#nft environmental impact

[untypicable]

NFTs: What Are They, and Why Do They Still Exist?

Non-Fungible Tokens, or NFTs, are the internet’s latest attempt to make the over-30 crowd feel like they’ve wandered into a university lecture about quantum physics. Allegedly, they’re digital assets stored on the blockchain—whatever that means—representing ownership of art, music, videos, or, in some cases, absolutely nothing. Yes, you too can own a digital drawing of a monkey for the price of a…

[arthropooda]

My dad is so "bitcoin is the future" even though it's becoming government regulated. I just thought since the appeal was that it's not the dollar and the government can't control what you do with it, regulation would mean that people who actually cared about anonymity would just start using something else and then bitcoin would be nothing special anymore. I don't really know what I'm talking about but maybe neither does he?

[rancidslime]

IT'S REMARKABLY LIKE THE BEST WAY TO LEARN COMPOSITION AND DESIGN IS BY DOING

i think the biggest mistake of "anti-ai" artists is claiming ai art is "art without a human touch" because it's just resulted in "pro-ai" saying that's a GOOD thing because it means it lacks human biases as well as potential exploitation and like well no it still has bias from like. the white male programmers who decide what art "counts" as beautiful (big tittied anime women) and also used exploited labor from the global south but it ALSO looks really tacky.

[sexymemecoin]

The Emergence of NFTs: Transforming Digital Ownership and Creativity

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have revolutionized the way we think about digital ownership, art, and collectibles. By leveraging blockchain technology, NFTs provide a way to create, buy, sell, and own unique digital assets with verifiable provenance and scarcity. This article explores the world of NFTs, their impact on various industries, key benefits and challenges, and notable projects, including a brief mention of Sexy Meme Coin.

What Are NFTs?

NFTs, or Non-Fungible Tokens, are unique digital assets that represent ownership of a specific item or piece of content, such as art, music, videos, virtual real estate, and more. Unlike cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum, which are fungible and can be exchanged on a one-to-one basis, NFTs are indivisible and unique. Each NFT is recorded on a blockchain, ensuring transparency, security, and verifiability of ownership.

The Rise of NFTs

NFTs gained mainstream attention in 2021 when digital artist Beeple sold an NFT artwork for $69 million at Christie's auction house. This landmark event highlighted the potential of NFTs to transform the art world by providing artists with new revenue streams and collectors with verifiable digital ownership.

Since then, NFTs have exploded in popularity, with various industries exploring their potential applications. From gaming and music to real estate and fashion, NFTs are creating new opportunities for creators, businesses, and investors.

Key Benefits of NFTs

Digital Ownership: NFTs provide a way to establish true digital ownership of assets. Each NFT is unique and can be traced back to its original creator, ensuring authenticity and provenance. This is particularly valuable in the art and collectibles market, where forgery and fraud are significant concerns.

Monetization for Creators: NFTs enable creators to monetize their digital content directly. Artists, musicians, and other content creators can sell their work as NFTs, earning revenue without relying on intermediaries. Additionally, smart contracts can be programmed to provide creators with royalties each time their NFT is resold, ensuring ongoing income.

Interoperability: NFTs can be used across different platforms and ecosystems, allowing for interoperability in the digital world. For example, NFTs representing in-game items can be traded or used across multiple games and virtual worlds, enhancing their utility and value.

Scarcity and Collectibility: NFTs introduce scarcity into the digital realm by creating limited editions or one-of-a-kind items. This scarcity drives the collectibility of NFTs, similar to physical collectibles like rare coins or trading cards.

Challenges Facing NFTs

Environmental Impact: The creation and trading of NFTs, especially on energy-intensive blockchains like Ethereum, have raised concerns about their environmental impact. Efforts are being made to develop more sustainable blockchain solutions, such as Ethereum's transition to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism.

Market Volatility: The NFT market is highly speculative and can be volatile. Prices for NFTs can fluctuate significantly based on trends, demand, and market sentiment. This volatility poses risks for both creators and investors.

