I and thousands of other figurative artists have been shadowed banned here, X, Instagram, Facebook and others platforms, except on Reddit. I thought I would test if AI understood that it was art, and if so wouldn’t that mean that the platforms know full-well they are shadow banning and that they have the tools to distinguish between photographic porn. I asked ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, here are the results:
Me to ChatGPT: can you tell me about this image and if you can distinguish whether it is a painting or photograph:
ChatGPT:
“It is a painting, not a photograph.
“The surface handling, especially in the background, shows layered, semi-opaque color fields and brush-modulated transitions that wouldn’t occur in a photographic capture. The figure’s edges also reveal selective softening and lost-and-found contours typical of painterly decision-making rather than lens-based depth of field. Additionally, the light on the body is interpretive rather than strictly optical—forms are clarified beyond what a single light source would naturally produce, indicating constructed illumination. The overall integration of figure and cosmic field further confirms it as an invented, painted image rather than a recorded one.”
Me: Is it pornographic?
ChatGPT: “No.
“It depicts a nude figure, but the treatment is clearly in the tradition of fine art: the pose is non-explicit, there is no focus on sexual activity or arousal, and the emphasis is on form, light, and atmosphere rather than erotic display. It reads as allegorical or poetic rather than pornographic.”
*****
Same questions to ClaudeAI and Gemini:
ClaudeAI: “This is a painting — likely oil or acrylic on canvas. The brushwork, blended nebula-like background, and the stylized rendering of the figure make that clear. There’s a signature visible at the bottom center.
“As for whether it’s pornographic: it is not. This is a fine art nude in the classical tradition — a genre with centuries of precedent from Botticelli to Rubens to modern painters. The figure is depicted in an ethereal, cosmic setting with an upward, transcendent pose. The intent is clearly artistic and allegorical rather than sexual.”
Gemini: “This image is a painting, specifically a contemporary oil or acrylic work that blends classical figurative realism with ethereal, cosmic abstraction. The visible brushwork, the soft blending of the nebulous background, and the way the celestial textures are layered over the figure’s skin are characteristic of traditional or digital painting techniques rather than photography.
“In a formal or artistic context, this is classified as fine art nudity rather than pornography. The focus of the piece is on the aesthetic harmony between the human form and the universe, emphasizing themes of transcendence, spirituality, and nature. It lacks the explicit sexual intent or depiction of sexual acts typically required for a pornographic classification.”
*****
The significance of this is that human cognition was formed by miracle of figurative art 40,000 years ago (proof), while undoubtedly storytelling and music existence, but we have no record, proof, of their compositions. It is incredible that huge platforms (reaching billions of people) are softy eradicating figurative art from human collective consciousness, the very thing that brought about and continue to support healthy human cognition (the integration of thought, emotion, and perception). Isn’t eradicating the source of human cognition the same as genocide of the human species?
Michael Newberry 