Honestly a joke and not fair to the ones who spent hours drawing theirs and using, procreate, or by hand, it ridiculous. And so F-ing annoying and gives artists and other creators an unfair advantage when you can come up with something using AI in a couple clicks and their rules as so ugh I’m just so upset bout this it’s literally hair pulling.
I think it's massively unfair to have an AI generated taildesign win because AI "Art" is generated by what is essentially theft of other people's work.
Big respect to you Courtney for speaking out on this. It is highly upsetting seeing others not value artists when they make the mermaid community what it is. I do hope Fin Fun reconsiders the winners from this contest and maybe learns and takes these lessons to their future contests. I couldn't imagine being a young person trying their best drawing for that contest and seeing the outcomes...it would be so disheartening.
My husband and I were talking about exactly that in regards to being a young artist and seeing an AI generated design win and the negative impact that can have on a person. The more I think about it, the more unhappy it makes me.
The sheer audacity of Finfun just saying "we don't care, let's move on" leaves me speechless. Even though they say it's outside their criteria and they themselves don't respect it I wouldn't be surprised to see AI models in their own designs in the future. It makes me very sad that something as poisonous as AI has already reached a relatively small group like the mermaid community. AI artists will never be artists and this is a fact people MUST accept, the program steals art for you to collage together, the only original artistic addiction is the prompt they write. Thank you Courtney for speaking out on this issue. Even an AI-generated-only contest wouldn't make this situation fair, since it's based on art theft.
@@CourtneyMermaid Their morals seem twisted so far, acting like a company greedy for money, not caring about the human touch and work since AI is "faster and free". Dark times indeed :////
I was already disappointed in the contests originally because I feel bad for all of the younger admissions that try so hard, but can't compete with talented older digital artists. I had originally emailed them suggesting that they maybe do a 3 different age group divided contests. They could just offer the free tail to the younger winners. Then sell the tail of the oldest group, and maybe offer a small commission (I doubt that ever would have happened). But if this doesn't confirm suspicions that the contests are just free product art for them to make money off of...everyone else who spent so much time, energy, and stress on their tails. It's just so sickening. I doubt they will further address this unless something similar happens in the future.
Yes! It has always bothered me that they advertise these contests with “wholesome” pics of kids with crayons, but the winners will always be older people with a lot of training and practice already. (This is a general criticism of art contests; I do not know if FinFun specifically publicized this contest with pics of young children.)
This makes me so sad. It's such a low blow to artists. Listen, y'all makers who make...keep doing it. Keep putting your art out there. You matter. The personal touch matters. We need you.
The winner receives a printed tail skin and mono fin. The year I entered, they also gave the printed tail skins without a monofin to the runners ups. This year they only had two runners ups. In the past they had closer to ten. I knew going in to the competition that were wouldn’t be any other compensation for the winners, but I entered anyway because I love to make art and was a big supporter of Fin Fun. This situation has disappointed me and soured my opinion of Fin Fun. It’s their competition, if they wanted they could still reverse it. I hope they learn from this and own up to their mistake. Thanks Courtney for continuing to address this problem! AI “art” is becoming a threat to real artists.
Thanks so much for bringing this to my attention. I actually didn't look at the comments or look closely at the tail because my entry didn't win. I didn't see that story but I love your channel so I saw it and oh my god I am so mad. If I don't win it isn't that big of a deal. But I want the winners to be real artists that also spent time and effort on their design instead of stealing and cheating and lying. And it isn't even like they get the money fin fun makes off the tail so why bother. Keep doing a great job and bringing these topics to our attention. Love from Kiani the mermaid. 💗🌊
Thank you so much for your support on this! I have to give credit to the follower who brought this to my attention too. I don't personally follow Fin Fun (I haven't since one of their videos left a bad taste in my mouth) so I wouldn't have known otherwise. I always appreciate when people help keep me in the loop so I can further look into and discuss situations like this. I think it's important and I'm glad you do too. 💖
@@CourtneyMermaid of course! Just wondering, what video made you unfollow them and also would you be willing to fo a video on it? Love your channel so much.
Ngl, Fin Fun has lost my support after this dumpster fire... This is huge. This is hurtful. It seriously devalues the time, patience, and skill that artists have worked so hard for. Yeah, at this point, the only mermaid artists that seem sane is you and your pod lol
I can see why they would pick an AI generated design: they don't have to give them any prize when they use the design. Especially once they announce that it will be disqualified. Then wait a few years and make a similar tail to sell. The part I find the most disappointing is them picking such an uninspired, boring design with obviously design flaws (such as some of the scales aren't rounded but blended together to make a big odd shaped lump).
They didn't "pick" the design, it's 100% vote based, which could be easily spammed because you only needed to fill in your name and email but no confirmation mail was sent to validify your vote. So someone could spend an afternoon spamming made up emails and names and win that way. If FinFun handpicked the designs then we'd probably see better designs winning. Public voting for this sort of thing is generally not the way to get the best design out of the lot to win. I'd love to know what happened behind the scenes here.
