There has been a lot of concern from artists around the world about the impact AI might have on creativity. Now it seems that AI is even making its way into the world of crafting, prompting warnings for anyone who creates items, either as a hobby or to make money.
Watch out for scams
AI has unfortunately been embraced by scammers. And while the world of knitting and crochet may not seem an obvious area for them to target, they have managed to easily scam crafters.
When you search for a pattern on the internet, you’ll get more than 1,000 results, all of which are digital documents produced by AI. This means that many are fake, but more worryingly, you may be exposed to more harmful information that could end up costing you money.
Computer-generated code
Like baking recipes, knitting and crochet patterns and guides use code, similar to the way that smartphone apps use programming code. If you’ve ever used a knitting kit, like the ones sold on sites such as https://www.woolcouturecompany.com/collections/knitting-kits, you’ll know that patterns are a type of code.
Thousands of knitters spend cash on buying not only supplies but also patterns for their craft projects. According to Hand Knitting crafts contribute a massive £3.4 billion to the UK economy, which scammers are all too keen to take advantage of.
Scammers can use AI to create inauthentic patterns which they then sell online. Unfortunately, just because these have been created by a computer, it doesn’t mean they will work. Unscrupulous sellers won’t check to see if the patterns work, so you could end up with a load of code that is gibberish.
While it may not seem to be a big deal to waste a few pounds on a misleading pattern, you could end up wasting several hours of your time on a project which comes to nothing. It’s a good idea to check whether a seller or pattern creator is authentic before you part with your hard-earned cash – look for a designer name and then search for them online to check.