AI is ruining Etsy’s Reputation and Buyers are not Happy

Etsy is famous for selling and purchasing original artwork and it is a great business for many individuals around the globe, but since AI is dominating every other industry, Etsy is of no skip. Many users are taking to Reddit to report about what’s happening at Etsy.

An Etsy store selling hundreds of AI-Generated art without labeling it as AI

A buyer shared some unhappy words on Reddit saying:

“The fact that it’s AI isn’t listed anywhere, I was so mad at myself for not noticing it was AI before purchasing.”

Yes, for now, Etsy’s seller policy says and accepts nothing about any type of mention regarding whether the art being submitted is AI or originally created by someone. Does this mean no handmade art will be available on Etsy now? Probably yes.

As many tools such as MidJourney, PlaygroundAI, LeonardoAI are getting huge updates for generating highly detailed art and photos that nobody can easily figure out if it is AI or handmade, Etsy should have a policy about this to make things transparent and legal.

Why? There’s a mindset of a buyer who is ordering an artwork on Etsy that it is handmade by someone and when he knows that his purchased thing is not handmade but generated by an AI model with no efforts at all from the seller, it would feel like he’s just got scammed on Etsy.

That Reddit users went on to share the store name “CanArtStudio” selling art and photos just for $1.50 that’s currently the lowest price in Etsy’s photography section and that’s all AI, nothing handmade and still there’s no sign of AI being mentioned on these listings.

So, it is what it is.

According to my opinion, selling AI art or photos on any digital platform is not a scam, it is legal, but there should be a tag or something that ensures the buyers about AI and original (handmade) products.

It is not right for platforms such as Etsy to put people at blindsides, they should label things accordingly and let people know what exactly they are buying.