I honestly can’t believe that thing won. I wouldn’t have even voted it in for runner up, never mind 1st prize, just because of the glaring (and quite frankly ugly in my opinion) imperfections in the scale pattern. There were so many better ones to choose from. Finfun should be embarrassed.
Did people actually vote for this to be the winning decide? I think Finfun picks the winner and the runner ups are the top voted ones I’ve thought that every year but I have no proof
The fact that Finfun has been silent this whole time now n the subject, and is posting as if nothing happened has me very concerned. I am so glad I never entered their contests, I try to be very careful which art oriented contests I enter into, and this has only proven my point to myself and I feel so bad for all the artists young and old who enetered a piece into this in hopes they would win. It felt rigged to begin with as well, you don't get to see the final votes on all the designs afterwards but I get not having an "open" voting, it's suppose to help limit elitist voting- Or at least that's what I call it, when people with more followers tell them to go vote and they win by a landslide- but yeah, you don't get to see any of the deisgns entered unless you vote, and then you never see the tally for each design, so who are we to know in the end if Finfun chose the AI tail to win even if it didn't get the most votes? I also really didn't like their answer in their Instagram story. Okay, so you talked to the winner... But can you show us the evidence that it's not AI generated? Did they show you? Just saying you talked to the winner and they told you it followed the rules doesn't clean y'alls hands of this, it only makes you more sus 🤨
These are the situations that scare me the most in being a small solo Tailmaker, so thank you my Friend for dedication and support to the Artist and Tailmaker community. You are simply amazing and really a magical soul 💕✨🐠 .
I've criticized AI "art" a fair bit recently (and have been criticized for it ) but it really bothers me that artists who expressly do not give permission to have their art added to AI have their art added to AI learning and then get harassed online for speaking out about it. Also, with Adobe products, make sure to opt out of their policy that any art made on their products is automatically added to their AI. You have to manually do it. I think the use of AI for commercial purposes takes more respect away from the artist and makes it seen as just any product and the labour doesn't matter. It's already hard enough for artists to get fair compensation, this just adds to it.
I've been looking forward to this video since you mentioned doing it. I'm so disappointed with FinFun. This is yet another example of the future artists are facing. The fact that FinFun handled the backlash so poorly makes me disgusted. We are angry for a reason! Millions of people are on the verge of losing their jobs because of AI. Selecting an AI generated design in a competition where you aren't paying anything anyway is next level. I would rant about how unethical AI 'art' is, but I don't think my stomach can handle it today.😮💨
This whole thing has been so upsetting. I did stop bothering with tail contests because with the advent of AI art generators this was just a matter of time. But I really hope FinFun does decide to publicly address this for the huge mistake it was. I know until that happens, I won't be purchasing from them for myself or my friends or family, and I certainly will no longer recommend their company for folks looking for starter tails. Also gonna unfollow all their socials. I guess it's time to research who I can recommend to beginner mers, because my top two recommendations used to be FinFun and Mertailor but 💁🏻♀️☕️
I got my first tail from Magictail, a German company who uses recycled fabric for their tails, and I love the tail I got from them! I would consider giving them a try :)
It’s so sad, everyone wants ai so they can get a buck. I am an artist as well, and having to do deep research on how to keep my work safe, is depressing. As long as we all stick together and stand for what’s right, we’ll get through! ❤️
Hey cool! One of my comments made it into this video :) I submitted 24 designs this year, which took an incredible amount of time. I won't be making the same mistake again-- Heavily considering having my own designs printed onto neoprene or polyester blend and just sewing them myself. C'est la vie. Fantastic video as always!
Dude!! The similarities are so obvious. So disappointing. How are people supposed to know which tailmakers are reputable with all the drama in constant flow? Any chance we could get a listed breakdown of your recommended talmakers for 2023? Yourself included, of course! 🥰 Also, what do you think of the new super light weight silicone tails by Lucia? Very much interested in your opinion on those. Love you seasis, rock on! 🧜♀️
My first clue that it was ai art was the scales doing mitosis. As an artist and someone who got their first tail from fin fun I am really disappointed to hear this. I looked up to fin fun and always recommended them to newer mers. I don’t know how to feel about fin fun after all of this tbh
Don’t be infuriated, please enjoy your birthday present. These things happen but you should still enjoy your tail! As long as we can, as a pod, recognize that Fin Fun made a mistake with this, that’s the important thing. I don’t want you to feel like this spoiled your special day. 💖
I e-mailed them putting this to their attention and also putting to question that their voting system is not efficient. They only directed me to their "official statement". I asked if they'd be willing to elaborate on how they checked with the contestant and what proof they received that it is in fact not AI generated. I have not received an answer and it's been two weeks xD
The scale pattern is repeating too, that big wonky misshapen scale shows up at the knee on the left and and the ankle on the right, the scales surrounding both match each other
Now I’m not trying to be rude or anything, but there’s almost no way that this tail would’ve won the popular vote. Out of the hundreds to thousands of other tails submitted, I truly don’t think this would’ve even been in the top 3. I don’t know if it’s just me and people actually loved this or if the voting was like rigged or if finfun even took in into consideration.
