#maybe I just come from a different position since I'm from and live in Finland and am well aware what's going on behind the east border...

[daemadness]

Okay, let me tell you something.

I have seen so many people shitting on die ärzte and this video on many social media platforms just because it uses AI, and it's really starting to grind my gears, and I cannot keep my mouth shut anymore.

Disclaimer: Know that I AM against so-called AI art and AI generated texts and whatnot, because a computer cannot create new things from scratch and everything it creates is based on data it has collected, and all that data is created by humans, because also the computers and AI was built by humans. I'm also terrified of the amount of AI "photos", because I personally find it difficult or even impossible to tell them apart from real ones, and I wish I could, but I just can't. There was an article on AI generated images, texts and audios on my country's news broadcast website, and it had a test where you had to choose whether a "photo" was real or made with AI, or to choose the AI one from several. I failed miserably. So it is dangerous what comes to misinformation and all that jazz.

Talking of misinformation, I feel that also the anti-AI posts on Tumblr are spreading a shitload of misinformation, and people just see the word AI and jump on the "we hate AI here bandwagon" without really understanding what AI is.

I'm no expert on this either, but let's just say I'm an older millenial, grew up in the time when internet was reaching the regular person's home (in Europe), and currently I am a media student so I have some knowledge over the tools and methods used in the media field, where AI generators and AI tools are getting more and more popular, unfortunately.

You know that all computers are AI, right? People have worked on AI as a concept since the 1940s. Scifi books and movies and other medias have bee playing with the idea of an artificial inteligence for ages, most stories ending up with machines taking over humans. (You know, in the music video description, HAL 9000 is the evil AI/computer antagonist of the 60s film 2001: Space Odyssey; and Skynet is the somewhat evil network in Terminator franchise that was going to destroy the world. In the mv, both films were referenced, and so was Matrix, and maybe some others.)

All these random-ass tools and apps we call as AI today have gotten so huge over the past few years, and the word AI alone has become a trend word and a marketing hack. All these companies working on software programs have noticed this, and realized they can profit off of the word. A company such as Adobe realized "hey, what if we call this old af tool 'uses AI to select objects!' in this new update, people will buy our product more for sure!". Their competitors noticed it, and went "shit, Adobe* is using AI, we better do that too". Becaue AI = profit. But is that really AI? Well, technically yes, but it doesn't mean "this computer generates stolen art". It means "this tool has always existed in this software but the code is made better as technology gets better" and guess what: it has always been AI, sorta. It has always been that computer doing the task, but now we just call it AI instead because it's Trendy™️. And more profit for companies selling these products yadayada. It's still a different thing from an AI GENERATOR. That fetches the data collected and created by humans.

At school we use Adobe products, and I hate the fact it's promoting AI in everything. It's literally calling features that have existed for a long time, as AI. But it also keeps introducing more and more AI generator type features to their softwares. At school we're taught about AI, we are taught how to use Midjourney among others, we're literally having media professionals promoting AI generator tools. Media companies use AI generator tools even! And it sucks, and I personally have chosen to not touch those even with a long stick after I found out they just use existing data and art humans created.

Now, to the music video. What exactly is AI in this video? To that I don't have proper answers, only guesses, but I wish I knew more. I tried looking into this, but I wasn't able to find much anything. I'm still going to do my best and analyze the video, and break it down to what I could find.

I found the director's Instagram and his posts always mention the people who have worked on the videos with him. This is what is written to the descs of DEMOKRATIE clips:

You see it already? "Created and directed by" and just his name. Meaning, there was no crew. "Why not hire an artist, then?!" you may ask. Well, as a media student and a hobbyist, let me explain some things:

Hiring people costs money, depending on the person, they might be in a financial situation where hiring is not an option. Especially if you're a freelancer of any sort. (Now, I know this director has made massive videos for ages, but you never know what kind of situation someone might be in as in media and art business nothing is ever certain.) [However, companies that already sit on a mountain of money should be forbidden from using AI etc. and forced to hire real people instead.]

The deadlines, which I assume were very strict and quick. You know how much times goes into creating an animation? Depending on the method, you can spend hours on drawing frames that become a video that lasts 10 seconds. Let alone a video that consist of tons of scenes and lasts over 4 minutes.

