AI Art is the Symptom NOT the Problem

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[SunnyWifAChanceOfRae]

Thank you for talking about this. The problem is how hyper commercialized & how the industry standards have actually ruined art & process of making art. The technology is good because we always need to advance our methods & learn, but I always feel the need to have art done within the day even at my own expense. It's frustrating that big industry wants me to be a machine when I'm just a person. And I'm happy to create 💖

[empyreanvole]

Something like 80% of the art on social media has the same "kinda disney" "kinda anime" "precious moments" "glamour portrait" look to it, and AI art does that look almost perfectly, especially in portrait form.

[kupotenshi]

Artists are very open-minded people. AI art could've been welcomed with open arms if the people pushing AI tech had any respect for artists at all. They wanted to fight us, they hate us. It's a shame, it didn't have to be like this. Oh well.

[Zenavesta]

Agreed. I am an artist as well. I did study for a Bsc Computer Science an built websites right out of college and when SquareSpace came about it was the best thing. Because I didn’t have to do simple websites anymore or customise them fast for high margins.
But the real kicker is that the amount of people interested in customized sites with fancy stuff increase - because they wanted something different - which costs way more because of time to develop.
When I see these AI works, I see the same thing happening, a rise in demand of people wanting illustrations, paintings on canvas and sculptures and such because they want something diff, which ultimately drives up prices too

[FeldiArts]

I can only repeat myself over and over:
Kater to the people that value your work and the effort you put into it.
Not the ones that would replace you with a cheaper version any time

[yapdog]

Yep. _All_ of this. I've had debates with artists who don't truly understand the threat of industrialized art, which actually predates the Internet (I'm old). We need to fight back. The points you outlined are very good, but the masses won't be able effect change with this without a collective driver. To that end, my company is developing a creator-driven OS/platform to combat this problem. We're scheduled for release ~Q3 of this year. Because you have a great handle on this issue and the remedies which fall directly in line with our goals, I'll contact you privately with details when our platform is complete, just to get your feedback. Talk to you then 👍

[pablojaviermuratore]

What I get from the video is embrace the change without giving up art and "your art", I agree with.
Art has changed a lot during the years, think watch a Tom and Jerry cartoon, there's many artists involved, the musing was made by classic music bands, the cartoons were drawn and the backgrounds where like paintings, the character animations were very smart and powerful, filled with emotion. Now you see any modern cartoon and it is made with a digital software by making some frames and let software do the in-betweens, music? if there's any at all is pure simple, software generated crap, everything looks the same. Why? Because nowadays industry demands quick batches of comics to be released together quickly and that is what is consumed, so this kind of change already happened, just not as huge as with AI.
As you say, I think the best people can do is to educate, know how the technology works, there are many artist that think their images are downloaded and stored in some hard drive and used in a kind of composition or mash-up and that is not the way it works.
The technology is accessible kind of easily to anyone, and hence anyone can grab any images from the internet and process them to produce similar images using AI. So the problem is not the technology, but the people who use the technology incorrectly. Banning AI doesn´t solve anything, anyone can still study an artist and learn to produce something similar, it has being done for years but requires more art knowledge, AI does it faster and without requiring the art knowledge and that is the biggest change.
Artists still can produce something new, new styles, new concepts, AI cannot do that, AI's only produce on what they were trained on and the input from whoever wants to use it.
One thing I agree should be done sooner than better is a way to specify which images can be used by AI training or not besides the current intellectual property laws.

[paperfrost]

This is the best “take” on AI art I’ve yet heard, but of course that’s because I completely agree. 😎 That excellent Godin quote makes me think of the great french sociologist Jaques Ellul, who called industrialization’s pursuit of efficiency above all else “technique” and “the technical society.”

“It is easy to boast of victory over ancient oppression, but what if victory has been gained at the price of an even greater subjection to the forces of the artificial necessity of the technical society which has come to dominate our lives?” 

― Jacques Ellul, The Technological Society

I think humanity is in more desperate need of hospitality and human connection than ever before, due to the effects “technique” has had on our lives. This is an opportunity for artists and other creatives to imagine environments to facilitate such! 😊

[FOF]

I had this exact thought that completely changed my view on ai art and mad me less apprehensive. When you think of who is benefits and who will be replaced, everything becomes clearer

[zachwhitehorn]

Just ordered your spaceship book. Really looking forward to cracking it open.