Intellectual Property Issues: NFTs can raise complex intellectual property issues, particularly when it comes to verifying the rightful owner or creator of the digital content. Ensuring that NFTs are legally compliant and respect intellectual property rights is crucial.

Access and Inclusivity: The high costs associated with minting and purchasing NFTs can limit accessibility for some creators and collectors. Reducing these barriers is essential for fostering a more inclusive NFT ecosystem.

Notable NFT Projects

CryptoPunks: CryptoPunks are one of the earliest and most iconic NFT projects. Created by Larva Labs, CryptoPunks are 10,000 unique 24x24 pixel art characters that have become highly sought-after collectibles.

Bored Ape Yacht Club: Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is a popular NFT collection featuring 10,000 unique hand-drawn ape avatars. Owners of these NFTs gain access to exclusive events and benefits, creating a strong community around the project.

Decentraland: Decentraland is a virtual world where users can buy, sell, and develop virtual real estate as NFTs. This platform allows for the creation of virtual experiences, games, and social spaces, showcasing the potential of NFTs in the metaverse.

NBA Top Shot: NBA Top Shot is a platform that allows users to buy, sell, and trade officially licensed NBA collectible highlights. These video clips, known as "moments," are sold as NFTs and have become popular among sports fans and collectors.

Sexy Meme Coin (SXYM): Sexy Meme Coin integrates NFTs into its platform, offering a decentralized marketplace where users can buy, sell, and trade memes as NFTs. This unique approach combines humor and finance, adding a distinct flavor to the NFT landscape. Learn more about Sexy Meme Coin at Sexy Meme Coin.

The Future of NFTs

The future of NFTs is bright, with continuous innovation and expanding use cases. As technology advances and more industries explore the potential of NFTs, we can expect to see new applications and opportunities emerge. From virtual fashion and digital identities to decentralized finance (DeFi) and beyond, NFTs are poised to reshape various aspects of our digital lives.

Efforts to address environmental concerns, improve accessibility, and ensure legal compliance will be crucial for the sustainable growth of the NFT ecosystem. Collaboration between creators, platforms, and regulators will help build a more robust and inclusive market.

Conclusion

NFTs have ushered in a new era of digital ownership, creativity, and innovation. By providing verifiable ownership and provenance, NFTs are transforming industries ranging from art and entertainment to gaming and virtual real estate. While challenges remain, the potential benefits of NFTs and their ability to empower creators and engage communities make them a significant force in the digital economy.

For those interested in the playful and innovative side of the NFT market, Sexy Meme Coin offers a unique and entertaining platform. Visit Sexy Meme Coin to explore this exciting project and join the community.

[agnesmontague]

i think there is some debate out there on exactly how much water is used/will be used by AI data centers in future but something i have come to despise is this weird trend of people mostly On Here suddenly acting sanctimonious about how "no one used to care about the environmental impact of data centers until you decided AI bad". first of all ive been seeing the environmental water usage argument since the days of NFTs and blockchain/crypto discourse but since when has someone's foreknowledge had to date back to primordial times for it to have mattered as an argument. i know it's a shocker but sometimes people can learn new things. if you have data that the water usage stats are false then just fucking show them, or are you too scared that someone's going to call you a moron for only learning your stats two days ago off somebody's substack

[linkhundr]

So NFTgate has now hit tumblr - I made a thread about it on my twitter, but I'll talk a bit more about it here as well in slightly more detail. It'll be a long one, sorry! Using my degree for something here. This is not intended to sway you in one way or the other - merely to inform so you can make your own decision and so that you aware of this because it will happen again, with many other artists you know.

Let's start at the basics: NFT stands for 'non fungible token', which you should read as 'passcode you can't replicate'. These codes are stored in blocks in what is essentially a huge ledger of records, all chained together - a blockchain. Blockchain is encoded in such a way that you can't edit one block without editing the whole chain, meaning that when the data is validated it comes back 'negative' if it has been tampered with. This makes it a really, really safe method of storing data, and managing access to said data. For example, verifying that a bank account belongs to the person that says that is their bank account.