This used existing music videos and sure, you could trace those down, but it would still take time because you would have to go through the clips frame by frame, and the framerate of music videos in Europe is usually 25 FPS (frames by second), so 10 seconds of video is already 250 frames, as in images, to trace down. For this we've got tools that now people love to call as AI and think it's the same as an AI generator.

I really wish I knew more of the process of making the video, but I feel that so many people think this video was completely written, "drawn" and edited by an AI. That's... just not possible. The AI as we know it, is not that advanced yet really. I'm not so experienced with AI generators and other tools, but this video was way too structured and made too much sense to be by AI alone. It matches with the lyrics too well, so it was definitely cut and edited by a human being. It uses German and English sometimes, as in real alphabets, which AI can't do -> edited by a human being.

There are some scenes with AI generator type of scribbling, such as this:

And with this next one I'm not sure if it's supposed to resemble Greek alphabets, or if it's just AI not understing any kind of alphabets. But we can still read it, right?

And it's got the Gwendoline logo right, too.

I really wish there was some sort of a behind-the-scenes thingy for this video as I'd be so curious to know how this was done. If we look at how the video is promoted on the website and Youtube desc, it says this:

It says "AI has recalculated die ärzte", which is why I assume they used some sort of AI to create the new fake dä. As I said, I haven't used the AI tools much because I don't like them and prefer doing everything myself, so I'm not sure what they're capable of today. My first thought was that he just fed the videos to AI to get them out with a cartoon filter on them. I'm not sure if you can do that in these softwares already. I would not be surprised if, say Adobe After Effects, had some sort of "turn your videos into paintings!" AI feature in it. They already advertise rotoscoping and tracking as AI, which it technically is because it's the computer doing the motion tracking but as I said, AI is the trend word so it sounds "cooler" and more profitable if they mention AI at the side too.

What comes to the rest of it, it's edited by a human being FOR SURE. I know that today AI can do some cutting for a video, but it can mostly just do stuff like cut out silent parts of a video if it's e.g. a podcast, but it still has to be reviewed by a human being because it might also miscalculate and cut out bits a human being would keep in the video. But it cannot take clips and edit them into together. It can create a video from a prompt, but it cannot build a video from other videos, and that is EXACTLY what this video is: it's built from pieces that are different video clips. So so so many different video clips.

My last point with this video is that, as the description says too, it is really fitting. Does Die Ärzte using AI generated video mean they support AI generators? No. Is it a statement? Could be! There are constantly news about governments using AI to monitor and track and literally spy on their people. Something that is forbidden in EU due to privacy, but it does happen in the US (not sure about Canada), Russia, China... you name it. And then the fake news, you literally cannot trust anything on the internet anymore because a news article could have been written by an AI. Or someone creates a photo or article with an AI and spreads it as a fact. Or they post it as fake, but it's not clear enough so someone else takes it as real. GOOGLE does this nowadays, it just references articles and uses photos without fact-checking and you literally cannot trust any first results anymore, because the chances are that it is not real.

I feel that this was another point the band wanted to make with this video. AI is everywhere, and it's not necessarily a good thing. It says Fake-DÄ fighting against fake-news. It's the same case as just because someone writes a book about a murdered, does not mean the author is a murderer. A band can make a music video with AI to have a statement, and not support AI generated art.

Things are not so black&white.

DEMOKRATIE music video

[eyes-like-a-pisces]

Rules: Answer 10 questions, tag 10 people and make another 10 questions.🧜‍♀️

Questions from my astrological twin: @maiden-song 💕

1. if you could choose to glimpse the afterlife, would you?

Yes, I would. I think a lot about It.

2. under what circumstances do you think you past life was lived?

I could have had many past lifes. I think I was a native american, cause I've always felt bonded to their tradicion and same with China, cause when I hear the sound of Erhu - traditional chinese instrument, something wakes up in me. I've also always wanted to see Sweden & Finland, so maybe I was doing something there... I mean, I could do anything. I see myself in biblical times, as well as middle ages. I could be a renaissance artist, as well as dying of hunger during victorian era, or something, and that's probably why I'm still careful with money, haha. For my latest one, I think I could have been a hippie in the 60/70s and had some drug use experience, cause when I was a child I used have dreams about taking drugs, even if I didn't know anything about It. I also had some experience with psychics (and "psychics"), my mom had a past life regression and she told me she saw me few times... I don't take anything for granded, but reincarnation is one of my favourite theories.

