Are Etsy finally addressing the increased use of AI on their platform?

I’m doing a happy dance this morning because Etsy finally seems to be recognising what the rest of us have been seeing for months. AI listings and images are taking over the platform.

Rag quilts with completely unrealistic ragging are scattered through the listings, alongside kits that promise equally unachievable results. Then there are tutorials that simply don’t work, created by sellers who appear to have typed “create a rag quilt tutorial” into ChatGPT without the experience to recognise the mistakes. Some have feedback ratings below 3.0!

Don’t get me wrong, I’d be a hypocrite if I said I didn’t use ChatGPT. Recently, I posted about a cushion I’m planning to make. I entered my description and the fabrics I’d chosen and, after a few tweaks, it produced a vision board image to help me picture the idea.

When the cushion and tutorial are finished, I’ll use actual photographs of what I’ve made. Customers will be able to see the real result.

AI can be a fabulous tool for a creative business. But it shouldn’t be used to mislead customers into buying something that exists only in an image, or instructions that haven’t been made and tested in my opinion.

I’ll climb back down off my soapbox now 😉

R ❤️