Google Can Go to Hell

Can I just share, without knowing why Google has chosen to use AI-generated graphics inspired by fiber art for its Facebook page's recent cover images, how maddening of a choice that is?

Never mind that completely fake crochet and knitting patterns have contributed to the rampant and years-long enshittification of Etsy.

Overlook entirely the unchecked environmental impact of AI, although it's really rich that Google's featuring generated images of lush wild greenery and unbleached reefs.

Consider instead how many HOURS goes into humans using their creativity and physical bodies to make artifacts using skills passed down through decades and centuries, often via family members and community members and library books. All blinked away in a quick prompt.

The crocheted coral reef one is the most disturbing to me, because I crochet coral reefs. It takes thought and skill and weeks of attaching new pieces whenever time allows. Selecting a colorway, untangling the mess of yarn and thread from a stash of materials often thrifted or gifted or handspun and dyed myself. Cranking away at freeform pieces, hyperbolic ruffles that form the base taking the longest of all. Pah!

AND THERE HAS BEEN AN ENTIRE MOVEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CRAFTIVISTS DOING THIS FOR YEARS. THEY HAVE A TED TALK.

And it's just like, to what end? Why make these choices regarding images to put of Facebook, of all places? Who is it serving (more Etsy scammers, I assume), and who is it harming (dang near all of us, ultimately, probably, and fiber artists in particular)?

Gross.

Certainly I can respect wanting to inspire non-crafty users, but these are things that already exist and have been witnessed on a wide scale. The artistry and value is in the creation process, not in the final results in and of themselves, so the time-saving argument wouldn't apply. Also, pixels on a screen are not three-dimensional objects your loved ones may one day inherit and ponder.

I could accuse the choice of contributing to the continued erasure of "traditionally non-masculine" arts (often referred to as "crafts") and their makers, but we're at such an odd place societally that it doesn't bear thinking about at the moment.

TLDR weird auntie mad at a website on another website complains on a different website.