Filtering out AI

For people who want human-made art and writing in their search results, it’s getting harder to distinguish between AI and human-made, as large language models “learn” to generate productions that look more like human language and art.

Fortunately the tools for filtering it out are getting better. Most tools have an AI component, but the ones listed here allow you to turn it off.

Why filter out AI?

The slop produced by AI is wrecking crochet, plagiarizing art and writing, creating unusable recipes (and in some cases, poisonous recipes), and generally making life more difficult. AI is also very bad for the environment as it uses much more electricity than regular computing processes.

Search engines

I’ve switched to using the DuckDuckGo browser and search engine, with which you can filter AI-generated images out of the image search. It’s wonderful. You can turn off AI altogether. It also has great privacy.

I was previously using Ecosia because it plants trees, but now the search results have AI switched on by default — although they say that they use more efficient AI that’s less bad for the planet.

Royalty-free images

I use Pixabay to find public domain images. It also has an option to filter out AI-generated images, by selecting “Authentic only” on the search settings.

Graphics

I use Canva to make my graphics. It has AI components within it, but I just don’t use them.

I saw a comment from someone who makes digital art with Procreate, which doesn’t use generative AI, and has a strong stance against it.

Grammar checker

As far as I know, standard spelling and grammar checkers provided within word processing software don’t use AI. More advanced tools like Grammarly and Language Tool do use it. However, I found Harper: the only grammar-checker that does not use AI. It also has Canadian English as well as US and UK English.

Human Intelligence (HI) 🖐️

This is a new idea by Mickie Mueller, where you can add a badge to your artwork that certifies it as made by a human.

Human Intelligence on Instagram

Making stuff by hand

Then there’s the good old-fashioned technique of making art with your hands, taking a picture, and posting it online.

Other AI-free or AI-optional tools?

Please add more suggestions in the comments!