I would actually love to know more about how you feel in general about Ai art Courtney. I know you talked briefly about how you feel about it in this video, but I’d love to know as it’s been a topic on my mind lately. I have a graphic design degree and I work as a graphic designer so the idea of Ai art is certainly concerning. On one hand I love it for people that they can translate ideas into images and have fun experimenting, but for us artists who take hours upon hours making art as well as the years of learning and researching it takes, only for Ai to quickly sample thousands of designs to make something right away is quite unsettling. Just like in college how the art programs are the first to loose funding in order to make way for things like football, so too it feels like art jobs are some of the first to be belittled, underpaid and outsourced. I am sure corporations are already making use of Ai to replace real human designs. On a video I watched talking about artist concerns about Ai, one guy commented that we should all ,”Get a real job.” Which is a great example of how people have no clue that making art is actual work and takes real skill and knowledge just like welding or building houses. Anyways I hadn’t even thought until now how this can ruin art contests. Reminds me of how some people cheat in fishing contests by catching a fish months in advance, feeding it up in an aquarium, and then turning it in as a ‘monster fish’ they caught. I hate contest cheating. Kinda sucks that the tail is pretty. I’m sure this could encourage some to make Ai mermaid tails.
Well.. I mean Its not the first time I have seen this happen, I’m glad it has finally been noticed. Because last time I saw one of these contests from finfun I was looking at the tails and I thought I saw something that was a bit off. 😬 they definitely have lost some of my respect for them. It’s a bit disappointing to see them slack off like this.
I'm really glad I didn't even bother entering that contest. I am pretty sure that this will definitely work against finfun actually getting people to do any of their future contests. It makes me very sad 😢 for all the people who played by the rules and made "True Art Work" I was going to get one of finfuns tails but I don't know if I care to deal with a company who doesn't care about their own rules.
It seems that they actually did take the design off their website! Unless I'm missing it somewhere but I can't find it. So maybe they decided they didn't need the negative press towards them. 😅 but they really need to sift through the entries and reopen voting for designs that did follow the rules. They also need to release a public apology to the customers and especially the artists who spent so much time designing their entry.
@NewClearSnake I found it, I love how they are hiding it tho. Because last year's winner comes up when you look at "all" tails. But the AI one this years I've only seen it in the custom. They don't have it on their 'new' tails or even an ad banner when you go on the website.
it bugs me so much that the scale pattern on that tail look awful similar to a tail design created by moonsong magic. it is so disappointing for all of the other contestants that participated in the contest.
I can't even believe that Fin Fun would ignore the VERY RULE they seemed to take so seriously. It's so annoying because I even considered joining the contest, but I am SO glad that I did not! Not to mention, the fact that they acknowledged that they did something wrong and basically said, "Well, we understand but we are just going to let them win anyways." That may just be my opinion though.
The problem is that unskilled people can make things look better with AI, imagine how good a piece of work would be if the skilled person would use AI… it was created to make us more productive… and sadly we are soon going to see a new revolution on the job field. It’s either embracing it or left behind and be scared of it. It’s already here anyways, and it’s wonderful when you use it to bump up your productivity.
I came back to this video because it's been removed from their site. I don't see an announcement either. Did they quietly just take it down...so confused
The tail is pretty but for the price I would rather add a little more money and buy from ShopVancouverMermaid lol. I’m just waiting for some Shelluion legging lol. 🧜🏻♀️❤️🇺🇸
time for me to find another mermaid company to support lol, i have a mermaid tail skin from them, but i dont like the fact that they used AI generated art work, as an artist, its basically a spit in the face for me so i have an excuse on why i got another tail lol
I did not enter this contest. I'm an artist, an art student, and president of my campuses student art association. I've supported finfun since I became an adult 10 years ago, always choosing their tails. I'm SO done. This is incredibly disrespectful to all the artists and artists everywhere, who aren't getting paid and spending hours on designs for a chance to win a contest to promote a business. Sooooo wrong.
I spent so much time working on the fin fun contest! And this is so disappointing for myself and all the other artists who spent hours of their time on the designs!
This really sucks for me for two reasons, 1 being that I'm a digital artist and understand how shitty it is to have you work not valued as should be and 2, finfun is the only mermaid tail manufacturer that ships to Australia (that I know of). It's really sad. I don't want to support the company but where else can i find tails?
