“Most ironic outrage”: Ha, ha, AI bros are complaining about “prompt thieves”
AI art communities are arguing over “prompt stealing,” with some users accusing others of copying and reposting the exact instructions used to generate images. Outside these spaces, critics say the outrage is steeped in irony, pointing out that generative AI itself is trained on massive amounts of artists’ work, often without consent or compensation.
The result is a familiar internet spectacle: accusations of theft, colliding with long-running debates over "originality" in the age of AI.
Users accuse "prompt stealers" of ruining AI
In late October, a generative AI fan posted her thoughts on "prompt stealers" on Threads. Apparently, this is a growing issue within AI art spaces as people share the words they used to get some software to make art in their place.
"Tired of the Prompt Thieves in the AI art community. Seriously, the moment a great prompt is public, someone immediately copies it, shares it, and pretends it's their own genius work," complained @mzsibylstudio. "It's not about gatekeeping, it's about giving credit where it's due. Stop stealing and start creating!"
That last line is really hitting among AI critics.
Technically, those who use AI do have to put some effort into the machine in order to get something passable from it. A vague prompt often results in bizarre and impossible details like too many fingers. Refining the prompt until the bot spits out an image that looks halfway decent can take minutes or even hours.
Some of these folks proudly share the exact demand that made the AI generate a picture for them alongside the results. That makes stealing easy among a crowd not put off by the original charges of theft.
This Threads user isn't the first to make such accusations. On X, @Artedeingenio complained on Oct. 16 that someone filched a prompt "trick" that simply ads "day to night transition" to the order.
"Passing off someone else’s work as your own," they wrote. "This Grok Imagine effect with the day-to-night transition was created by me — and I’m pretty sure that person knows it."
"To make things worse, their copy has more impressions than my original post."
"The absolutely zero self awareness"
Nearly two months later, the Threads post by @mzsibylstudio escaped containment. On X, AI critics tore into them and other prompt theft accusers. The irony of an AI user complaining about others stealing their prompts was too delicious to resist.
"Sloppers who have AI generate art for them now complaining about people stealing their prompts has to be the most ironic and funniest outrage I've seen all decade," said @kmcnam1.
"An AI prompter complaining about prompt theft when the programs they use are trained on stolen work that doesn't compensate the artists that make that output tech possible is incredibly ironic," laughed @NotAlannaLawson.
"The absolutely zero self awareness of AI evangelists is astounding," wrote @leakcheckfull.
It doesn't help that Elon Musk recently announced a new Grok feature that lets anyone edit an image, including one stolen straight from an artist, and alter it to pass off as their own work.
"AI bros are now whining and b*tching about 'Ai PrOmPt ThIeVeS sTeAlInG mY pRoMpTs' when their whole community is predicated on stealing the art of others on the internet, either through data sets or directly thanks to Twitter's dumb new feature," @MegamanElric18 pointed out.
"For any AI user who has had their AI prompt stolen, they might want to contact a copyright attorney immediately," joked @Beach_Sloth.
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