Today Anthropic joins the Blender Development Fund as corporate sponsor.

[Gast]

@Blender

I realize that this is just "accepting" money from Anthropic, with the implication (especially given your Funding Policy) that Anthropic won't get to dictate anything about Blender development.

It still looks EXTREMELY BAD to your userbase who, in a large number of cases (myself among them), are vehemently opposed to generative AI, and are specifically learning to do our own art as a to Anthropic and their fellow purveyors of genAI technology.

Is their money really worth it?

[Gast]

@Blender Think about it again – you’re on the wrong track

[ghostonthehalfshell@masto.ai]

@Blender

Perhaps understandably the Blender foundation doesn't provide an online contact mechanism like email or form but physical address.

I think I would be speaking for men here and saying it's fine for Anthropic to throw pocket chain your way, but where the user base will have a problem is comes from any software that might be committed to the code base + QA tests.

The central problem with AI code generation is its well-deserved reputation for generating unreadable spaghetti.

1/2

[Gast]

@0x4d6165 Okay- Touche, but it's still very onesided to be upset about Anthropic while not being upset about any of the others.

99.9% of the blender users (actual numbers) do not donate. They're not new to big tech. I frankly don't see the problem, unless you want to completely defund Blender.

[Gast]

@Blender
Yikes

[ghostonthehalfshell@masto.ai]

@Blender

In addition, if developers become or are forced to become dependent on its tools along with all the attendant costs to purchase tokens, I don't think that this would be acceptable.

So that would be my comment about what should be the barest minimum of requirements.

The most adversely affect affected communities is the artistic and creative communities. As much as AI could be a fabulous tool these companies have stolen peoples intellectual property.

[lazarou@mastodon.social]

@Blender

they are slaughtering you in the comments though...

[Gast]

@Blender I don't begrudge any FOSS org from shaking pennies out of corporate couch cushions so to speak to keep the lights on, *but there's something real ick* about taking money from a source that is hellbent on destroying FOSS communities—and worst, allowing their slop to enter your codebase.

[Gast]

@0x4d6165 Empty words from people that do not donate honestly.

I could argue everyone is a shitstain for making these companies rely on big tech for donations.

Once again, you're not fixing anything by swearing at your allies

[Gast]

@Blender everyone who thought this was a good idea should lose their job because war profiteers can do it worse

[Gast]

@the_wub I don't have personal experience with Bforartists. From what I can tell, it is a soft fork of Blender. This means it is very much dependent on whatever the Blender Foundation does and 'just' builds UI changes on top of that.

@Blender

[Gast]

@JoshuaACNewman @Blender They've had Meta and Google as sponsors for years. Didn't change Blender, just more funding for development. How are they different?

[Gast]

@the_wub @Rakkom @Blender Might be a way to find out: https://github.com/Bforartists/Bforartists/issues/6506 (Please don't pile on and try to do only thoguhtful responses.)

[Gast]

@Blender ah plmdds mama aqui ó glub glub

[Gast]

@Rakkom @Blender Yes, I realised that after reading a bit more after I tooted.

But it seems that Blender already is using AI generated/reviewed code.

So an AI-free fork would have to start from an older release.

Therefore using Bforartists would not change much.

[Gast]

@ninjadodo @Blender
Are Google and Meta dedicated to destroying art and artists?

For them, it’s an unintended consequence that they don’t understand.

For Anthropic, it’s the heart of the business model.

[Gast]

@SecondUniverse @Blender there's the blender for artists fork, gonna try and find out their position: https://github.com/Bforartists/Bforartists/issues/6506 (please try to respond thoughtfully if you happen to comment)

[Gast]

@Blender ratio

[Gast]

@mynameistillian @Blender how hard could it be to create another 3d modeler/animator, cutting from the project anything that's tied to a corporation?

[Gast]

@Blender what the actual fuck