Fed up with AI-generated content on Instagram? These apps are exclusively for human artists.

      Baby Elon Musk. Shrimp Jesus. The Titanic crashing into an iceberg lettuce. Social media is overflowing with AI clutter — poor-quality, often absurd and at times unsettling images, videos, or texts generated by artificial intelligence.

      While some of this AI clutter is clearly fabricated, much of it is not. I recall the first time AI deceived me; it was an eye-catching video I stumbled upon on Instagram featuring a duo of snowy owls in the Arctic with a nest of six chicks. Impressed by the sight, I immediately shared it with my wife, who replied, “That can't possibly be real!”

      It wasn’t authentic. A brief look into the account, Yournaturescenary — boasting over 230,000 followers — confirmed the video was indeed created by AI. I felt tricked, duped, and from that moment, I became wary of every image I encountered online.

      Previously, I used Instagram to follow creators and share my own nature and wildlife photographs—real images captured with my actual camera, using my own hands. But recently, scrolling through my feed has shifted from enjoyment to a hunt for AI-generated content. This is frustrating, certainly, but when AI images seem authentic, they can also inflict real damage.

      All of this has pushed me to look for alternatives. It turns out I am not alone in this.

      “The most common feedback we receive is that people are feeling overwhelmed by the influx of AI-generated images on mainstream platforms,” says Jingna Zhang, creator of Cara, a decentralized social media app for artists, in a conversation with TNW.

      However, this issue is likely to worsen before it improves.

      Meta opens the AI floodgates

      Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has embraced AI across its platforms, eliminated fact-checking, and even plans to allow bots to create their own accounts. Although Meta began labeling AI-generated content last year, its algorithms have mistakenly classified genuine images as bot-generated and vice versa. Additionally, the platform makes it easy to remove the label.

      The troubling aspect is that Meta openly utilizes public posts to train its algorithms. While most European users can opt out due to data protection laws, all user accounts are automatically opted in by default. With access to all this free data, AI algorithms are quickly advancing — putting artists and creators at risk. It’s akin to learning valuable skills from a friend, launching a collaborative business, and then excluding them from the profits — sound familiar, Zuck?

      AI clutter, bot accounts, minimal moderation—this contributes to what writer Cory Doctorow termed the “enshittification” of the internet. While many have come to accept this new reality, some creators are searching for safer spaces online.

      Cara has emerged as one of the beneficiaries of this shift. When Meta announced plans to use user content for training AI models last year, the app's user base surged from 40,000 to 650,000 in just one week.

      “Artists have been looking for a space to experience authentic human-to-human interaction in the realm of art and online communities, which is how they stumbled upon Cara,” Zhang explains.

      Prioritizing artists

      Zhang advocates for new regulations to safeguard creators online.

      “We believe the rampant ethical and data privacy concerns surrounding these [AI] datasets must be urgently addressed through regulations. Governments need to clarify their stance or pass laws to protect artists and all individuals from unauthorized use,” she emphasizes.

      Zhang, an acclaimed photographer from Singapore, is well aware of this problem. She won a significant case in Luxembourg last year concerning a painter who reproduced one of her photographs. Currently, she is suing Google for allegedly using her photographs to train its AI model Imogen without her permission and is involved in a similar lawsuit against Midjourney, Stability AI, Runway AI, and DeviantArt.

      Zhang launched Cara in 2023 as a haven for artists wanting to share and connect. The organization, operated by volunteers, offers both a website and mobile app. Similar to Instagram, users can showcase their portfolios, post images, engage with others through likes and comments, and build a following. They also have a dedicated feed for updates, akin to X or BlueSky. The platform now boasts 1 million users.

      The standout feature of Cara is its stance on AI. All users are automatically opted out of AI bot-scraping by default, according to the company. Cara also prohibits generative AI content on the platform and employs a combination of automated detection and human moderation to maintain a clean environment.

      For Zhang, limiting bots on the platform relates not only to user piracy but also to protecting the essence of art itself. “What makes art significant is knowing that a real person dedicated time from their life to master a craft, practice, develop skills, and desired to express themselves profoundly enough to create something through art,” she states.

      So, how does Cara stack up against