--- title: "Artist Says They Were Banned Because Their Art Looked Like AI, Even Though They’re Human" description: "Digital artist Ben Moran only wanted to share their latest art work on r/Art, Reddit's largest subreddit, but moderators quickly shut them down." date: "2023-01-08" modified: "2023-01-08" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/artist-banned-looked-ai-human" categories: - "Art" - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Future Society" tags: - "ai" - "ai art" - "ai generated images" - "the digest" --- # Artist Says They Were Banned Because Their Art Looked Like AI, Even Though They’re Human ![Digital artist Ben Moran only wanted to share their latest art work on r/Art, Reddit's largest subreddit, but moderators quickly shut them down.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* ## Non-Believer Vietnam-based digital artist Ben Moran simply wanted to share their latest piece on r/Art, Reddit’s premier art subreddit. Instead, they were abruptly banned by moderators who accused them of generating the work using AI, which is banned on the forum. Moran [took to Twitter]() to share their grievances, sharing a screenshot of their exchange with one of the forum’s moderators. They offered to send the raw Adobe Photoshop file that would transparently reveal their process, but the furious moderator shut Moran down. "I don’t believe you," the moderator responded. "Even if you did 'paint' it yourself, it's so obviously an AI prompted design that it doesn’t matter." "If you really are a 'serious' artist," they continued, "then you need to find a different style, because A) no one is going to believe when you say it’s not AI, and B) the AI can do better in seconds what might take you hours." ## Friendly Fire Clearly, the incident is emblematic of the anti-AI sentiment sweeping through the [art community at large](), but at times the well intentioned stance can reach a fever pitch. AI image generators like Stable Diffusion and Midjourney are trained on datasets that use images pulled from large art communities like ArtStation without artists’ permissions, which many would argue constitutes theft. As such, Moran, who runs their own art studio, is also against the development of AI art — which makes the moderator’s trigger happy decision all the more ironic. "There's no passion if you can create an artwork that way," they [told *Vice*](). "And the biggest problem is that I worry about the development of AI art, all of the artists will lose their passion to create a painting." "In my opinion, the development of AI is good for industry, not for the art community and artists," they later added. Evidently, the subreddit’s moderators are also against AI art, but for much more pragmatic reasons. "We don't necessarily have anything against AI Art, but when people can churn it out so quickly and easily if it's allowed the sub becomes nothing but AI art rather quickly," one moderator explained to *Vice*. ## One of Many In the wake of Moran’s story, drama-vulturous trolls began to brigade and spam r/Art, forcing moderators to temporarily private the subreddit. It doesn’t appear that Moran will be unbanned any time soon. But maybe they’re better off, considering the contemptuous dismissiveness on display. Unfortunately, these kinds of fiascos will likely become more commonplace as the looming encroachment of AI threatens artists, forcing many into panic-mode. **More on AI generated images:** *[Artists Mass Protest Against AI Stealing Their Work By Sharing Anti-AI Logo]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()