It just hurts all around tbh then people feel it’s ok and to also see other tails and copy and submit them FF doesn’t seem to care but agin I feel like the account for socials are run by girls who could care less about mermaiding
It's sad because that design looks pretty but I don't want to support AI art. Imagine all the hard work other people put into with just simply coming up with a design and putting it all together for a chance to be featured in the contest and possibly win only for some dipshit to take that all away by having an AI wip up something instantly.
I hate AI art so much. I remember when people thought machines would one day replace all the menial crap jobs that no one wants to do, and now we're keeping all the boring, menial stuff for humans and instead using it to take away opportunities for people to turn their art into a career, something that people feel genuine passion for and get genuine fulfillment out of. A lot of book covers are AI art now, too, even though book cover artists generally tend to love their jobs.
It sucks that fin fun would do this. I’m sure they knew what they were doing, and they knew they could get away with it. There’s no other tail that I feel comfortable recommending to new merfolk. Fin fun is THE beginner tail brand, and I’m sure they know that. It sucks that they would screw over several artists like this. I’ve warned all my friends to steer clear of buying this tail when buying from fin fun, but unfortunately I can’t tell them to steer clear of the site as a whole.
I think they are desperate for designs tbh I really feel like the elite tails are dangerous to much drag they care about looks and are losing their beliefs
It is such a shame how they have handled this. Their lack of response only means that in their next competition, they will have a thousand AI generated tails with various misshapened scales and such. Will they care then? I doubt it.
His situation to me was upsetting because I did entered there tail design contest and I worked on my 14 tail design and took me hours to do anyways I won’t be entering again after his
This is rather disappointing for me between both the recent Mertailor incident and now this. It's a big Dane Cook super middle finger to highly dedicated artists, myself and others. I've been in smaller art competitions hosted by colleges, and like what the flip, are their judges aliens from alpha centauri or beyond? From my impression they don't know what they're judging or they don't know their participants or can't relate to them. I may not be a tail designer but I did design one of my tails I had made through Fin Fun, While most merfolk do love scales I went with a more cetacean design with an organic striped patterning seen on some variety of sharks. I entirely agree that Fin Fun should reject this design, it's disrespectful. Nothing exists to this day without the intricate design of a human hand. A.I. does not count. This implores me more to purchase from makers who truly understand the community, however I do have concern that some might not accept due to my previous support of Fin Fun and Mertailor. In my defense, Mertailor is the only maker I've seen make a fluke design, and others usually provide a scaled design which doesn't fit my particular aesthetic. I'm hoping to find someone who could provide a fully custom collaboration that isn't deep in controversy and that respects artists as they very well should.
So they just want us all to be mindless "creative-less" AI controlled artists without a conscious? What about all the hard working individuals who put their *possible* blood, sweat, and tears into their work? Ugh! ridiculousness! AI doesn't solve everything people. It's nice, to a point, but c'mon.
It's disgraceful. I mean they might not have spotted that it's an AI generated artwork...but if they do now know..I sure somone has told them.....they should re decide I new winner.
I commented on fb and I'll say it again: I'm really sadden by this, I've ALWAYS had pride being a Finfun tail owner... I'm even in the Finfun pod group. I love how responsible they are about safety. And usually recommend them to people that can atleast do a dolphin kick but... ugh. 🫨😫🤧😔 this was wild. 🥺
Right?? That's how I feel too. I've recommended them more times than I can count. They have done so much for mermaid safety and wellbeing but over the last little while I've been disappointed in both their RUclips content and then this recent development with the AI tail. It's really bumming me out. :(
How do you feel about Fin Fun allowing an AI generated mermaid tail to win their Mermaid Tail DESIGN Contest? Comment below!
Honestly a joke and not fair to the ones who spent hours drawing theirs and using, procreate, or by hand, it ridiculous. And so F-ing annoying and gives artists and other creators an unfair advantage when you can come up with something using AI in a couple clicks and their rules as so ugh I’m just so upset bout this it’s literally hair pulling.
That's pretty much how I feel about the whole thing too. It's really disappointing. 😞
I think it's massively unfair to have an AI generated taildesign win because AI "Art" is generated by what is essentially theft of other people's work.
Agreed!
sad to here about this shame they carnt stick to there own rules.
Big respect to you Courtney for speaking out on this. It is highly upsetting seeing others not value artists when they make the mermaid community what it is. I do hope Fin Fun reconsiders the winners from this contest and maybe learns and takes these lessons to their future contests. I couldn't imagine being a young person trying their best drawing for that contest and seeing the outcomes...it would be so disheartening.
My husband and I were talking about exactly that in regards to being a young artist and seeing an AI generated design win and the negative impact that can have on a person. The more I think about it, the more unhappy it makes me.
The sheer audacity of Finfun just saying "we don't care, let's move on" leaves me speechless. Even though they say it's outside their criteria and they themselves don't respect it I wouldn't be surprised to see AI models in their own designs in the future. It makes me very sad that something as poisonous as AI has already reached a relatively small group like the mermaid community. AI artists will never be artists and this is a fact people MUST accept, the program steals art for you to collage together, the only original artistic addiction is the prompt they write.