For most people, the association with NFT's is bitcoin and Bored Ape, and that's honestly fair. The way that used to work - and why it was such a scam - is that you essentially purchased a receipt that said you owned digital space - not the digital space itself. That receipt was the NFT. So, in reality, you did not own any goods, that receipt had no legal grounds, and its value was completely made up and not based on anything. On top of that, these NFTs were purchased almost exclusively with cryptocurrency which at the time used a verifiation method called proof of work, which is terrible for the environment because it requires insane amounts of electricity and computing power to verify. The carbon footprint for NFTs and coins at this time was absolutely insane.

In short, Bored Apes were just a huge tech fad with the intention to make a huge profit regardless of the cost, which resulted in the large market crash late last year. NFTs in this form are without value.

However, NFTs are just tech by itself more than they are some company that uses them. NFTs do have real-life, useful applications, particularly in data storage and verification. Research is being done to see if we can use blockchain to safely store patient data, or use it for bank wire transfers of extremely large amounts. That's cool stuff!

So what exactly is Käärijä doing? Kä is not selling NFTs in the traditional way you might have become familiar with. In this use-case, the NFT is in essence a software key that gives you access to a digital space. For the raffle, the NFT was basically your ticket number. This is a very secure way of doing so, assuring individuality, but also that no one can replicate that code and win through a false method. You are paying for a legimate product - the NFT is your access to that product.

What about the environmental impact in this case? We've thankfully made leaps and bounds in advancing the tech to reduce the carbon footprint as well as general mitigations to avoid expanding it over time. One big thing is shifting from proof of work verification to proof of space or proof of stake verifications, both of which require much less power in order to work. It seems that Kollekt is partnered with Polygon, a company that offers blockchain technology with the intention to become climate positive as soon as possible. Numbers on their site are very promising, they appear to be using proof of stake verification, and all-around appear more interested in the tech than the profits it could offer.

But most importantly: Kollekt does not allow for purchases made with cryptocurrency, and that is the real pisser from an environmental perspective. Cryptocurrency purchases require the most active verification across systems in order to go through - this is what bitcoin mining is, essentially. The fact that this website does not use it means good things in terms of carbon footprint.

But why not use something like Patreon? I can't tell you. My guess is that Patreon is a monthly recurring service and they wanted something one-time. Kollekt is based in Helsinki, and word is that Mikke (who is running this) is friends with folks on the team. These are all contributing factors, I would assume, but that's entirely an assumption and you can't take for fact.

Is this a good thing/bad thing? That I also can't tell you - you have to decide that for yourself. It's not a scam, it's not crypto, just a service that sits on the blockchain. But it does have higher carbon output than a lot of other services do, and its exact nature is not publicly disclosed. This isn't intended to sway you to say one or the other, but merely to give you the proper understanding of what NFTs are as a whole and what they are in this particular case so you can make that decision for yourself.

[txttletale]

You've probs answered this- but thoughts on ai art's environmental impact?

i mean not great but even the highest estimates i've seen don't put it above, like, gaming. & obviously there is a degrowth argument to be had about if either of those things can sustainably keep using that level of energy but like many things that people get really worked up about wrt AI, if you took it seriously as a problem on its own terms you would v. quickly realize AI art is at the bottom of your priorities.

it feels in a lot of ways like people just recycled their arguments against crypto and NFTS--people similarly overblew the amount of energy those were using, by the way, but the hostility was imo justified there because the fundamentals of blockchain tech require infinite growth of energy expenditure in such a way that mass adoption would obviously necessitate mass increases in that expenditure. that's not true with AI art, which will probably get more efficient and cheaper as the technology develops because bottlenecking computing power isn't a core element of the tech.

[soizoukoi]

Okay, I hesitated a bit before writing this because I don’t want to add more drama to the drama, but I think some points about this whole NFT situation need clarification.

First of all: Yes, I agree that not clearly explaining to the fanbase that the raffle ticket was an NFT was a bit shady, and like many others, I would have appreciated more transparency on this.

