"If I illustrate my work with AI images, I’m taking money away from a legit artist"...
I would argue that if you weren't going to have those images otherwise (as you state immediately afterwards, since you can't afford to), then... what money? The work wouldn't have been created by another human in the first place.
I don't think AI is the devil; but I do think that AI tech companies training neural networks on things they have no license to scan (e.g. copyrighted works) is evil.
I don't think this makes all use of AI unethical, but it *is* an ethical issue (which I think your post acknowledges, btw), and most people do not really consider this at all when they engage in the use of AI as a "creative outlet".
FTR, I think of AI as a tool, and while I'm relatively bearish about the hype, I think that it has great potential to do a lot of good, properly used. I think that people need to be careful to outsource only the skills they are absolutely sure they will not need for the future, because AI-dependent skill drain is a problem.
I am more skeptical of AI as it is currently marketed by out-of-touch money-means-nothing-rich tech execs whose main forte is saying things that make themselves look like ghouls and as if humanity is a waste of resources that could be spent on AI (I'm looking at you, sad emo tech fry-voice guy Altman). Americans losing jobs "to AI" just to have those jobs replaced a couple months later by overseas workers and H1B-visa holders is really starting to piss me off. And a lot of these guys have a technocratic view of society, not to mention a transhumanist eschatology narrative they push in order to get more and more money from everyone by exploiting national fears (in America, at least), and the end result seems to favor themselves every time.
At the same time, AI does do some very cool things, like sequencing every protein known to mankind, re-assessing lots of positions and evaluations in chess (see the AlphaZero chess revolution), using pattern recognition to predict cancer or other diseases years ahead of time, and now I think Claude is actually able to accurately pinpoint exploits in codebases for software like Linux. So I'm not entirely a negative-nancy either.
We are not exactly NPCs in this drama. Corporations and the "smart money" does eventually have to listen to the voice of the customer, after some amount of stampeding along in a herd mentality. In the 50s, tail fins and fake portholes were all the rage on automobiles, until they suddenly weren't. Sooner or later, people will figure out what AI features are useful. The others will get turned off.
I'm right behind you. I don't think there's anyway to avoid AI, that ship has long sailed. So you can scream all you want about it, whether it be because AI use is stealing other artists work, we are using up all the water in the world to cool the AI centers or whatever. It won't do no good because it is sneaking its way into everything.
If find it a wonderful tool, but there is no way I am letting it write my stories :) - Help me work on a sentence, proper translation from Danish to English it's hard to live without. And I haven't even begun talking about how much it helps with software development.
I hope in a few years, we can discuss AI in a more relaxed way, with neither side pulling out the pitchforks. On the other hand, this might be what Skynet wants ;)
It's like walking one of those rope bridges over a gorge with crocodiles and hippos in the river below, and half the boards are missing and the rope rails are frayed in several places. But, the cannibals are behind you, so the only way out is forward over the bridge. We each have to figure our own way across, and not everyone is going to make it unscathed.
I have used AI to generate artwork for both my writing and my music.
Why? To be completely honest, because I am broke, and can't afford a graphic artist.
Plus, my talent is not visual art. I am a Guitarist and a writer.
Would I prefer a human artist? Absolutely.
Would I ask a human artist to work for free?
Not ever.
How does my use of AI generative art take money from human artists?
For me, my choice has been,
Put Nothing out, put out written work with no cover art, same with music, or, use the tools available to me.
Maybe I will one day find an artist willing to work together....
At the rate of my lack of financial success, I am not seeing that happening.
If there's any Artists interested... I have some things posted here on Substack that would make great graphic stories.
Now, regarding using AI, and then claiming to be the creator....
That is an entirely different beast.
Is it truly any different than employing a ghost writer then claiming authorship?
Dishonesty has always been an issue.
Some fear AI, as if AI were a demon...
I don't fear AI, anymore than I fear a knife laying on a table.
Both are a useful tool,
It's the human heart and mind using the tool I worry about.
"If I illustrate my work with AI images, I’m taking money away from a legit artist"...
I would argue that if you weren't going to have those images otherwise (as you state immediately afterwards, since you can't afford to), then... what money? The work wouldn't have been created by another human in the first place.
Yeah, it turns into a no win. I elect to not lose sleep over it.
I don't think AI is the devil; but I do think that AI tech companies training neural networks on things they have no license to scan (e.g. copyrighted works) is evil.
I don't think this makes all use of AI unethical, but it *is* an ethical issue (which I think your post acknowledges, btw), and most people do not really consider this at all when they engage in the use of AI as a "creative outlet".
FTR, I think of AI as a tool, and while I'm relatively bearish about the hype, I think that it has great potential to do a lot of good, properly used. I think that people need to be careful to outsource only the skills they are absolutely sure they will not need for the future, because AI-dependent skill drain is a problem.
I am more skeptical of AI as it is currently marketed by out-of-touch money-means-nothing-rich tech execs whose main forte is saying things that make themselves look like ghouls and as if humanity is a waste of resources that could be spent on AI (I'm looking at you, sad emo tech fry-voice guy Altman). Americans losing jobs "to AI" just to have those jobs replaced a couple months later by overseas workers and H1B-visa holders is really starting to piss me off. And a lot of these guys have a technocratic view of society, not to mention a transhumanist eschatology narrative they push in order to get more and more money from everyone by exploiting national fears (in America, at least), and the end result seems to favor themselves every time.
At the same time, AI does do some very cool things, like sequencing every protein known to mankind, re-assessing lots of positions and evaluations in chess (see the AlphaZero chess revolution), using pattern recognition to predict cancer or other diseases years ahead of time, and now I think Claude is actually able to accurately pinpoint exploits in codebases for software like Linux. So I'm not entirely a negative-nancy either.
We are not exactly NPCs in this drama. Corporations and the "smart money" does eventually have to listen to the voice of the customer, after some amount of stampeding along in a herd mentality. In the 50s, tail fins and fake portholes were all the rage on automobiles, until they suddenly weren't. Sooner or later, people will figure out what AI features are useful. The others will get turned off.
I'm right behind you. I don't think there's anyway to avoid AI, that ship has long sailed. So you can scream all you want about it, whether it be because AI use is stealing other artists work, we are using up all the water in the world to cool the AI centers or whatever. It won't do no good because it is sneaking its way into everything.
If find it a wonderful tool, but there is no way I am letting it write my stories :) - Help me work on a sentence, proper translation from Danish to English it's hard to live without. And I haven't even begun talking about how much it helps with software development.
I hope in a few years, we can discuss AI in a more relaxed way, with neither side pulling out the pitchforks. On the other hand, this might be what Skynet wants ;)
It's like walking one of those rope bridges over a gorge with crocodiles and hippos in the river below, and half the boards are missing and the rope rails are frayed in several places. But, the cannibals are behind you, so the only way out is forward over the bridge. We each have to figure our own way across, and not everyone is going to make it unscathed.
Well put!
💯with you.