Oh nah, you shouldn’t have thought of that! It is way more normal that somebody would downvote innocuous comments than a commenter would manually remove the upvote from their own posts and comments!
Hey, by the way, have you had any thoughts about any next person lined up for a series like you did for Jack Black or Samuel L Jackson? 👀 Those were so inspiring to follow along with!
Re your last point, I’m a full time web developer and while I’m not building entire games or whatever, I am currently working on a fairly complex and involved data migration project. My boss has demanded I do the whole thing with AI and don’t write code.
Thus far, it’s been incredibly frustrating to get it to do what I need it to do without having the chatbot change tonnes of tiny things or assume and hallucinate stuff that simply shouldn’t be there. Beyond those time-wasting frustrations, the fact that I’m not getting hands-on means my mental model of how the data is translating from one system to another is muddy. It’s not as clear as it would be were I building this thing myself. Specifically, because I’m not building it myself, I’m not running into edge cases personally and unpicking the knots of the current system.
There’s no intentionality in what chatbots generate, by definition. They have no intention, they’re not alive, they can’t think. They don’t understand things.
I’m sorry but I’m sort of done with this topic. I don’t like Generative AI, I think it’s disingenuous, lazy, furthering the commodification of art and creativity, and damaging our abilities to think critically. However, I do understand that some people have found it helpful in some contexts, and other people like to play with it. Thanks for the chat. 👍
Oh I’m not being downvoted, I just remove the automatic self-upvote 😅
Fuck, that’s a rough couple of years. Sorry to hear you’ve been in the wars. Hopefully things get better for you sharpish. I love your work, by the way!
Please go and hang out with your little chatbot friends, and leave us humans alone. Thanks 👍
I was responding to your comment about consumers not being able to tell if Generative AI has been used. I can’t tell the difference between battery farmed eggs and free range ones, but I still avoid eggs that aren’t free range. That doesn’t seem like I’ve lost track of the point, to me.
I then expanded what I was saying, by explaining that I don’t agree with battery farming, which is why I avoid eggs produced that way, despite not being able to actually tell if an egg is free range or battery farmed. This relates to the point about Generative AI use because I also don’t agree with using Generative AI in art and media, and might or might not be able to tell if it’s used.
To respond to your latest comment about my actions and beliefs being irrelevant because my not supporting something I disagree with won’t stop it happening; you’re right. Hens are still battery farmed. As much as I wish it wouldn’t happen, it does. Does that make me sticking by my own morals and feelings futile or irrelevant? I don’t think so.
As for the objections I have with Generative AI, there are a few: I think it’s inauthentic. I want to experience art that was made with intention. I want to see what people are capable of making, and how people tell stories. We’re a storytelling species, I think it’s really important for us. I feel like I’ve been lied to when art is generated by an unthinking machine and then presented as though it was made by a human.
For me, art is a connection between me and the artist. If somebody writes a sad song, and plays it, then I get to experience and understand their feelings in that moment. It’s a communication. I feel something, and they’ve given that to me. If a chatbot did it… Well nobody communicated anything. It’s a lie. It basically catfished my emotions.
There are other objections, too; the plagiarism of actual human work without recompense. The fact that these chatbots are making people mentally unstable, the fact that these chatbots only exist to enrich the already wealthy. The fact that all of this is being sold to us as some way to remove effort from our lives, even the fun parts of our lives. I think effort and hard work are their own reward a lot of the time, and I hate to see laziness championed because it leads to uninteresting and lame shit.
Sorry, that was a long one, and I’ll cut it off here before it gets any longer 😂
Sure, it’s an arbitrary distinction to you. To me, not so much. Different feelings, I guess. 🤷♂️ Have a good one! ✌️
I hear you. It’s hard to trust that art you see is genuine art by people anymore, and it’s only going to get more difficult as these AIs swallow and plagiarise more and more of the human effort that they can.
I can’t give you easy advice on this. Find an artist you trust. Follow them. Learn to appreciate older artists who are dead. Learn to love fewer artists.
What I can tell you is this: take time away from the internet. This whole Generative AI boom has shown me that a disconcerting number of people, probably even the majority, honestly and seriously do not give a shit about authentic human effort and creativity. Being real, being authentic, being creative, any of the things you or I might view as essential to the human experience don’t matter to them. They want content to consume, and that’s that. Don’t give a shit where it comes from. Don’t give a shit what it means. Just stick it in front of their eyes for a few seconds before they move onto the next thing. It’s really fucked up.
So, go outside. Reconnect with your real friends, in contexts where these marketing machines can’t lie to you. Talk with human beings. I’ve started going to galleries in my area. I’m sober at the moment so I’m spending a lot of time working out at home or running. I went out to a film night screening Palestinian films made about the genocide. Met a lot of people there.
Get away from the internet when you can. It’s not a healthy place, and it can make people a little bit sick, I think. Make art for yourself.
Oh do stop it, you know what the OP means.
I can’t taste the difference between eggs from battery farmed hens and free range ones. I still try to avoid battery farmed eggs.
You can call me a luddite, and you’re totally welcome to your opinions about the ethics of Generative AI usage in media, art, and products that you buy or enjoy. You don’t need me to tell you that.
I am also welcome to my opinions about the ethics of Generative AI usage.
I, personally, do not like it. I, personally, will not knowingly purchase art, media, or products that use it. It’s that simple.
I have to take the word of the company or creator I’m buying a product from if they say they haven’t used AI, but I can take that word in context. Do I feel like this company has a bad reputation of lying to customers? Do I feel like I can see signs of Generative AI? Do I, ultimately, trust that word?
I don’t have to buy big mainstream video games if I want to avoid Generative AI. As it happens, I’ve not long since sold my PS5 and all my games. I have a PS2 and a small collection of older games. I rarely use it.
I stand by my beliefs. ✌️
Oooh freaky. Thanks!
I feel we’re moving away from what I understood your point to be: the public has to get comfortable with Generative AI being used in media and products.
I don’t agree with that point.
Where though? I don’t disagree or agree, I haven’t looked into it yet, but what are you seeing?
It isn’t a problem for consumers to make decisions about what they want to support. Those decisions might not line up with your beliefs, but people can still make choices about what they do or don’t support.
If you don’t personally have a problem with GenAI, that’s fine. Nobody else has to accept it or like it for themselves though.
I’m sorry mate, I think I’m just misunderstanding what you’re saying. To me, the point is what actually happened in this situation.
I see you’ve mentioned sexual assault and harassment a lot in these comments - I don’t see any reference to that in this article but it’s hardly an article really is it, is there some more context that I’m missing from somewhere else?
In multiple threads you’ve been really focused on sexual assault and harassment happening but I don’t see where in the article it says he was doing that? I’m sorry if I’m completely missing something
Was he recording up her dress? Looks like she’s wearing jeans to me, personally
I’m with your friends on this one lol, sex up Christmas a bit!
Ah amazing. I’ll keep an eye out 👁️