In a time when AI plays a growing role in online content creation, it can be hard to tell if the art and writing we see comes from a human or a machine.
At mmiri, we believe that creativity is fundamental for human. It’s at the heart of our shared culture, values, and experiences. No matter how fast AI can produce content, it can’t replicate the genuine connection that comes from human expression.
Because of this, we want to be clear about how we create our content and exactly how we use AI at mmiri.
We aren’t against AI or new technology in general, and we do use AI to some extent. However, we strongly oppose using AI to copy the work of others. This includes generating text from scratch that doesn’t stem from our own authentic ideas or experiences, or text that merely rephrases someone else’s existing writing, creating images based on someone else’s art, or copying designs using AI scraping tools. These practices go against our core principles. We believe the hard work and creativity of people should be respected and protected. Otherwise, we risk ending up in a world filled with mediocrity, where everything is just a copy of something else.
Here’s how we specifically use AI:
- Photography: Absolutely no AI is involved in creating or editing our photographs. Over two-thirds of our images are exported directly from RAW editing software (Capture One). The remaining one-third undergo some standard Photoshop editing, mostly to hide fixtures or fastenings used during the photoshoot. You can read more about our image creation process on our blog.
- Text: All our website text, descriptions, and articles are written by us. Since neither English nor German is our native language, we do use AI tools to help correct grammar and improve phrasing.
- Website Development: This online shop, and all our other websites, are manually built using WordPress. We design and develop them ourselves. We occasionally use AI to generate small snippets of JS/PHP code to add specific features or functionality.
- Translation: We use AI as a starting point for our German translations. However, we then manually review, correct, and refine the text to ensure it reads naturally and provides a good experience for our German-speaking customers.
The image featured in this post is called “I Don’t Belong Here.” It depicts a disturbed personality trying to fit in among others where it doesn’t belong. Ultimately, this leads to its self-destruction, represented by the black piece of paper falling apart.
