The organizer of a Toronto farmers’ market is speaking out after receiving backlash for using AI to create a promotional poster instead of acquiring a local artist to create it. 

An animated photo promoting a Nathan Phillips Square Farmers’ Market has been getting some attention online, with many taking issue with the fact that the image is AI-generated. 

The image shows a generic farmers’ market with vendors at produce stands, but contains some questionable details, including distorted faces, illegible signs, and a City Hall building that appears to be floating in the back.

However, the event organizer, Jennifer Forde, is pushing back saying that she decided to use AI due to a lack of funding to hire an artist. 

“Nobody has the money to be paying an artist all that money or the time. And AI was user-friendly, it was free,” she told Now Toronto on Thursday. 

“I’m very sorry, but if I could, I would, and our track record speaks to how we try to embrace local entrepreneurs. We underwrite some of them, and that’s all we can afford right now. We can’t do anything more.”

(Courtesy: Nathan Phillips Square Farmers’ Market)

Forde runs not only the Nathan Phillips Square market, but also other markets in Scarborough and North York. The initiatives aim to support local farmers and vendors selling locally-crafted produce and goods, especially new businesses, offering fee exemptions for emerging entrepreneurs. 

According to her, the markets took a big hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, and went through a series of other logistical challenges earlier this year, resulting in her decision to cancel the Nathan Phillips market next year. 

“It’s a very difficult market to manage, and so I will be giving up that market for next season, but [I] have a few projects in mind for the Scarborough region and North York.” she said. 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNk3pEvuTdJ/?igsh=MWJqcnkzNHkwM29u

Forde said the negative attention on the AI-generated artwork is taking away from the positive work the market has been doing for local entrepreneurs. 

“This is my livelihood. This is my work in the summer, and I want to bring affordable, culturally appropriate produce and artisanal products to underserved areas in the city, [we do] a damn good job of that,” Forde said. “So, this AI sh*t that they’re talking about, whatever. It’s one small issue in a larger issue that shows, and our work speaks for itself.” 

She adds that she plans to continue to use AI for future events, as it’s a convenient and free option. 

“I don’t even really want to explain myself. They really need to look at our market, our work, our demographic and the vendors that make up our market. We are [one of] the most diverse markets in the city. I myself am a melanated person. I don’t have the money, I don’t have that kind of funding. I don’t have that support.” 

ARTIST ADVOCATES FOR USING LOCAL CREATIVES 

Creative Director and Photographer at Toronto Creatives Benjamin Gibson tells Now Toronto that the use of AI for generating art pieces has become a growing trend that has the potential to hurt local artists. 

The artist explained that the use of AI in place of hiring a real artist takes job opportunities away from local creatives.

“What AI is doing is looking at everything… [that] people have already done, and then creating it that ultimately leads artists to not make as much. And that’s, you know, we’re gonna have an overwhelming amount of baristas in the next five years, and then that’ll inevitably be taken over by some kind of machines,” he said. 

Read More

The artist explained that while artists might use AI to enhance their work, for example, to remove elements from a photo, it can become a problem when people use these tools to do the whole job for them, removing the creative and human element from the project entirely.

Gibson explains that while hiring an entire marketing or branding team to create a promotional campaign can be expensive, it was possible for the event organizers to hire independent artists to make the banner for much cheaper. 

“I think in this case, whoever did this event absolutely could have reached out to a local artist…They could have gotten permission from a photographer that has done something for them in the past. And they could have even just thrown a few hundred bucks at a graphic design student and come up with something probably better,” he said.