If We Want a World That Values Artists, Then We Have to Choose It

Every platform we support is a vote for the kind of art world we want to build

FASO Member Craig Nelson, At the Met, 12 x 16, Oil

❤️Please click the Like button—the little heart icon at the top and bottom—if you believe technology should support human artists and never seek to replace them. Even if you don’t join FASO, your click helps more artists discover and shape the future we are building—and helps us build an art world that values human creativity, supports those who devote their lives to it, and brings more human-made art into the lives of those who need it.

We understand that artists are alarmed by artificial intelligence.

You’ve had your artwork scraped from the internet and fed into machines without your knowledge or permission. Services your thought they could trust—from social media companies to website builders—have used your artwork to train their own generative AI systems.

We all, it seems, must now watch corporations treat lifetimes of skill, vision, and experience as raw input for systems designed to generate endless images or text in mere seconds. I, personally, fear that the culture no longer understands the difference between making art and merely producing an image.

And I don’t think these fears are irrational.

But I do not believe the answer is to reject the technology entirely; for technology can be a powerful tool. The more important question is: Whom and what does the tool serve?

We’ve seen whom big tech thinks the tool serves and it certainly isn’t the artists of the world.

At FASO, we do use AI, and we will undoubtedly find more ways to use it. But we have made a promise that governs how we will proceed into this new era:

We, at FASO, use AI to support human artists, never to replace them.

We will use technology to reduce administrative work, make websites easier to maintain, to reduce spam, to help you market more consistently, to connect you with collectors, and to protect more of your precious studio time. We will not use an artist’s life’s work to train machines intended to make that artist unnecessary.

Will your current website provider make that same promise to you?

AI can generate millions of images, but it cannot spend a lifetime learning how to see. It cannot live your experiences, develop your hand, suffer your losses, love what you love, or make the thousands of choices through which you gradually became yourself. And that’s the important part of art; those are the feelings that get transmitted to the viewer.

Art is not merely, or even mostly, the final object. That is what big tech people and their followers don’t seem to understand.

Artists don’t just “work on art,” the art also works on them.

The work works upon the artist. The years spent mastering a craft, following the Muse, confronting failure, and bringing something invisible into form are part of the meaning carried by the finished piece.

No prompt can replace those years because those years are in the work; those years are the work.

As synthetic faux-art become effortless and infinite, I believe work bearing the unmistakable presence of a real human being will become more precious, not less.

But that future will not build itself.

The art world is an ecosystem. Collectors support artists. Artists support one another. Galleries, societies, publishers, educators, and (trustworthy) technology companies either strengthen human creativity or merely try to extract profit from it. It’s not just AI either. Record companies used to develop young musicians. Now they look like private equity firms building vast portfolios of geriatric or deceased stars of the past, all so they can make more money with less investment in the art.

Every time you reward a platform with your attention or dollars, you make that company—and the future it represents—more powerful.

I understand why artists often choose whatever is cheapest, most familiar, or most convenient. We all must sometimes make practical compromises. But I think we need to remember that choosing convenience is not a neutral act. What we choose today has moral consequences for the culture of the future. We all wish we could go back in time and not allow so much power to accrue to Facebook—power it now abuses. We could have made different choices. And, for a better tomorrow, we still can.

We cannot ask the world to value human artists while directing our own money, images, attention, and energy toward companies that do not. We must lead the way.

Every artwork uploaded to Instagram trains Meta’s AI systems. Wix purchased DeviantArt and then pushed their own AI into the service. Tumblr and Wordpress licensed public posts to AI companies. Music labels are falling over themselves to license their back catalogues to AI-based services. Those rock stars of the past we love so much would be writing protest songs today. Instead, their songs are now mere training data in the hands of those that were entrusted to guard their art. These companies would love a world of endless “free” artificial artists, writers and musicians.

Who we choose to support today has consequences tomorrow. And, if we want a world that supports artists, then artists, collectors, and art organizations better begin choosing one another.

That is what we are trying to build with FASO: a platform that supports human artists, and the other trustworthy players in the art ecosystem.

We are building websites around the needs of artists rather than forcing artists into systems made for everyone else.

We are building marketing tools that help artists develop audiences they own instead of remaining dependent on algorithms. We are building exhibitions, critiques, awards, education, and the FASO Artist Society because artists need institutions that take their work seriously. And we are investing in ways to place human-made art before people who still hunger for beauty, meaning, and wonder. And, most importantly, we do not not look at human-made art as raw input for The Machine. We can’t. We are artists ourselves.

We will not always get everything right. But our allegiance is clear: We work for artists and we believe human art matters.

We believe the artists deserve companies and institutions that are trying to strengthen their place in the world rather than engineer their replacement. And, whether that institution is us or not, we think artists should be discerning about which companies they support with their attention—and with their dollars.

The emails I’ve sent you recently explained what you receive with FASO:

• An artist website that is easy to maintain

• A built-in marketing system

• A membership in a professional artist society

• An introduction to more than 60,000 art lovers when you launch

• A promise to use technology to support you, never to replace you

• All at the best price you’ll find

But this email is about something larger: It is about what your choice helps build for artists going forward.

If our values resonate with you, I invite you to give FASO a try. Build your site, explore what we have created, and decide whether this is the kind of art world you want to help strengthen.

Free for 30 days
No credit card required
Keep your existing site while you build

Creatively,

Clint Watson
FASO Founder and Art Fanatic

Join FASO

If our philosophy resonates with you, please join us. This is about more than just where you host your website. In a world of growing AI, this is about joining with others who wish to protect the ecosystem of human artists. It’s about working with people who view the importance of human art the same way you do. If we don’t band together in this time, we risk losing something important to the all-consuming beast of the algorithm.