That said, while the NFT market was indeed a speculative bubble where cryptobros jumped in to scam naive people with ugly monkey drawings, that bubble has burst, and most of those scammers have since moved on to other ways of making money off gullible people. As for Käärijä’s case, is the sale of his NFTs a scam? The raffle ticket was free, and the Euro Pass gives you access to exclusive content for €15, which is much cheaper than an OnlyFans subscription, and I hope it will be managed more professionally. Also, you don't need to use cryptocurrency to access these bonuses. So honestly, I find it hard to see where the scam is here.

As for the environmental impact: While it was indeed a major issue, it seems to have been addressed in the past two years. According to Wikipedia, this correction has reduced energy consumption by over 99%. Therefore, I think the real environmental impact of NFTs is no worse or better than that of Google or any other digital platform we all use.

I’m also including the thread from @/linkhundr on Twitter, who seems to know a bit more about the subject, for further information.

That’s it, this post isn’t meant to spread hate towards anyone for their opinions on this subject. I’m just trying to bring some perspective and nuance to something that, in my opinion, isn’t really a big deal.

[secretlystephaniebrown]

Superheroes and NFTs/Crypto

the official DC server posted this and it immediately made me ponder

so my immediate answers

Booster Gold. not because he believes in them, but because they sponsor him. it's not that he's too smart for them, to be clear, it's just that "don't take any NFTs" is the 26th century equivalent of "don't take any wooden nickles" so it's a rare 21st century thing he knows coming in.

Ted Kord thinks that NFTs and Crypto are interesting for like five minutes, then he does the research and starts loudly arguing with Booster about it, causing yet another divorce.

Plastic Man - Bad with money, a bit dumb, gullible. He absolutely has stumbled into it.

Kyle Rayner's art got turned into NFTs without his consent, so he's aiming to take those fuckers down. Guy is helping.

Crypto is in fact the currency of Apokalypse so Barda and Scott have PTSD flashbacks when it start to get popular on Earth.

Harley mints NFTs. Ivy is trying desperately to get her to cash out before the bubble bursts. She's also planning an eco-terrorism to take down some these assholes.

the Wonder and Aquafam are immune to NFTs by virtue of loving the environment.

I do regret to say, with a heavy heart, that I think Wally might have had a brief crypto phase - I don't think he ever put real money into it because Linda would have killed him, but he definitely was like. a Dad level of interested in it for a while there.

I feel like Ollie would have been interested in the theory of a non-centralized currency in a very left-wing anarcho-communist kind of way, then he'd realize that it's just an attempt to recreate the banking system without regulations and with a massive environmental impact after two seconds of conversation with Connor, and immediately become someone who goes into the replies of people shilling for Crypto and picking fights

(This is Ollie mocking Crypto-bros on DC-twitter.)

[chappydev]

Future of LLMs (or, "AI", as it is improperly called)

Posted a thread on bluesky and wanted to share it and expand on it here. I'm tangentially connected to the industry as someone who has worked in game dev, but I know people who work at more enterprise focused companies like Microsoft, Oracle, etc. I'm a developer who is highly AI-critical, but I'm also aware of where it stands in the tech world and thus I think I can share my perspective. I am by no means an expert, mind you, so take it all with a grain of salt, but I think that since so many creatives and artists are on this platform, it would be of interest here. Or maybe I'm just rambling, idk.

LLM art models ("AI art") will eventually crash and burn. Even if they win their legal battles (which if they do win, it will only be at great cost), AI art is a bad word almost universally. Even more than that, the business model hemmoraghes money. Every time someone generates art, the company loses money -- it's a very high energy process, and there's simply no way to monetize it without charging like a thousand dollars per generation. It's environmentally awful, but it's also expensive, and the sheer cost will mean they won't last without somehow bringing energy costs down. Maybe this could be doable if they weren't also being sued from every angle, but they just don't have infinite money.

