Billy’s DTR Fight press conference poster reignited discussions around the use of AI in miniature creation. If Internet users denounce poorly done work, professionals defend its use, citing difficult working conditions.
Like the musiciansof the actors or voice actorsthe arrival of artificial intelligence shakes up the content creation industry on Youtube and in particular the creation of thumbnails, these small images which illustrate the videos. And for several days, the debate has raged on social networks.
It all started with a simple announcement made by Billy, aka RebeuDeter on Twitch. Via a publication on Paris La Défense Arena.
“The family… here we are… See you on the 28th and to spice up the press conference as much as possible, it’s YOU who will come and ask us your questions”, launches the videographer in a message on X, viewed almost 10 million times.
A controversial poster
To promote the event, Billy put a poster online. We can see the different participants of the boxing gala, like Billy, GregMMA, Kaatsup and Dooms, sitting around a table, a microphone in front of them.
The problem is that this design is far from unanimously accepted on social networks. Many Internet users suspect the videographer of having used AI to create the poster. “On the other hand, between Mastu’s hair and the big heads on the small bodies, dare to tell me that it’s not made with AI,” says a user.
“Kaatsup who has 8 fingers, Brawks 4 arms and two mixed sweaters. Thin arms. Weird microphones lol. We are on one of the worst promotional posters ever made by AI perhaps,” adds another. “You have to pay a graphic designer at some point,” adds another.
For his part, Rebeudeter claims to have “always paid” graphic designers to create his miniatures or posters. “Brothers, I see a lot of people being indignant about the poster because it has AI, but I paid a graphic designer to make it (he had no AI guidelines or what. I gave him carte blanche)”, he promises on X, last November 22.
AI, defects and poverty wages
“I have always paid graphic designers and I always will,” he assures. “So certainly, he mismanaged AI and certainly, it is not to everyone’s taste, but you know me, I have no bad intentions and I respect this job,” he continues in a long explanatory message.
But Internet users continue to criticize the use of artificial intelligence by miniamakers, these artists responsible for creating thumbnails for YouTubers’ videos. They denounce in particular sloppy creations, full of defects.
To support their point, some users then began to point out the few anomalies generated by AI in certain video images. This is for example the case of the Rasenya miniature, which contains hands with six fingers or slightly deformed faces.
“That’s it. The big wave of graphic designer piracy will finally begin and we’re not ready for this smoke,” shared Kid Lonni, a videographer followed by 298,000 subscribers on YouTube.
“Without AI, the miniamaker profession is not viable”
But most professionals defend the use of AI in miniatures, and the work of Rasenya. This is for example the case of Staku, miniamaker for Michou or Cyril MP4 who denounces the working conditions in his profession. “Without AI, the miniamaker profession is almost not viable,” he says.
“The market is more and more saturated with new miniamakers, which is, on the one hand, a good thing, because the profession is putting itself in the spotlight and getting people talking about it, but at the same time, more competitor means fewer clients per graphic designer”, observes the graphic designer, before rattling off the figures.
According to his estimates, in France, the price of a miniature varies between €50 and €120. However, a miniature takes between 5 to 7 hours to complete, without AI. “The average hourly rate for a French self-employed graphic designer is around €35.”
Result, “to make this miniature without AI, Rasenya should theoretically ask between 175 and 245€, except that as I told you, almost no one would agree to pay more than 120€, so what should Rasenya do? “, asks Staku.
“Being against AI is like being against the internet”
A few options are then possible. He can reduce his hourly costs and halve his salary. “In the long term, his business will not be viable and he will have to stop working in this sector,” believes Staku. Another possibility is to reduce the quality of your designs and work for a maximum of 3.5 hours on a miniature.
“The miniatures will be largely of lower quality and in the long term, Rasenya will have difficulty finding clients, because his work will not be up to standard,” he insists.
As a result, there is only one choice left for the miniamaker: use AI to produce work of a certain quality, and to save time. “Rasenya can thus keep his normal hourly rate and make a living from his job, and he can also always find clients and therefore make a living from his work,” he concludes.
An opinion shared by Jonathan Condessa, strategic planner at the Otta agency. “This technology allows creators to save time and money, while offering better quality video,” he summarized with Tech&Co last April.
The debate around the use of AI in the profession is not new. But most content creators seem to favor using this tool.
“Being against AI is like being against the internet or electricity. It’s all around us,” put Cyprien Iov into perspective last April, interviewed by Tech&Co. “There’s no point in fighting against it.”
The YouTuber with 14.5 million subscribers sometimes uses AI to cut out actors in videos.
“When I don’t have much inspiration on a difficult theme, I might ask an AI to generate an image,” said https://twitter.com/xifiz1/status/1767208860786544842?s=46&t=7b3rSroNYPxYiTHBu7j3Pwwho has been making miniatures for creators for six years, with Tech&Co. “The idea is not to repeat the image as is, but to help me find inspiration if necessary.”