3. what three skills would you instantly master if you had the choice?

Playing every instrument, speaking every language, singing beautifully

4. would your rather no passion or no pain?

No pain. Everything is needed in life, but you know, enough is enough.

5. if you had a chance to leave this world and go to another one, would you take it?

Depends of the world and who I would meet there. Even if this world can be cruel and disappointing at times, I still have some love for him and humanity.

6. if you could smell like anything in the world, what would it be?

Like the first day of spring, when you go outside and the air smells different. Or a storm.

7. do you feel like common interests or philosophical comparability are not important?

They are very important. I can't imagine a relationship without similar interests, views. You either get bored or fight constantly. I think that the whole point of searching a partner is trying to find things you got in common. The more similar you are, the more understood you feel and more you are attracted to them. That's my experience at least. That's a very basic example, but as you may noticed, I'm very much into music and I was dating a guy, who wasn't into music that much at all. I thought It doesn't matter at first, but then I started feeling like I'm missing my favourite way to connect with other person. Once I met a guy who loved music as much as I do, I'm sorry to admit It, but my partner became unattractive to me.

Similar interests and views are needed at the beginning, to bond with somebody, and later, to simply enjoy spending time together (thanks Captain Obvious). I mean... chemistry and good will are not enough for a relationship to last. Don't get me wrong, I don't think you have to be identical and agree on everything - some differences can be inspiring, balance your relationship and teach you something new. It's also ok and even needed, to have some separate hobbies, things that you like to do on your own. There are also other important things, like, if you equally care about each other and if you are on the same page in general, but I can't imagine not agreeing in the key points and things that are the most important to you. And the only person who can decide what is the most important is the person who is in that relationship, no matter if It's about interests, philosophy or religion. But beside a romantic relationship, I think It's good to be surrounded by different people and listen what they got to say.

8. if there was one mystery you alone could learn the answer too, what would it be?

The mystery of life in general. Why we are here, is there any destiny, how we are connected, how this universe works, what happens after death...

9. in your opinion, is there anything more important than love?

No :) (I'm not talking about putting your relationship before other things. I'm talking about love as a big force and meaning of this universe)

10. describe a new planet you would live on, if you could.

I want things to be diverse, monumental... Maybe another moon, why not. As a concept of the world, I wish there would be peace :) everybody has their safe place to live, will to live, passion, purpose, someone to love and who loves them back. Amen.

Questions from @mybloodiedvalentine 💕👯

1. What is an unpopular opinion you hold you about which you feel strongly and with which you seem to notice a lot of people disagree?

Nothing specific comes to my mind at the moment (that I haven't mentioned before). I sure have some, but what's unpopular opinion in general and what's unpopular opinion on tumblr, are two different things. Maybe, that the "tumblr positivity" is not really helpful. Like: "in case you need to hear this: you are smart, you are loved... ". How do you know that? Those are just empty words. But It's better to spread positivity than negativity, of course.

2. What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever told you that you can recall?

Oh, I had a few situations like that... This is so lovely, when a stranger wants to just be genuinely nice, not just catcalling you...For example, when I was with my 3 girlfriends at the club and 2 ladies in their 40s where like: "excuse me, we just wanted to say that we can't stop starring at you all, cause you are the priettiest girls in the club." And we were like: aww, omg, you are beautiful too, come dance with us. And we were all dancing in our witches circle ignoring all sweaty men around us, haha. Or when my mom went to the the same hair saloon as me and asked hair dresser if she remembers me and she said that she does and that I'm nice and intelectual. I'm her faithful client now ;_; (Sorry for sucking my own dick, but It was nice to remind myself about these situations).