Companies that are investing in "ai research" to find a use for LLMs in their company will, after years of research, come up with nothing. They will blame their devs and lay them off. The devs, worth noting, aren't necessarily to blame. I know an AI developer at meta (LLM, really, because again AI is not real), and the morale of that team is at an all time low. Their entire job is explaining patiently to product managers that no, what you're asking for isn't possible, nothing you want me to make can exist, we do not need to pivot to LLMs. The product managers tell them to try anyway. They write an LLM. It is unable to do what was asked for. "Hm let's try again" the product manager says. This cannot go on forever, not even for Meta. Worst part is, the dev who was more or less trying to fight against this will get the blame, while the product manager moves on to the next thing. Think like how NFTs suddenly disappeared, but then every company moved to AI. It will be annoying and people will lose jobs, but not the people responsible.

ChatGPT will probably go away as something public facing as the OpenAI foundation continues to be mismanaged. However, while ChatGPT as something people use to like, write scripts and stuff, will become less frequent as the public facing chatGPT becomes unmaintainable, internal chatGPT based LLMs will continue to exist.

This is the only sort of LLM that actually has any real practical use case. Basically, companies like Oracle, Microsoft, Meta etc license an AI company's model, usually ChatGPT.They are given more or less a version of ChatGPT they can then customize and train on their own internal data. These internal LLMs are then used by developers and others to assist with work. Not in the "write this for me" kind of way but in the "Find me this data" kind of way, or asking it how a piece of code works. "How does X software that Oracle makes do Y function, take me to that function" and things like that. Also asking it to write SQL queries and RegExes. Everyone I talk to who uses these intrernal LLMs talks about how that's like, the biggest thign they ask it to do, lol.

This still has some ethical problems. It's bad for the enivronment, but it's not being done in some datacenter in god knows where and vampiring off of a power grid -- it's running on the existing servers of these companies. Their power costs will go up, contributing to global warming, but it's profitable and actually useful, so companies won't care and only do token things like carbon credits or whatever. Still, it will be less of an impact than now, so there's something. As for training on internal data, I personally don't find this unethical, not in the same way as training off of external data. Training a language model to understand a C++ project and then asking it for help with that project is not quite the same thing as asking a bot that has scanned all of GitHub against the consent of developers and asking it to write an entire project for me, you know? It will still sometimes hallucinate and give bad results, but nowhere near as badly as the massive, public bots do since it's so specialized.

The only one I'm actually unsure and worried about is voice acting models, aka AI voices. It gets far less pushback than AI art (it should get more, but it's not as caustic to a brand as AI art is. I have seen people willing to overlook an AI voice in a youtube video, but will have negative feelings on AI art), as the public is less educated on voice acting as a profession. This has all the same ethical problems that AI art has, but I do not know if it has the same legal problems. It seems legally unclear who owns a voice when they voice act for a company; obviously, if a third party trains on your voice from a product you worked on, that company can sue them, but can you directly? If you own the work, then yes, you definitely can, but if you did a role for Disney and Disney then trains off of that... this is morally horrible, but legally, without stricter laws and contracts, they can get away with it.

In short, AI art does not make money outside of venture capital so it will not last forever. ChatGPT's main income source is selling specialized LLMs to companies, so the public facing ChatGPT is mostly like, a showcase product. As OpenAI the company continues to deathspiral, I see the company shutting down, and new companies (with some of the same people) popping up and pivoting to exclusively catering to enterprises as an enterprise solution. LLM models will become like, idk, SQL servers or whatever. Something the general public doesn't interact with directly but is everywhere in the industry. This will still have environmental implications, but LLMs are actually good at this, and the data theft problem disappears in most cases.

Again, this is just my general feeling, based on things I've heard from people in enterprise software or working on LLMs (often not because they signed up for it, but because the company is pivoting to it so i guess I write shitty LLMs now). I think artists will eventually be safe from AI but only after immense damages, I think writers will be similarly safe, but I'm worried for voice acting.

[platinumpurity]

AIDA SARMIENTO

Global Business Maven Aida Expands Impact, Advocates Sustainable Fashion.

