This is something we have been toying with for a year or so. But the above headline tells you why we are doing it.
Red Panda Skateboards is no longer on Facebook and Instagram.
And we feel relieved.
Whether you like AI or not, it’s here, and it won’t go anywhere.
We get that IG and FB can use AI: it’s their business. But to keep creators from opting out of AI scrapping their art, we don’t have to play in the sandbox, so we aren’t.
We will stay on X and YouTube (for now) and have launched an account with a new social media site called CARA. They don’t use AI and are committed to helping artists promote and protect their work.
Here’s the link to our CARA page.
What lies at the heart of our move and business is that humans are made in God’s image as Imagemakers. People love to create things. And those things should not be used in ways the creators didn’t intend when the artist still owns the work.
If someone sells a painting, it’s understood that the buyer might put it above the toilet in their bathroom or set it on fire in their driveway. That’s not the artist’s hope, but it is a reality.
Social Media companies created their sites as a way for people to share stuff with fans and the world, but they have now flipped the script and said they will use that free thing they don’t own for their own gain. That seems to be another thing altogether.
Yes, their platforms are free to join and free to use. We have long accepted that they sell data to make money.
But in our opinion, allowing AI to use art that doesn’t belong to them, wasn’t bought or given to them, to train and create images by combining elements from other people’s art is not something we want to be a part of.
There is a lot to debate here, but this is where we stand.
Red Panda Skateboards is a family-owned, family-run business with 100% human-created designs and boards. We will work hard to keep it that way as long as it is humanly possible.
Keep following us on those sites and our website.
See you all next week with some cool news and new board designs.
Best,
Chris