[turtlecosmic]

I've been so annoyed by the discourse around AI art, it's been so reductive. I'm glad we finally got a nuanced take from someone with influence in this space

[ReaganLodge]

Lots of much-needed encouragement AND practical, actionable advice to be found here. Great video Jake!

[TheArtMentor]

Great takes, and I also see how industrialization has created this insane hype over AI that it can’t deliver on. Let’s not forget why and for whom we make art 👍

[shooterdefronvrps]

When art become a content no wonder it gets industrialized and automated for mass production

[limdingwen]

I really like the timing of the music and the "flips" used to tell the video essay! That is really great and makes the video a lot more fun to look at.

[gajieruproduction]

as a small time animator myself i have problem with flash/puppet animation. i usually draw my animation by hand using a cheap viekk tablet. but a lot of people now using puppet animation where they draw the characters once. and then to animate they just have to drag the body, head, arms etc using the mouse. while i draw everything from body to feet each frame and color it again each frame which is time consuming. :( but i now have an idea how to compete with the puppet animator. it was experimental but still.

[Jessie_Renfro]

I learn the AI bot have been using photo on medical records and mugshots. I admit I don't like the AI bot, but people want to put rules and restrictions on it. I think there should be a watermark of the name of the program when it a generates artwork and list of reference on the work/photo in the description. I also think artist should get paid per work if they uploaded their artwork to the AI bot, so it would level out the fairness. As a mix media artist, I will keep making art and not give up! 🖒

[DisplayLine..]

The coolest idea that I heard in relation to this is a law people in Europe have talked about. That is to make art made by the usage of AI uncopyrightable. So if for example a game company fires all their artists and replaces them with AI it's ok but all the assets that AI creates will be free to be used by anyone for any reason.

I think this is the direction people should take this issue. Make AI something that you can't make money from.
To that goal I think people should support FLOSS AI tools and discourage corporate ones. Make it so the tech is available to all people so that no one can charge for access to it.

This way the tech will at least be used for the benefit of people rather than for profit.

[wolfeyes]

It's quite a complex subject that I can see from both that of a company and also an artist myself.

If course, as a company, you want to pay out as little as you possibly can but also by getting the best work possible.
If you don't produce good results then people won't use your company and often good results cost, unless you allow such companies to take advantage if you.
One reason why you need to know both your good points and bad so that you can improve.
That only comes with being honest with yourself.

Companies will however still need people to use these tools and those who can get the best out of them, although they will require fewer people to do so.

If you watch the making of Jurassic Park, you see that Phil Tippett, who was more of a stop motion animator, was afraid in some ways of what computers were able to do, fearing it would put him out of a job.
However, he learned that both could be combined because he could pose the model in different positions and tge computer could interpolate between each one, even adding motion blur if needed.
Not to mention of course adding the CG skin etc.

A movie director, the owners of a magazine or book are each going to imagine in their minds what they want to see in their product and a computer isn't going to produce the right one right away, just as we artists often don't.
Yes, there are already A.I tools that can change specific things that you point out to it but it still needs a human to tell it what it needs to do or create, the prompt.

As an artist, you can use it to spark an idea, to take whatever it gives and add to it, change things.

It might create a beautiful scene but not look as you wish it to in your mind.
That's what makes you different and special.
You have a unique ability, you have your own style and if you look at A.I, even though they can in a sense, mimic many styles, they still tend to have their own.

Just look at A.I images and you will see that if you really look, they still have a style to them, no matter tge subject or styles they incorporate.

A difference between you and them is and always will be only ever one of you.
Your unique style and personality is something they don't have.

[staceykimbell]

Great video! The food industry analogy at the end is impactful. I question the "adapt or die" scenario. I believe in "negative inspiration" - "if thou, knowing good, behold evil, how great is that evil" and the like. Accordingly I avoid gore, traumatizing, grotesque, and imagery that makes a mockery of life. The use of image generators requires the suffering through of so many BAD outputs - I think it's okay to take the Miyazaki and Del Toro road and avoid it altogether.