Thank you Courtney for speaking out on this issue. Even an AI-generated-only contest wouldn't make this situation fair, since it's based on art theft.
You bring up another good point... What is stopping them from using AI designs in the future? Oh man that'll be a dark day...
@@CourtneyMermaid Their morals seem twisted so far, acting like a company greedy for money, not caring about the human touch and work since AI is "faster and free". Dark times indeed :////
I was already disappointed in the contests originally because I feel bad for all of the younger admissions that try so hard, but can't compete with talented older digital artists. I had originally emailed them suggesting that they maybe do a 3 different age group divided contests. They could just offer the free tail to the younger winners. Then sell the tail of the oldest group, and maybe offer a small commission (I doubt that ever would have happened). But if this doesn't confirm suspicions that the contests are just free product art for them to make money off of...everyone else who spent so much time, energy, and stress on their tails. It's just so sickening. I doubt they will further address this unless something similar happens in the future.
Yes! It has always bothered me that they advertise these contests with “wholesome” pics of kids with crayons, but the winners will always be older people with a lot of training and practice already. (This is a general criticism of art contests; I do not know if FinFun specifically publicized this contest with pics of young children.)
This makes me so sad. It's such a low blow to artists. Listen, y'all makers who make...keep doing it. Keep putting your art out there. You matter. The personal touch matters. We need you.
The winner receives a printed tail skin and mono fin. The year I entered, they also gave the printed tail skins without a monofin to the runners ups. This year they only had two runners ups. In the past they had closer to ten.
I knew going in to the competition that were wouldn’t be any other compensation for the winners, but I entered anyway because I love to make art and was a big supporter of Fin Fun. This situation has disappointed me and soured my opinion of Fin Fun. It’s their competition, if they wanted they could still reverse it. I hope they learn from this and own up to their mistake.
Thanks Courtney for continuing to address this problem! AI “art” is becoming a threat to real artists.
Thanks so much for bringing this to my attention. I actually didn't look at the comments or look closely at the tail because my entry didn't win. I didn't see that story but I love your channel so I saw it and oh my god I am so mad. If I don't win it isn't that big of a deal. But I want the winners to be real artists that also spent time and effort on their design instead of stealing and cheating and lying. And it isn't even like they get the money fin fun makes off the tail so why bother. Keep doing a great job and bringing these topics to our attention. Love from Kiani the mermaid. 💗🌊
Thank you so much for your support on this! I have to give credit to the follower who brought this to my attention too. I don't personally follow Fin Fun (I haven't since one of their videos left a bad taste in my mouth) so I wouldn't have known otherwise. I always appreciate when people help keep me in the loop so I can further look into and discuss situations like this. I think it's important and I'm glad you do too. 💖
@@CourtneyMermaid of course! Just wondering, what video made you unfollow them and also would you be willing to fo a video on it? Love your channel so much.
Ngl, Fin Fun has lost my support after this dumpster fire... This is huge. This is hurtful. It seriously devalues the time, patience, and skill that artists have worked so hard for. Yeah, at this point, the only mermaid artists that seem sane is you and your pod lol
It is really upsetting. :(
I can see why they would pick an AI generated design: they don't have to give them any prize when they use the design. Especially once they announce that it will be disqualified. Then wait a few years and make a similar tail to sell.
The part I find the most disappointing is them picking such an uninspired, boring design with obviously design flaws (such as some of the scales aren't rounded but blended together to make a big odd shaped lump).
The whole thing just seems a bit dodgy to me...
They didn't "pick" the design, it's 100% vote based, which could be easily spammed because you only needed to fill in your name and email but no confirmation mail was sent to validify your vote. So someone could spend an afternoon spamming made up emails and names and win that way. If FinFun handpicked the designs then we'd probably see better designs winning. Public voting for this sort of thing is generally not the way to get the best design out of the lot to win. I'd love to know what happened behind the scenes here.
I honestly can’t believe that thing won. I wouldn’t have even voted it in for runner up, never mind 1st prize, just because of the glaring (and quite frankly ugly in my opinion) imperfections in the scale pattern. There were so many better ones to choose from. Finfun should be embarrassed.
Did people actually vote for this to be the winning decide? I think Finfun picks the winner and the runner ups are the top voted ones I’ve thought that every year but I have no proof
The fact that Finfun has been silent this whole time now n the subject, and is posting as if nothing happened has me very concerned. I am so glad I never entered their contests, I try to be very careful which art oriented contests I enter into, and this has only proven my point to myself and I feel so bad for all the artists young and old who enetered a piece into this in hopes they would win. It felt rigged to begin with as well, you don't get to see the final votes on all the designs afterwards but I get not having an "open" voting, it's suppose to help limit elitist voting- Or at least that's what I call it, when people with more followers tell them to go vote and they win by a landslide- but yeah, you don't get to see any of the deisgns entered unless you vote, and then you never see the tally for each design, so who are we to know in the end if Finfun chose the AI tail to win even if it didn't get the most votes?
