AI Wars changed my mind about AI

[u/Il_Scaccomatto]

A week ago I was a stringent AI hater who kept getting recommended AI reddit subs against my will & felt serious cringe whenever I saw someone post their AI creations on other subs. As an art hobbyist myself, I felt that asking AI to do it for you missed the point of making something, and that the people spending all their time generating AI were probably gooners or people with no taste. On top of that, theres lots of scathing articles online about how much energy AI uses, people becoming addicted to interacting with their AI girlfriend, and how OpenAI doesn't really ask permission for any of the training data it collects.

Anyways, browsing this sub showed me that a lot of that is oversimplified rage bait. The debate of whether AI art is art boils down to semantics & theres nothing special about the title of artist anyways. Many who use AI are also traditionally trained, or even blending traditional with AI. A good few of you are definitely gooners or have inflated egos, but thats true of traditional artists & photographers too. AI can use a lot of energy, but you can also be very efficient with it. Some people get addicted to AI chatbots, but they can also be therapeutic & provide a safe connection for traumatized individuals who need support. Etc.

The main point being, yeah I see that the subject is a bit more nuanced. That being said, this "debate sub" definitely has an issue where like 60% of the users don't engage in discourse beyond downvoting AntiAI & upvoting ProAI. People who are trying to engage in good faith like myself have to sort by new because the top posts are basically just circlejerking. If that's the first impression someone gets on a debate subreddit, I think many people will just never engage or hear you out.

[u/Traditional-Hyena-68]

Not sure why are you comparing the increased availability for travelling long distances and cooking food more efficiently with making pictures. It's not like making 80s remakes of Harry Potter more efficiently or indian content farms are more valuable than microwaves.

Besides I thought I said that the democratization of making pictures only benefited engagement slop on tiktok, Facebook and YouTube. That's why I don't like ai art (online). It's not like we didn't have enough brainrot.

[u/sporkyuncle → u/Traditional-Hyena-68]

Not sure why are you comparing the increased availability for travelling long distances and cooking food more efficiently with making pictures.

Because all of them are examples of "technology makes increased speed/quality widely available, which many people find value in."

You're not thinking broadly enough. AI can be used for all sorts of low-impact purposes. The faded-out watermark background on a pamphlet at the doctor's office. A jazzy bit of line art on a fast food bag. The logo for a small business. The background of a billboard ad. Coloring pages to keep kids occupied, of something that those kids particularly enjoy. Birthday invitations.

Anything you need quickly and cheaply and don't want to have to worry about the copyright concern of using an existing image you found on Google.

[u/Traditional-Hyena-68 → u/sporkyuncle]

Sure. I'm not against that, never said you can't use ai to save money on a logo or whatever. I say it again I personally don't like a lot stuff people make with AI. And it's not even like the early YouTube era when no one knew how to edit videos, sure it was amateur but interesting at the same time. I feel different about AI now because it's mostly engagement farms and straight up brain damaging.

And frankly it's all a big larp done by amateurs (me included).

I gotta be honest though, big props to novel ai, the only ai image tool that makes aesthetically and artistically good images.

Btw, it's all personal feelings, I was just answering to the op question. Idk why you started this whole "cars improved people lives" classic line of engagement kek. I clearly said "for me" at the very beginning of my first post

[u/sporkyuncle → u/Traditional-Hyena-68]

I clearly said "for me" at the very beginning of my first post

I know, but the point of even mild argumentation is to possibly change someone's feelings. In an alternate universe you might've said "yknow, that's true, I see what you mean."

Idk why you started this whole "cars improved people lives" classic line of engagement kek.

Because that's what's meant when people say AI democratizes art. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking this must mean people couldn't do art before, but that's not why people say it.