Ries Del Sur – Aida, a prominent figure in the global cosmetics and fashion sector, has unleashed a series of initiatives aimed at promoting environmental responsibility and uplifting underrepresented artists. In a concerted effort to reduce her fashion line's environmental footprint, Aida has pledged to incorporate eco-friendly materials, thereby minimizing plastic waste in her beauty product packaging. Her outreach does not end there.

Aida has extended this support to emerging, gifted artists often overlooked by the industry, providing them with financial backing, mentorship, and a platform to shine.

One of the talented beneficiaries, Melody Guzman , expressed her gratitude, stating, "Aida's backing has granted me a spotlight I never envisioned attaining. It is truly inspiring to witness someone as accomplished as her extending a helping hand to the up-and-coming generation."

In addition to her entrepreneurial pursuits, Aida has recently engaged in political activism, championing more stringent regulations on vigilante actions within the country's jurisdiction. She has been unambiguous in her convictions, famously asserting, "Superheroes are a liability running in flashy costume," making it obvious that she wants proper authorities to handle public safety rather than entrusting unruly individuals.

OOC moment/mod mj: yeaahhh what you read was a lie except for like... the last part.

[I run these blogs: @gothamskidgenius @maryjayden ]

Soo here's the rest of her about

———

Name: Aida Sarmiento

Age: Early 30's

Gender: Female (She/Her)

Sexuality: Unlabled

Skill: Corporate Leadership & Business Strategy

Likes:

- Sowing

- Fur coats

- Conspiracy theories

- Pastries

- Trinkets

Dislikes:

- alcohol

- any form of smoking

- AI art/ NFTs

- Hot weather

- Cluttered workspaces

- Strong perfume/cologne

HEADCANONS:

• Adores trinkets— especially with parts from kids' toys. It could be a fruit eraser, a shopkin, a random lego piece. She's keeping it in her trinket box.

• She flirted with an crazy amount of people throughout her life but never really considered dating.

• Her father was a drag queen.

• Feels a little motherly towards younger workers and tries to brush it aside.

• Says ASMR is weird but listens to it every night.

[cryptogyannn]

The Future of Cryptocurrency: Trends and Innovations to Watch

Cryptocurrency has evolved from a niche technology into a global financial powerhouse. With major institutions, governments, and retail investors now taking digital assets seriously, the future of crypto is more promising than ever. As we look ahead, here are some key trends and innovations shaping the future of cryptocurrency.

1. Institutional Adoption

One of the most significant changes in the crypto landscape is the growing interest from institutional investors. Companies like Tesla, MicroStrategy, and even traditional banks are now holding Bitcoin and other digital assets on their balance sheets. This growing adoption will likely drive more stability and legitimacy in the market.

2. Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)

Governments worldwide are exploring Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) to modernize their financial systems. Countries like China, the U.S., and the European Union are working on their own digital currencies, aiming to offer a secure, government-backed alternative to decentralized cryptocurrencies.

3. Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Expansion

DeFi platforms have revolutionized the financial industry by offering decentralized lending, borrowing, and trading without intermediaries. The rapid growth of DeFi projects suggests that traditional banking could soon face stiff competition from blockchain-based alternatives.

4. Layer 2 Scaling Solutions

One of the biggest challenges facing blockchain networks like Ethereum is scalability. Layer 2 solutions, such as the Lightning Network for Bitcoin and Optimistic Rollups for Ethereum, are designed to reduce transaction fees and improve processing speeds. These advancements will make crypto more accessible and practical for everyday use.

5. NFTs and the Metaverse

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have transformed digital ownership, impacting art, gaming, and virtual real estate. The integration of NFTs with the metaverse—a digital universe where users interact in virtual spaces—will open new opportunities for creators, businesses, and investors.

6. Regulatory Developments

As crypto adoption grows, governments are working on regulatory frameworks to ensure security and compliance. While some regulations could pose challenges, they could also provide greater legitimacy, attracting more mainstream users and institutions.