I also really didn't like their answer in their Instagram story. Okay, so you talked to the winner... But can you show us the evidence that it's not AI generated? Did they show you? Just saying you talked to the winner and they told you it followed the rules doesn't clean y'alls hands of this, it only makes you more sus 🤨
Definitely in agreement with what you said. Feels really off to me. :(
These are the situations that scare me the most in being a small solo Tailmaker, so thank you my Friend for dedication and support to the Artist and Tailmaker community. You are simply amazing and really a magical soul 💕✨🐠 .
I've criticized AI "art" a fair bit recently (and have been criticized for it ) but it really bothers me that artists who expressly do not give permission to have their art added to AI have their art added to AI learning and then get harassed online for speaking out about it. Also, with Adobe products, make sure to opt out of their policy that any art made on their products is automatically added to their AI. You have to manually do it. I think the use of AI for commercial purposes takes more respect away from the artist and makes it seen as just any product and the labour doesn't matter. It's already hard enough for artists to get fair compensation, this just adds to it.
I feel horrible for all the designers who followed the rules only for Fin Fun to spit on them.
Glad that this is being talked about and that people in the community are standing up and also deciding to not support them as a business.
I've been looking forward to this video since you mentioned doing it. I'm so disappointed with FinFun. This is yet another example of the future artists are facing. The fact that FinFun handled the backlash so poorly makes me disgusted. We are angry for a reason! Millions of people are on the verge of losing their jobs because of AI. Selecting an AI generated design in a competition where you aren't paying anything anyway is next level. I would rant about how unethical AI 'art' is, but I don't think my stomach can handle it today.😮💨
This whole thing has been so upsetting. I did stop bothering with tail contests because with the advent of AI art generators this was just a matter of time. But I really hope FinFun does decide to publicly address this for the huge mistake it was. I know until that happens, I won't be purchasing from them for myself or my friends or family, and I certainly will no longer recommend their company for folks looking for starter tails. Also gonna unfollow all their socials. I guess it's time to research who I can recommend to beginner mers, because my top two recommendations used to be FinFun and Mertailor but 💁🏻♀️☕️
Yeah, Fin Fun and Mertailor are on my no-no list moving forward. Not impressed with BOTH of these situations. Very uncool.
Sun Tails is another viable option for starter tails.
Interested in why Mertailor is a no-go?
@@cyan_the_uranian Maybe also The2Tails and Cape Cali
I got my first tail from Magictail, a German company who uses recycled fabric for their tails, and I love the tail I got from them! I would consider giving them a try :)
I really think some of the artists should get their tails printed they were beautiful and they be unique
Gosh this video was perfect! This one and the previous made me fall in love with your channel again! I send you love from Quebec! 💙💙💙💙
It’s so sad, everyone wants ai so they can get a buck. I am an artist as well, and having to do deep research on how to keep my work safe, is depressing.
As long as we all stick together and stand for what’s right, we’ll get through! ❤️
Hey cool! One of my comments made it into this video :) I submitted 24 designs this year, which took an incredible amount of time. I won't be making the same mistake again-- Heavily considering having my own designs printed onto neoprene or polyester blend and just sewing them myself. C'est la vie. Fantastic video as always!
Dude!! The similarities are so obvious. So disappointing. How are people supposed to know which tailmakers are reputable with all the drama in constant flow? Any chance we could get a listed breakdown of your recommended talmakers for 2023? Yourself included, of course! 🥰 Also, what do you think of the new super light weight silicone tails by Lucia? Very much interested in your opinion on those. Love you seasis, rock on! 🧜♀️
My first clue that it was ai art was the scales doing mitosis. As an artist and someone who got their first tail from fin fun I am really disappointed to hear this. I looked up to fin fun and always recommended them to newer mers. I don’t know how to feel about fin fun after all of this tbh
I just bought my first mermaid tail from fin fun and it came yesterday (My birthday) and now i am infuriated
Don’t be infuriated, please enjoy your birthday present. These things happen but you should still enjoy your tail! As long as we can, as a pod, recognize that Fin Fun made a mistake with this, that’s the important thing. I don’t want you to feel like this spoiled your special day. 💖
I e-mailed them putting this to their attention and also putting to question that their voting system is not efficient. They only directed me to their "official statement". I asked if they'd be willing to elaborate on how they checked with the contestant and what proof they received that it is in fact not AI generated. I have not received an answer and it's been two weeks xD
The scale pattern is repeating too, that big wonky misshapen scale shows up at the knee on the left and and the ankle on the right, the scales surrounding both match each other
Now I’m not trying to be rude or anything, but there’s almost no way that this tail would’ve won the popular vote. Out of the hundreds to thousands of other tails submitted, I truly don’t think this would’ve even been in the top 3. I don’t know if it’s just me and people actually loved this or if the voting was like rigged or if finfun even took in into consideration.