3. Has a piece of art or music ever made you cry? If so, do you remember a specific moment? 

Crying to music is my passion. The latest intense moment was few days ago. I was loading a dishwasher at night and I played some music and then "lover you should've come over" by Jeff Buckley came on and sudden wave of lonelliness hit me so hard, that I just had to put down the plate, hide my face in my hands and weep ✌

4. What’s your favourite piece of clothing?

Idk, maybe my Penny Lane coat :)

5. What’s a random childhood memory that fills you with a deep sense of comforting nostalgia? 

Sledding with kids during a very cold winter in my home town, until It got dark and snow looked like sprinkled with glitter and having my freezed feet warmed up with a hair dryer, when I came back home, haha.

6. What is/was your favourite thing about your mom? If not your mom, your dad? Or best friend?

My favourite thing about my mom is that she's tolerant and open minded. I didn't have to lie to her or pretend I'm someone I'm not because of that. My favourite thing about my dad is that he actually cared about being a parent, even tho my parents divorced. I respect that he has unwavering morals and huge knowledge about a world - biology, astronomy, music, art...- subject doesn't matter- but he is very modest about It.

7. What’s something you learned on your own of which you’re proud?

Playing guitar

8. When was a moment in your life you remember laughing the hardest?

I was playing cards since I was a kid. After few years, when I was about 13 y. o. I got the first poker, a royal flush. When I saw my cards, I'm not sure why, I just coudn't believe my luck, I started laughing so hard I almost died.

9. What do you like to do when you’re having a hard time mentally that invariably calms you down?

Really depends of the kind of situation and if It's triggered by something or just a longer period of time feeling in a certain way. The is no a magic trick, but some things might be helpful. When It's concrete situation, at first, when the feelings are really intense, then I just can't calm down. Every try to do so, has a reverse effect. Like, I CAN'T THE FUCK CALM DOWN and It makes me even more angry. Brain needs about 20 min to chill, if It's not triggered, so It's better to be left alone and just go mad a little until brain will have enough haha. Have a good cry, listen to some music, have a lonely walk, write my feelings down etc.

I like to listen to Teal Swan on youtube. She's a spiritual teacher. I know, It might not sound encouragingly, but she actually seems very down to earth. She has a video about like, every emotion and every problem ever. She's very good in naming feelings, rationalizing them and It makes you feel more understood. And It calms me down as result. ASMR doesn't work for me, but I remember that at some point I liked to listen to sounds of the nature, like rain, waves etc + guided meditation to fall asleep.

Music always helps in general - listening, playing guitar, singing. I also like to take an oil and do a face massage. I'm really sorry if I sound like an instagram influencer 🤢, but when you feel bad for a longer time, you frown and there is a tention in your jaw, it can be really relieving. I follow instructional videos on yt.

When I have a longer period of going into downward spiral, then every way to distract my brain is good - TV shows, internet content that is not related to my life situation (although, sometimes It's good to distance yourself from social media), for example, I like criminal podcasts, cause they are occupying enough to distract a miserable brain, meeting somebody, going to a place I've never been before. + any kind of shedule, reason to leave the house, any goal, anything positive to look forward to and having even the simplest things done, is a blessing (even if sometimes It's the last thing I wanna do). I also tend to be much sadder in the evening, so I just go to sleep. When nothing works, then It's time for the professional help.

10. Do you have a favourite holiday memory?

Discovering Cocteau Twins.

Best regards if u actually read all that chatter, but those questions were so interesting, that I couldn't limit myself to one sentence answer (in most cases).

My questions are:

1. Who or what was the most influential for your music taste?

2. If you could time travel, where and when would you like to go first?

3. If you could be someone from an opposite gender for a day, how would you like to look like and what would you do?

4. Do you have a style icon/inspiration? Or a favourite designer? Desribe your dream clothing style

5. What's the song by a band/artist from your country that you could recommend? (From your hometown or state eventually)

6. What is the most rebellious thing you've ever done?

7. Has ever something in your life happened, that you coudn't explain with logic?

8. What 5 objects someone could use to summon you?

9. What is your favourite name from your culture's language? And outside your culture's language?

10. What's a song you normally wouldn't admit you like or different from music that you usually listen, but still enjoy?

I tag: @winterdryad @bowiepop @nightmare @confusion-in-the-sea-of-sorrow @l0w-budget @numberoneblind @mirandasinclairs @mysticbride @leperwitch @comeacrossthedesertnoshoeson @hexafu @mielmelancolie @arcane-delight