7. Sustainable Crypto Mining

The environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining has been a concern, leading to the rise of eco-friendly mining solutions. Innovations such as proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanisms, renewable energy mining, and carbon offset initiatives are helping reduce crypto’s carbon footprint.

Final Thoughts

The cryptocurrency industry is constantly evolving, driven by innovation and adoption. Whether it’s institutional interest, DeFi growth, or the rise of NFTs, the future of crypto looks bright. However, investors should remain informed and cautious as regulatory changes and technological advancements continue to shape the market.

[eliluminado7]

im writing my broad opinion on AI art now that im on an autistic tangent about it. im kinda cooked from yesterday so sorry if i dont make much sense

my issue with (serious) A‎I art is not because of moral or ethical implications arising from the technology itself, but rather from the general userbase itself. like i believe most of us can fucking tell if something's ai generated when we see it right. Bear in mind i said serious AI art. you know i love a good sei‎nfel‎d screenshot of je‎rry and kra‎mer going into the void or geo‎rge dressed as a coss‎ack

anyways generally speaking the kind of people generating those serious illustrations are all either 1. recycled nftbros 2. porn freaks or 3. children. And im gonna be real i do not like that kind of AI art even if its just a harmless illustration of a pokemon or whatever. to me it feels like those ppl are either kids who i Do Not Think should be on the net, or basement dwelling deviantart incels who are like 'Computer generate se‎xy gard‎evoir vo‎re infla‎tion fe‎et pics'. the kind of people who wouldve had no problem stealing others' art. just sayin.

well actually theres a fourth category and those are companies and public institutions that use AI art (often as some sort of money laundering scheme, if i may add) and those are the ones ACTUALLY hurting artists because You See you could be actually hiring someone instead of using fucking midjourney or bing. this is a very common practice here in spain even if it ends up looking like literal shit, see:

also theres this yearly art contest in either val‎encia or cata‎lunya where ppl submit illustrations of snails and this year's winner was a very blatantly AI generated pic created by some turkish individual who is rumored to not even exist. its a rabbit hole but looking up bedhiran akagündüz (or, likewise, rubén lucas garcía) should set you on the right track

Now let me be clear: i vehemently hate anti-ai luddites and picrew fandomites and ive always been very vocal about this. and quite frankly im tired of the moral panic steeming from anything AI-generated as if it was the antichrist!!!!! you all just sound reactionary as fuck. AI art is certainly not stealing from you and the only exceptions to this rule are very very very blatant copies, and you almost never see those unless were talking about nft-adjacent ponzi scheme websites. would you consider collages theft? music samples? AI just draws "inspiration" (for lack of a better word) from the illustrations that it is fed because its like a tabula rasa and it needs knowledge, just like us human beings are inspired by other people's artstyles. the end product is something that doesnt even look similar to the data it is fed because it is an amalgamation of different styles that create something unique. is that theft? be for fucking real

this stupid myth about the brutal energy consumption of AI art generation as well as the whole ‘did you know that every time you generate one picture youre wasting an entire bottle of water????’ argument... im sorry to say none of that is true. ai isn't even the most water-intensive sector if we're comparing it with other industrial sectors like petroleum/coal factories or wineries or paperboard mills. training datasets IS resource-intensive but its normally a one-time process, inference (which is what you use daily) is not any less efficient than looking something up on google for example:

this whole 'carbon footprint' bullshit that has been sold to us is just a tactic to divert attention from the actual polluters which are corporations like coca-cola or exxon or bp. You know this you get your praxis from this website.

regarding the whole 'AI is theft' argument, im just going to share these tags that someone left in another post i made:

like a clear example of anti-ai panic actively hurting artists is the backlash that oka‎me-p, a voc‎aloid artist, got for using AI generated illustrations as the ACCOMPANIMENT for his songs:

and to be honest this is a huge problem regarding western voc‎afans who often have the emotional maturity of a peanut. youre so so so hellbent on demonizing others just for using a technology that is widely available to everyone, that youre willing to throw them under the bus and delegitimize everything they do just because it hurts your feelings well im not going to fucking stay quiet about that

who do you think youre talking to you stupid fucking bitch. god this person makes me so mad.