I would actually love to know more about how you feel in general about Ai art Courtney. I know you talked briefly about how you feel about it in this video, but I’d love to know as it’s been a topic on my mind lately. I have a graphic design degree and I work as a graphic designer so the idea of Ai art is certainly concerning. On one hand I love it for people that they can translate ideas into images and have fun experimenting, but for us artists who take hours upon hours making art as well as the years of learning and researching it takes, only for Ai to quickly sample thousands of designs to make something right away is quite unsettling. Just like in college how the art programs are the first to loose funding in order to make way for things like football, so too it feels like art jobs are some of the first to be belittled, underpaid and outsourced. I am sure corporations are already making use of Ai to replace real human designs. On a video I watched talking about artist concerns about Ai, one guy commented that we should all ,”Get a real job.” Which is a great example of how people have no clue that making art is actual work and takes real skill and knowledge just like welding or building houses.
Anyways I hadn’t even thought until now how this can ruin art contests. Reminds me of how some people cheat in fishing contests by catching a fish months in advance, feeding it up in an aquarium, and then turning it in as a ‘monster fish’ they caught. I hate contest cheating.
Kinda sucks that the tail is pretty. I’m sure this could encourage some to make Ai mermaid tails.
I hate the tail like you said with how us humans like the symmetry and with how wonky the scales are I'm good
Kudos! Very well put! I hate AI Generators so much and they are just making art thieves even more enabled now.
Rushing to catch up on all the videos I have missed!
Well.. I mean Its not the first time I have seen this happen, I’m glad it has finally been noticed. Because last time I saw one of these contests from finfun I was looking at the tails and I thought I saw something that was a bit off. 😬 they definitely have lost some of my respect for them. It’s a bit disappointing to see them slack off like this.
I'm really glad I didn't even bother entering that contest. I am pretty sure that this will definitely work against finfun actually getting people to do any of their future contests. It makes me very sad 😢 for all the people who played by the rules and made "True Art Work" I was going to get one of finfuns tails but I don't know if I care to deal with a company who doesn't care about their own rules.
It seems that they actually did take the design off their website! Unless I'm missing it somewhere but I can't find it. So maybe they decided they didn't need the negative press towards them. 😅 but they really need to sift through the entries and reopen voting for designs that did follow the rules. They also need to release a public apology to the customers and especially the artists who spent so much time designing their entry.
It’s still there. (It’s in the Custom Tails section, along with last year’s winner.)
@NewClearSnake I found it, I love how they are hiding it tho. Because last year's winner comes up when you look at "all" tails. But the AI one this years I've only seen it in the custom. They don't have it on their 'new' tails or even an ad banner when you go on the website.
it bugs me so much that the scale pattern on that tail look awful similar to a tail design created by moonsong magic. it is so disappointing for all of the other contestants that participated in the contest.
Fin fun and the “artist” are so confident it wasn’t created by AI then they should have no problem with showing us the proof 🤷🏼♀️
I do wish I'd heard about this after I'd bought a tail from them... I'd tried getting a tail from your website but sadly didn't see any. 😔
is mertailor safe...? i cant find anything bad about them but maybe im missing something so i want to be sure before i purchase from them...
I can't even believe that Fin Fun would ignore the VERY RULE they seemed to take so seriously. It's so annoying because I even considered joining the contest, but I am SO glad that I did not! Not to mention, the fact that they acknowledged that they did something wrong and basically said, "Well, we understand but we are just going to let them win anyways." That may just be my opinion though.
Did finfun remove the tail? I can’t seem to find it on the website
The problem is that unskilled people can make things look better with AI, imagine how good a piece of work would be if the skilled person would use AI… it was created to make us more productive… and sadly we are soon going to see a new revolution on the job field. It’s either embracing it or left behind and be scared of it. It’s already here anyways, and it’s wonderful when you use it to bump up your productivity.
Hey i wanted to ask you what fabric you use make tails with??
I came back to this video because it's been removed from their site. I don't see an announcement either. Did they quietly just take it down...so confused
It's still up, unfortunately
The tail is pretty but for the price I would rather add a little more money and buy from ShopVancouverMermaid lol. I’m just waiting for some Shelluion legging lol. 🧜🏻♀️❤️🇺🇸
Ah this just feels awful I really like finfun but this just feels like a swipe at artists. :( as an artist myself this is upsetting
time for me to find another mermaid company to support lol, i have a mermaid tail skin from them, but i dont like the fact that they used AI generated art work, as an artist, its basically a spit in the face for me so i have an excuse on why i got another tail lol
Now I feel the need to send you the design I made back then, just to see what you think of it xD
I did not enter this contest. I'm an artist, an art student, and president of my campuses student art association. I've supported finfun since I became an adult 10 years ago, always choosing their tails. I'm SO done. This is incredibly disrespectful to all the artists and artists everywhere, who aren't getting paid and spending hours on designs for a chance to win a contest to promote a business. Sooooo wrong.
