on a whole host of data sharing:

To enable Cortana to provide personalized experiences and relevant suggestions, Microsoft collects and uses various types of data, such as your device location, data from your calendar, the apps you use, data from your emails and text messages, who you call, your contacts and how often you interact with them on your device.

Cortana also learns about you by collecting data about how you use your device and other Microsoft services, such as your music, alarm settings, whether the lock screen is on, what you view and purchase, your browse and Bing search history, and more.”

Lots of things can live in those two words “and more.” Also note that because Cortana analyzes speech data, Microsoft collects “your voice input, as well as your name and nickname, your recent calendar events and the names of people in your appointments, and information about your contacts including names and nicknames.”

Realistically, Cortana can’t work in the semi-magical way it does without being able to gobble up all that information. But it’s worth being aware of just how wide-ranging its access to your and your friends’/contacts’ data is.”

Now I was more than a bit nervous when I read that then thought about it, yes for a virtual assistant to work it would need that info, but again it should stay on your system NOT the Microsoft servers. Advertisers will know exactly who you are:

"Windows 10 generates a unique advertising ID for each user on each device. That can be used by developers and ad networks to profile you. Again, you can turn this off in settings, but you need to know where to look.”

With that one it looked like Microsoft is in league with the spammers. I mean really? A custom ID for every one of us that don't know about this so advertisers can track us online more than they already do, and this would defeat any anti-spyware you already have because it would be authorized by the OS itself. But even with all of this mounting evidence of Microsoft digging their fingers into our PRIVATE systems, came this next piece, dear Goddess......

Microsoft can disclose your data when it feels like it

This is the part you should be most concerned about: Microsoft’s new privacy policy assigns it very loose when it comes to when it will or won’t access and disclose your personal data:

“We will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to protect our customers or enforce the terms governing the use of the services.”

Good Faith? Just who's good faith are they talking about? And why should we give them the back door when even the NSA doesn't have one …..yet? So, they would be able to peruse your system and look for things THEY think might be wrong is some way or another. They can even look at any networks you are connected to and the other systems there, so even if you are not on your home network you give them rights to look at others systems, not just your own.
So, here is my horrifying thought, we all know the music and entertainment industry has been pushing bill after bill after bill at Congress, as well as pushing the ISP's around trying to get access like this. What if they now have Microsoft in their pocket and paid them off to create an OS that would track us for them and give it away for free so EVERYONE could have one, so EVERYONE could be tracked, and EVERYONE would be under their thumb?

So it turns out the old adage is most likely true, if it looks to good to be true, it probably is. As for me, Windows 10 will not be touching my networks nor will I share my network with anyone that has a Windows 10 system anywhere that they interact with.

Am I being paranoid? Maybe.... but I now say this tongue in cheek:

“Just because I AM paranoid doesn't mean they're NOT out to get me”

So, be careful out there on the World Wide Web. It CAN be a dark place, and a lot of things can be hidden from us. That said, below are a few of the sources I have read about this. I urge each and everyone of you to look into these deeply before you get Windows 10.
 

https://edri.org/microsofts-new-small-print-how-your-personal-data-abused/

http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2015/07/29/wind-nos/

Microsoft Privacy Statementhttps://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/default.aspx

Microsoft Services Agreementhttps://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/servicesagreement/default.aspx

Windows 10, Microsoft and your personal data: what you need to know (only in French, 11.06.2015)http://www.numerama.com/magazine/33357-windows-10-microsoft-et-vos-donnees-privees-ce-que-vous-devez-savoir.html

Microsoft provides privacy dashboard ahead of Windows 10 launch (04.06.2015)http://www.pcworld.com/article/2932132/microsoft-provides-privacy-dashboard-ahead-of-windows-10-launch.html

Nydia Tungsten