I just learned about this AI stuff today, from a friend who is an artist. I don’t want to know how it works, I’m sick about something like this! Artists have enough to worry about without someone stealing their work without credit or compensation!
I’m 73 years old, and I used to consider myself pretty tech savvy, especially compared with my friends, but I don’t want to learn about stuff like this...Thanks for giving your perspective.
This is such an important topic, thank you for tackling it. I'm a writer working in tech and there's no question that the robots are coming for me: they already have, in fact, with software like writer.ai, Jasper, Lex, etc. I think tech will — and should — replace humans when it comes to basic, pedantic tasks, like writing SEO-optimized clickbait. It's also another reason why we need more diversity in engineering and AI especially. The people writing the algorithms that power this work are essentially making ethical decisions. So if these people are not representative of the broader population, then the software they're creating will have HUGE blindspots.
The real question is, will we continue to value intelligent, thoughtful content that reflects the unique perspective of its creator, or will we decide we're happy with the generic aggregate of what's floating around on the internet? As AI gets closer to resembling humans, we need to start figuring out what makes us uniquely human, and what value we assign to that.
I haven't heard this argument before (sheesh, I just saw the AI profile trend a few days ago...welcome to under my rock!) but I agree with your statement here, especially:
"But the artists who created the work that feed the AI are making $0. And remember: that non-artist did not get permission to use the artworks that they fed to the AI. That sucks on every level."
I feel angry too - I get it. We posted so many essays, so many words freely posted and first they were plagiarized and now are probably in an AI bank somewhere.
Thank you for advocating for artists. As a person who has only barely made a living and supported my family as an artist for the last 22 years, What's really saddest to me is that we haven't lost as much as it may seem because artists were already conditioned to not expect much compensation. We were already starving. So this latest theft doesn't feel like much since we are numb to the entire experience of pouring out our hearts and souls for little to no compensation.
Could not disagree more. Personally, I take NO joy whatever in creating the kind of visual art you're describing. And there's a HUGE amount of creative process in designing these apps. You seem to be elevating your preferred art form over other kinds. This website you're using was CREATED by someone who finds great joy in the craft of coding. Someone else found that joy in CREATING the AI art apps. That is a creative art form, too.
Can we also talk about how creepy it is that the female portraits created by this ai are way more sexualized than the male images? Is ai sexist? Is ai learning and all the bad things it is gleaming from our culture?
Hi Gabrielle. As someone who works in tech I can reassure you that the one thing that computers can NOT do, is create anything new. They can only regurgitate new permutations of images created by people previously. Maybe I'm out of touch, but the AI art I've seen to date is truly awful. Is it impacting on the livelihoods of traditional artists at all? Maybe it will result in original art even being more sought after. Ditto writing.
We are teaching computers to replace us. Indeed. Artists last week, and writers today.
I just learned about this AI stuff today, from a friend who is an artist. I don’t want to know how it works, I’m sick about something like this! Artists have enough to worry about without someone stealing their work without credit or compensation!
I’m 73 years old, and I used to consider myself pretty tech savvy, especially compared with my friends, but I don’t want to learn about stuff like this...Thanks for giving your perspective.
This is such an important topic, thank you for tackling it. I'm a writer working in tech and there's no question that the robots are coming for me: they already have, in fact, with software like writer.ai, Jasper, Lex, etc. I think tech will — and should — replace humans when it comes to basic, pedantic tasks, like writing SEO-optimized clickbait. It's also another reason why we need more diversity in engineering and AI especially. The people writing the algorithms that power this work are essentially making ethical decisions. So if these people are not representative of the broader population, then the software they're creating will have HUGE blindspots.
The real question is, will we continue to value intelligent, thoughtful content that reflects the unique perspective of its creator, or will we decide we're happy with the generic aggregate of what's floating around on the internet? As AI gets closer to resembling humans, we need to start figuring out what makes us uniquely human, and what value we assign to that.
I haven't heard this argument before (sheesh, I just saw the AI profile trend a few days ago...welcome to under my rock!) but I agree with your statement here, especially:
"But the artists who created the work that feed the AI are making $0. And remember: that non-artist did not get permission to use the artworks that they fed to the AI. That sucks on every level."
Ouch.
I feel angry too - I get it. We posted so many essays, so many words freely posted and first they were plagiarized and now are probably in an AI bank somewhere.
To cheer you up: real art is still being created by real artists and new ones are starting all the time https://twitter.com/apyacc/status/1599994505620779008?s=20&t=Pm9JNGIIKj-Pw9CBWbCHHA
You are not overreacting and not everyone asked for this piece of the future to invade our lives. Sometimes change is NOT for the best.
If AI can copy AI can spot a copy.
If anyone gives a damn that AI can be written and lawyers can get payments from the AI copy industry
Thank you for advocating for artists. As a person who has only barely made a living and supported my family as an artist for the last 22 years, What's really saddest to me is that we haven't lost as much as it may seem because artists were already conditioned to not expect much compensation. We were already starving. So this latest theft doesn't feel like much since we are numb to the entire experience of pouring out our hearts and souls for little to no compensation.
..
Could not disagree more. Personally, I take NO joy whatever in creating the kind of visual art you're describing. And there's a HUGE amount of creative process in designing these apps. You seem to be elevating your preferred art form over other kinds. This website you're using was CREATED by someone who finds great joy in the craft of coding. Someone else found that joy in CREATING the AI art apps. That is a creative art form, too.
Can we also talk about how creepy it is that the female portraits created by this ai are way more sexualized than the male images? Is ai sexist? Is ai learning and all the bad things it is gleaming from our culture?
Hi Gabrielle. As someone who works in tech I can reassure you that the one thing that computers can NOT do, is create anything new. They can only regurgitate new permutations of images created by people previously. Maybe I'm out of touch, but the AI art I've seen to date is truly awful. Is it impacting on the livelihoods of traditional artists at all? Maybe it will result in original art even being more sought after. Ditto writing.
Thank you for writing this! I share your concerns! It's all becoming increasingly worrying. I'm just going to keep on painting.