A social app for creatives, Cara grew from 40k to 650k users in a week because artists are fed up with Meta’s AI policies
What legal actions has Jingna Zhang taken against companies using her work without consent for training AI systems?
Jingna Zhang has taken legal actions against companies using her work without consent for training AI systems. She has filed a lawsuit against Google along with three other artists who accuse the search giant of using their copyrighted work in the training of its AI image generator model, Imagen. Additionally, she is also a plaintiff in a similar lawsuit against Stability AI, Midjourney, DeviantArt, and Runway AI.
How has the user base of Cara changed within the last week, and what impact has this had on its ranking in the App Store?
The user base of Cara, an artist-run anti-AI social platform, has experienced a significant increase within the last week, growing from 40,000 to 650,000 users4. This surge in users has catapulted Cara to the top of the App Store charts. The platform has gained popularity as artists become increasingly resistant to AI policies on platforms like Meta's Instagram, which uses public posts to train its generative AI systems without the consent of the artists4. Cara offers a space where artists can connect with one another and showcase their work without the risk of becoming part of a training dataset for AI.
How does Cara provide a unique platform for artists compared to Instagram and X?
Cara provides a unique platform for artists compared to Instagram and X in several ways:
-
Anti-AI Focus: Cara is an artist-run, anti-AI social platform that prioritizes artists' rights and protects their work from being used in AI datasets without their consent1. This is a major concern for many artists, as AI-generated content often relies on copyrighted work scraped from the internet without regard for artists' rights.
-
Artist-Centric Features: Cara offers features specifically designed for artists, such as the ability to host a portfolio of work on their profile and post updates to their feed like any other microblogging site. This allows artists to showcase their work and connect with their audience in a more meaningful way.
-
Partnership with Glaze Project: Cara partners with the University of Chicago's Glaze project to provide an added layer of protection against AI scraping. Artists can manually apply Glaze to their work on Cara, making it more difficult for their content to be scraped for AI purposes.
-
Strong Community: Cara has quickly gained a large user base of like-minded artists who support one another and share a common goal of protecting their work from unethical AI practices. This sense of community is not as prevalent on other platforms like Instagram and X.
-
Commitment to Artist Rights: Cara's founder, Jingna Zhang, is a renowned photographer who has fought for artists' rights in court and is dedicated to creating a platform that respects and protects artists' work. This commitment to artist rights sets Cara apart from other platforms.