This is straight up Bullfish! I cant believe they Allowed this!! Love your videos dear!😘💙💙
I spent so much time working on the fin fun contest! And this is so disappointing for myself and all the other artists who spent hours of their time on the designs!
This really sucks for me for two reasons, 1 being that I'm a digital artist and understand how shitty it is to have you work not valued as should be and 2, finfun is the only mermaid tail manufacturer that ships to Australia (that I know of). It's really sad. I don't want to support the company but where else can i find tails?
It just hurts all around tbh then people feel it’s ok and to also see other tails and copy and submit them FF doesn’t seem to care but agin I feel like the account for socials are run by girls who could care less about mermaiding
I feel bad for all the other people that did amazing designs. It would be nice for Fin Fun to rectify this. Doubt it tho.
It's sad because that design looks pretty but I don't want to support AI art. Imagine all the hard work other people put into with just simply coming up with a design and putting it all together for a chance to be featured in the contest and possibly win only for some dipshit to take that all away by having an AI wip up something instantly.
Right? It's distressing... You're right too, it is a really pretty design which just adds to how shitty this whole situation is. :'(
Oh wow i never thought fin fun a company i adore for years allow this kind of thing.. as an artist myself its very upsetting
I hate AI art so much. I remember when people thought machines would one day replace all the menial crap jobs that no one wants to do, and now we're keeping all the boring, menial stuff for humans and instead using it to take away opportunities for people to turn their art into a career, something that people feel genuine passion for and get genuine fulfillment out of. A lot of book covers are AI art now, too, even though book cover artists generally tend to love their jobs.
It sucks that fin fun would do this. I’m sure they knew what they were doing, and they knew they could get away with it. There’s no other tail that I feel comfortable recommending to new merfolk. Fin fun is THE beginner tail brand, and I’m sure they know that. It sucks that they would screw over several artists like this. I’ve warned all my friends to steer clear of buying this tail when buying from fin fun, but unfortunately I can’t tell them to steer clear of the site as a whole.
I think they are desperate for designs tbh I really feel like the elite tails are dangerous to much drag they care about looks and are losing their beliefs
It is such a shame how they have handled this. Their lack of response only means that in their next competition, they will have a thousand AI generated tails with various misshapened scales and such.
Will they care then? I doubt it.
His situation to me was upsetting because I did entered there tail design contest and I worked on my 14 tail design and took me hours to do anyways I won’t be entering again after his
I'm so sorry to hear that. :( It's so disappointing for sure.
@@CourtneyMermaid thanks 😊 and ya it is disappointing
This is rather disappointing for me between both the recent Mertailor incident and now this. It's a big Dane Cook super middle finger to highly dedicated artists, myself and others. I've been in smaller art competitions hosted by colleges, and like what the flip, are their judges aliens from alpha centauri or beyond? From my impression they don't know what they're judging or they don't know their participants or can't relate to them. I may not be a tail designer but I did design one of my tails I had made through Fin Fun, While most merfolk do love scales I went with a more cetacean design with an organic striped patterning seen on some variety of sharks. I entirely agree that Fin Fun should reject this design, it's disrespectful. Nothing exists to this day without the intricate design of a human hand. A.I. does not count. This implores me more to purchase from makers who truly understand the community, however I do have concern that some might not accept due to my previous support of Fin Fun and Mertailor. In my defense, Mertailor is the only maker I've seen make a fluke design, and others usually provide a scaled design which doesn't fit my particular aesthetic. I'm hoping to find someone who could provide a fully custom collaboration that isn't deep in controversy and that respects artists as they very well should.
@1:52 - Hahahahaha
So they just want us all to be mindless "creative-less" AI controlled artists without a conscious? What about all the hard working individuals who put their *possible* blood, sweat, and tears into their work? Ugh! ridiculousness! AI doesn't solve everything people. It's nice, to a point, but c'mon.
It's disgraceful. I mean they might not have spotted that it's an AI generated artwork...but if they do now know..I sure somone has told them.....they should re decide I new winner.
I commented on fb and I'll say it again: I'm really sadden by this, I've ALWAYS had pride being a Finfun tail owner... I'm even in the Finfun pod group. I love how responsible they are about safety. And usually recommend them to people that can atleast do a dolphin kick but... ugh. 🫨😫🤧😔 this was wild. 🥺
Right?? That's how I feel too. I've recommended them more times than I can count. They have done so much for mermaid safety and wellbeing but over the last little while I've been disappointed in both their RUclips content and then this recent development with the AI tail. It's really bumming me out. :(