From 100,000 to 300,000 users in just a few days. The social Cara – still in beta version – is making a name for itself, especially in the online scene of artists. In fact, the platform is mainly aimed at creatives looking for an environment in which to publish their content and share it, with more guarantees that it will not be fed to algorithms to train generative artificial intelligence. As it turns out, Meta – the Big Tech that controls Facebook and Instagram – has allegedly started using images, posts and videos published on social to perfect its AI. A circumstance that has annoyed artists and groups around the world, as the BBC points out.
The peculiarity of Cara is that it has placed a barrier to entry, attempting to filter out all AI-generated content. Such images are not welcome on the app. This stance is shared by many creatives worldwide – from art to music to film. Many are concerned that their work is threatened (and often plundered) by AI that can take its cue from an immense amount of online content. Artists are so resistant to AI because the training data behind many of these image generators includes their work without their consent. These models accumulate such a large amount of artwork by scraping the internet for images, regardless of whether these images are copyrighted or not. It is a slap in the face for artists – not only is their work threatened by AI, but the AI itself is often fueled by their work.
Why it’s so viral
That is why the idea of a social network offering shelter to artists could be ingenious and insidious for Meta. Cara was created by Jingna Zhang, a Chinese photographer who is quite well-known in the industry, given her collaborations with Vogue, Elle and Harper’s Bazaar. “Cara aims to be a creator-oriented social media platform that connects artists with customers, fans and industry peers,” reads the official website. As Fast Company reports, the app has recently been climbing the charts in online stores. Giants such as Facebook, TikTok and Elon Musk’s X itself remain digital marketplaces of reference, even if, in recent years, various platforms – think of Mastodon – have struggled to gain subscribers, trying to differentiate themselves. At the interface level, Cara is very similar to Instagram.
It is a vertical platform on art, less suitable for those who absent-mindedly scroll through social media in their downtime, hunting for memes or funny videos. On the app, artists can also propose themselves to potential clients and show their work. The founder’s name has also bounced around in generalist newspapers recently. Zhang and three other artists are suing Google for allegedly using their copyrighted works to train Imagen, an AI image generator. But that is not the end of the story, as Zhang is also a plaintiff in a similar lawsuit against Stability AI, Midjourney, DeviantArt and Runway AI. “Words cannot describe how dehumanizing it is to see my name used over 20,000 times in Midjourney,” he wrote in a post on his social media. “My life’s work and who I am, reduced to meaningless fodder for a commercial image eating machine.”
AI is the master
Aside from this anti-AI effort, the app does not yet have the appropriate technology to block malicious users, but it has started an awareness campaign anyway. Until a few weeks ago, Cara was one of many apps used by a narrow niche of users. Sudden fame came thanks to a post by artist Aaron Blaise (a well-known name in the Disney scene for having worked on The Lion King, Aladdin and other animated films): with more than half a million followers, he explained that Cara seems destined to become an excellent place for artists.
What is surprising is that Zhang doesn’t seem to want to stop at the social network but rather to make critical mass to be heard by policymakers: “In the event that legislation is passed that clearly protects artists, we believe that AI-generated content should always be clearly labelled, because the public should always be able to easily search for art and man-made media. If generative AI,” the team continues, “becomes a permanent fixture in the production of all industries, the way we create and consume art will change significantly, and this will impact us all.”
