#shoutout to polly for putting some of my thoughts into words i did directly steal some talking points from our dms sorrryyyyy

[ancientglades]

trying to talk about AI art discourse is so frustrating because i feel like i need to add like 30 addendums so that people don't think i'm the actual devil because of all the misinformation and fearmongering out there. i feel like i'm pretty neutral on the subject but i'm still scared of people getting mad at meeeee... i'm gonna try to say my thoughts about it anyways though...

all of the problems that everyone has with AI aren't actually problems with AI itself, they're problems with capitalism. so then its suuuuper frustrating to see these same people insinuate that their art styles themselves are basically intellectual property and that generative AI is infringing on that like WOAHHH where did that come from? were we just kidding about communism? do you want art styles to be copy-written? do you realize that takes like this are just pro-capitalist? obviously it sucks if your art is being directly copied and sold for money without your permission but that's the fault of the person doing that. anyone can physically trace your art, it's not specifically a generative AI problem.

even a genuine concern about AI, artists that work for companies being fired and replaced by generative AI, is solely because of capitalist greed. and that fucking sucks! the amount of energy and water that generative AI consumes is extremely negligible compared to any major company or millionaire ever. and that fucking sucks too!

"artistic integrity" or "value" is not being taken from you by generative AI. John AI making big boobie anime women on deviantart is not destroying the value you place upon your own art nor anyone else's. and no one Has to feel any "artistic value" towards their art. sometimes it's just work. but the people who want to purchase handmade art will purchase handmade art. if you're a commission artist you are not being replaced by AI. the people who are buying or making AI art were probably never going to buy your art regardless.

there are genuine concerns about gen AI but its super frustrating seeing some of the posts i see.... no one would give a fuck about AI if we didn't live in a capitalist society because it wouldn't even be an issue. i'm also not trying to say anyone is stupid for being scared or mad about AI or just wanting nothing to do with it... there are valid reasons for that. i will, however, always encourage discussion, learning, and changing your mind. i have. not everything is black and white. many people have to realize that this has happened with so many different new technologies in the past and that your problem isn't with AI itself, but rather capitalism as a whole.

at the end of the day i don't personally use gen AI or chatgpt or whatever and i don't know if i will but i also don't think anyone who does is a horrible person. i don't think that if you disagree with this then you're a horrible person either, i just want everyone to stop and think for a minute about who your enemy is here. banning AI is not going to magically make artists richer or make art more valuable to society or whatever else. AI has existed in many of the art tools we've been using for a while and many of them are genuinely very helpful for artists and that's a good thing. i don't knowwwwwwww. my overall stance -> I want to see the end of capitalism.