Unstable Diffusion, a group that aims to legitimize the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the creation of pornography, was banned from Kickstarter last month after raising around $56,000 in a 12-day campaign. The group had originally launched its fundraising efforts on the crowdfunding platform on December 9, but the campaign was canceled by Kickstarter before it could reach its conclusion.
Unstable Diffusion was formed on the chat platform Discord and seeks to challenge the “limiting rules” of corporate AI companies, including Stable Diffusion and OpenAI’s DALL-E, by allowing users to generate explicit content that is banned by these mainstream AI art generators.
However, the group’s crowdfunding campaign faced backlash from some artists who claimed that Unstable Diffusion was using their work without their consent. This led to pressure on Kickstarter to remove the group from its platform.
In response to the campaign’s suspension, Unstable Diffusion CEO Arman Chaudhry said: “While Kickstarter’s capitulation to a loud subset of artists disappoints us, we and our supporters will not back down from defending the freedom to create.” Chaudhry added that the group is “rising to the call to defend against the artists lobbying to make all AI art illegal” and will use the support of its backers to challenge this “well-funded and organized lobby.”
A representative for Kickstarter declined to comment on the specific moderation decision made in relation to Unstable Diffusion, but did say that the platform had not banned all AI art. The representative added that as Kickstarter operates an all-or-nothing crowdfunding model, no backers were charged for their pledges as the project was canceled before it ended.
In a blog post published on December 21, Kickstarter CEO Everette Taylor addressed the issue of AI art and stated that the platform would be considering two elements going forward: “Consent to use an artist’s work both in images and in software trained to create images, and potential for exploitation and harm to particular groups of people.”
Following the end of its Kickstarter campaign, Unstable Diffusion has updated its website to allow supporters to contribute directly. Chaudhry said that the group has already received $30,000 in pre-donations and plans to launch a new funding campaign on January 10.
