Your thoughts on AI graphics in the skyscraper diagrams?
Some illustrators have started uploading AI generated "drawings" to the skyscraper diagrams.
Although the graphics can look mostly good, there's often some minor flaws in the design. I also get a strange feeling when looking at AI graphics, it's a bit creepy. When the skyscraper diagrams were completely human created everything was fine. But when I see an AI "drawing" in there I just don't like the feeling of it.
I haven't verified with the illustrators that they have in fact been using AI, but I suspect some are.
From my perspective, uploading AI-generated building drawings will mainly create an imbalance in Skyscraperpage Diagrams, including issues related to matting. After all, the building diagrams on Skyscraperpage are almost entirely hand-drawn.
Recently, a new member in our team has been creating AI building drawings and uploading them to Skyscraperpage Diagrams. Modao Zushi and I have already advised him not to do this, but he is quite persistent and still does it on occasion. I will not name him, nor do I wish to be disrespectful about this matter.
I think it should be forbidden. It's sometimes hard to verify if a drawing is generated or not, but the site is known for the hand-drawn pixel art illustrations and it should stay like this. We don't need to put AI into everything.
__________________ "Our concern is not how to worship in the catacombs but how to remain human in the skyscrapers." - A. J. Heschel
I didn't noticed AI generated drawings yet, how can you recognize them? Maybe someone can place some examples in this thread. So we know what we are talking about.
My opinion is not so clear yet.
Yes hand-drawn pixel art still has got the preference.
But maybe in the future AI can help this website to get rid of all empty entries when it gets better developed. Of course if all dimensions fits and the qualitity of the drawings are acceptable.
AI is a world-wide technology that cannot been ignore.
If website owners (in general) don't follow new technology maybe some people will lost there interests.
Some day you cannot see the diffrence anymore beween AI and hand-made (same as many pictures we see today on social media) So how could you filter those out?
I would hate for a computer to be making better drawings than the majority that we see here made by humans. The rules say drawings should be hand-made by the illustrator. Let's keep it that way.
Personally, I wouldn't use AI to finish my own drawings. Since drawing is my hobby, letting AI do the work would completely defeat the purpose for me.
However, I think Skyscraperpage might want to consider accepting AI submissions. After all, AI could help fill in for the massive number of undrawn buildings, considering the number of active illustrators is so small compared to the total number of buildings. Perhaps Dylan could add an 'AI' tag to these drawings? And when you choose the primary drawing, non-AI drawings should always take priority.
It feels like AI is having a huge impact on every graphic design market right now (like Adobe Stock, they accept the sale of AI-generated graphics now). Skyscraperpage could partially embrace it to make the diagrams more complete, while still protecting the original spirit of the platform.
I also use AI extensively in my current job, and I've experimented several times with generating SSP-style diagrams using AI. The results were quite interesting.
At one point, I even considered using AI to generate an initial draft and then refining it into a polished diagram. (Although I never actually went through with it.)
To be honest, one of the reasons I haven't been drawing many diagrams lately is because AI has changed my mindset. It's difficult to stay motivated when I spend several hours drawing a building by hand, while AI can generate a similar image in just a few seconds.
Of course, even if AI produces the initial draft, it would still take a considerable amount of time to refine it into something that meets SSP's quality standards.
I'm not opposed to AI itself, but I believe AI-generated diagrams should be clearly identified with an AI tag.
I also think stricter standards are necessary to prevent the database from being flooded with low-quality AI-generated diagrams. For example, AI-generated diagrams should be required to maintain accurate isometric perspective, faithfully reproduce the building's design and proportions, and meet a much higher standard of overall quality.
Perhaps landmark buildings or buildings above a certain height (the exact threshold would need to be determined) should not be eligible for AI-generated uploads, or such submissions should be rejected altogether.
On the other hand, AI-generated diagrams could be allowed for lower-rise buildings that exist in such large numbers that drawing every single one by hand is impractical, or for large apartment complexes consisting of relatively low-rise buildings with less architectural significance.
Even then, it would still take a significant amount of time to refine the output into something suitable for upload and consistent with my own drawing style. I suspect that generating an AI draft and post-processing it would take almost as much time as drawing the entire diagram from scratch.
However, I believe that the ability to transform AI-generated output into a high-quality diagram is, in itself, a new technique and a new skill.
Completely preventing the spread of AI is probably unrealistic. Rather than trying to ban it entirely, I think it would be more practical to accept it within reasonable limits and find a way for AI-assisted work and traditional hand-drawn diagrams to coexist.
Of course, this doesn't mean AI should be given unrestricted freedom on SSP. There should be clear limitations and well-defined rules governing its use.
The widespread adoption of AI will probably discourage many illustrators and cause some of them to lose interest in creating diagrams. To be fair, there are already very few active illustrators left today.
On the other hand, AI may also bring in a new generation of contributors—people who may not be particularly skilled at drawing from scratch, but who are very good at refining AI-generated images into high-quality diagrams.
Some good ideas here. I'm going to add an indicator for drawing uploads to say if a drawing is AI or not. Then from there we can see what AI drawings are like and go from there.
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