Anyways my point is: ai is like acupuncture; just like the latter can be used to treat or alleviate different ailments but it cant completely treat cancer like modern medicine would; AI can be complimentary, but it can NEVER replace actual labor. its merely a worktool! its merely meant to automatize daily tasks!!! its not your enemy i promise. Ok im tired of writing goo buh buh

[sexhaver]

all ur arguments make perfect sense. but like, although no one ever knows what theyre talking abt with regards to the tech it still shouldnt be trained on anything w/o consent. "but thats the company not the tech" yeah, people who arent idiots abt this are advocating for its *regulation*, because there is none yet, and companies will always do whatever they can get away with

also "AI" gen is trending to be horrible for the environment so i dont think you financially supporting that to be able to make More Slop, Faster helps ur point, but i dont think ur interested in the 'debate' of this and just wanna annoy ppl (fair)

i'm going to be blunt here: you do not deserve compensation for your art being scraped along with literally millions of other pieces to train a text-to-image model, and harping over the environmental impact of AI is even more tenuous than harping on the environmental impact of NFTs, which are still currently negligible but at least there you could make the argument that the tech would result in infinitely scaling work done for no reason in the future. by that logic you might as well argue that video games are using massive amounts of electricity and computer hardware for no "good" reason. come on now

[captaindibbzy]

Individualist mind set is a fucking plague on the environment. I swear to fuck.

If I buy a new item of clothing I don't really need it has less environmental impact than the tens of thousands of items that go from manufacture to landfill because being without as a corporation is a worse sin than over producing and writing it off as a tax loss. The clothing I buy doesn't last a season cause it's made cheep, disposable, and not made for it. There's, like, 3 shops in the entire city centre that carries clothes in my size. What fucking choice is that?

If I let some food go bad in my fridge cause I forget about it it's not got SHIT on places like fast food places not even letting their staff eat left over food, it all has to be tallied to see what is wasted and then disposed of in the bin.

If I leave a light on in a room while I go to pee it's got fuck all on all those skyscrapers in every city across the world being illuminated all night while they are completely empty. It's got shit on Times Square and Piccadilly Circus advertising in vibrant LCD screens all day every day.

What the FUCK does my TV on standby have to the fucking huge mega servers used exclusively for trading bitcoin and NFT's back and forth for theoretical money?

I light a barbecue with friends or family. The government debates opening a new coal mine in my country for the economic benefits it will bring. It will bring jobs! The kind of jobs that can disable you, shorten your life expectancy, make someone else rich, and set a country on fire with climate change. I should really consider that charcoal on the barbecue and the co2 I'm putting out, shouldn't I? Maybe I should plant a fucking tree.

Like yes, there are things we can do as individuals, but they don't work because an individual has done it. It works because 15,000 individuals have done it. It's not individual action. It's collective. Embrace your inner fucking ant and lift with your fucking knees bro.

[yourartistisbad]

Here you can see melanie’s NFT’s she has created. these NFT’s have sparked a lot of controversy about why mel would choose to go through with this as NFT hurt the environment.

fans have spoken about it and are disappointed with melanie. she then spoke publicly about it as she did it for an alternative way to support her and her art. she also expressed she understood the environmental impact it would make.

As she did partner with a company to focus on the carbon footprint and emissions it still affects the planet with pollution and takes a lot of energy.

Knowing that it will affect the planet and destroy it she still decided to proceed with the selling of NFT’s. even if it’s less as usual due to a company it’s still not okay.

As for one of the NFT’s, people have been uncomfortable with the cow one. online people have said that it seems sexualized as to licking it’s lips and winking while producing milk. as yes the original cow has that kind of look, people have said it was over sexualized in a way.

as people say the cow represents lust , people don’t like how melanie has used a cow in a sexual manner. people have mentioned that if it was lust it could be the original design rather than milk coming out the utters while winking and licking it’s lips.