We've been discussing what Dakka's policy should be about posting AI generated images in the gallery and forums.
There is room for a robust discussion of the pros and cons of this emerging technology and what it means for the hobby, the gaming industry and the livelihood of writers, artists and other creators as well as the ethics of generating images drawn from the work of others. I know I have STRONG OPINONS on the subject myself. Happy to discuss them in the off-topic forum.
But we should not derail threads here to relitigate this debate every time an image is posted.
So...
AI-generated images can be posted in the gallery and forums, they should be tagged as "AI Generated" and voting disabled.
This is the same policy we have when people post images from rule books or other creators to use as reference.
("AI" unfortunately redirects to Aeronautica Imperialis, so please use "AI generated")
I would also recommend against flooding the gallery with variations on the same AI-generated content. Just like we don't want to see the same goblin 20 times photographed from every angle. There are forums dedicated entirely to the use of AI and showing off AI-generated work, this ain't one of them.
In the end this is a forum for discussing our hobby and showing off our work, I don't want to exclude people who use IA-generated imaged, but I don't want them to overwhelm us either.
"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Sapho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion."
I think there is a valid use case for non-artists to use it to do some conceptual prototyping, before turning it into a physical paint scheme or conversion.
Flinty wrote: I think there is a valid use case for non-artists to use it to do some conceptual prototyping, before turning it into a physical paint scheme or conversion.
People were doing that before AI by simply using MS paint.
Given this is a forum for miniatures, I'm not really sure on what would be the purpose of posting AI images in the first place. Are people going to generate an AI image of a miniature?
Unless it's for taking an image of a miniature and making it cooler, say generating a background for it, I'd be down for that.
AllSeeingSkink wrote: Given this is a forum for miniatures, I'm not really sure the what would be the purpose of posting AI images in the first place. Are people going to generate an AI image of a miniature?
Unless it's for taking an image of a miniature and making it cooler, say generating a background for it, I'd be down for that.
this is my thought. i don't love AI image generation, but i'm not so rabidly against it like other people (the biggest issues with it are labor-focused, not a matter of quality). it makes for a neat tool, and i can see it having some use on a site like this, but not a whole lot. i wouldn't expect to see a lot of AI images in the gallery, anyway
The solution that has been suggest in the OP sounds fair to me. The only suggestion I have is possibly a blanket-ban on AI-only threads? I don't imagine it would be much of an issue, but there's not a lot of point in someone making a thread just to share their AI generations. Could be interesting to have a pinned thread somewhere instead? A central place for people to share and discuss AI art and its relation to miniatures. That might be a way to keep it more 'out of sight' for people who don't want to interact with it.
AI sucks and is bad for artists. We all know this, and we all hate it. Sorry, but it is here and it is here to stay. Get used to it - it's not going anywhere. "AI generated art" isn't even descriptive; there's a million ways to actually generate art through a computer and you can't ever stop it now. That's the world.
The only issue worth discussing in regards to the future of AI art is copyright and the theft of work. A lot of the damage has been done already, but if you want to make a difference, then you have to do something to prevent the scraping of new images by software. Nightshade is an important step in this. If Dakka - or anyone - wants to 'fight back', look at Nightshade or any other emerging 'AI-poisoning' tools and implement them into your workflow.
Of course there is a valid place for AI generated images. Are you going to ban sketches? Photoshop? It's a tool people can use to inform their miniatures. There's plenty of artists on the wider internet using it as a starting point to create from. The stubborn can avoid it forever if they want to, but there's a lot of people out there who are learning to use it in interesting ways.
The only issue worth discussing in regards to the future of AI art is copyright and the theft of work. A lot of the damage has been done already, but if you want to make a difference, then you have to do something to prevent the scraping of new images by software. Nightshade is an important step in this. If Dakka - or anyone - wants to 'fight back', look at Nightshade or any other emerging 'AI-poisoning' tools and implement them into your workflow.
unfortunately, nightshade doesn't really work like people say it does. in theory, it's essentially digital tree spiking, but in practice, the effect it has is fairly negligible, since most existing datasets have already been trained, and new datasets are being trained in ways that can get around it (use it if you want, i just feel it's worth warning that it may not have the effect you want)
what about using AI generated background masks with your miniatures pics? That allowed? There, the idea is just to project something more appropriate as a backdrop than a gradient or a single-coloured surface
First of all thank you all for chiming in and I encourage others to do the same.
The policy has been blessed by higher ups, but things can always change, we are after all a community. And I hope I made it clear that I have STRONG FEELINGS about as well. The fact I say AI-Generated images rather than AI art is just the beginning.
For the reoccurring question of what role these images serve, I think that's been well answered. Just like a Google image search or artwork from an existing source AI-generated images can serve as inspiration, or to illustrate something. I look back to some of the long fluff articles I did on civilian life and AI-generated images would be great to better show some of the ideas.
But, just as with using existing art, I would never take credit for something a machine cobbled together from thousands of existing images.
Which is why I ask for people to disable voting and clearly tag them (which we also ask when you post someone else's work). If nothing else it avoids embarrassment as posters praise someone's work.
As with any other image posted, they should be on topic. I like the idea of NO AI-ONLY THREADS, since they should be here to supplement modelling or story posts, not replace them.
As for a total ban... Again I'm ambivalent. We've fretted in the past about banning GW artwork to avoid possible entanglements but clearly tagging them seems to have worked. Plus as some pointed out it will become increasingly hard, especially as programs like Photoshop integrate AI imaging into their functionality.
To be clear, I do not want to see this board overwhelmed with countless 7-fingered off-model Space Marine images, even if posted as a joke. And if it reaches that point then things will have to be reconsidered.
But I don't want to ban a modest number of on-topic uses of AI tools.
Here's a campaign I'm working on for legions where I've used bing ai image generator and photoshop, I think the rational reaction to this free boiler plate system campaign map that anyone can use is to over react.
The images inspire the landscapes/boards/terrain of the games.
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Campaign maps and artwork:
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Working on campaign maps stuff, working off of PeterHolland1's 30k galaxy map https://www.reddit.com/r/ImaginaryWarhammer/comments/175t8jm/30k_galaxy_map_wip/ I have an area in the galactic south I'm calling the cygnus cluster. 7 systems in relatively close proximity to one another. I'm gonna have fairly boilerplate background on each system, which focusses on the most important planet in said system. One of the systems/planets is the home planet for my solar aux, the 317th sathanas hoplites. Some of the planets were sampled from the original dune.
The background for each main planet in contention is basically just give some inspiration for board/terrain setups. I don't know if I'm feeling ambitious enough to have a different battle mat for each planet but I'll see what comes to pass. The names are mostly inspired by video games/movies/what sounded good. I spent a lot of time generating art/story boards for each planet using bing AI image generator, which reddit seems to dislike quite a bit. Doing 30k blank slate sorta fluff isn't easy
If I had to give every planet/system a theme/vibe I'd say:
Rolk's Drift: A very alien looking blue planet with pink and purple foliage and strange alien ruins, there are settlements but many are in a state of war with one another, but several exist in open trade and with well kept road networks. Its primary industry is the mining and export of precious gems. The system operates entirely outside of imperial control and is largely ignored in exchange for access to sites of alien ruins and trade in xenos artifacts. Large pools of brightly colored unknown chemicals dot the land in areas with heavy mining.
Sathanas: Former splinter colony recently brought back into the imperial fold, dark amber red sands and largely ruin covered wasteland, light vegetation. Primary industry imperial recruitment and rare salvage.
Quinrox Sound: Largely tropical climate, several large oceans and seas with a lot rivers, mountainous in land terrain, countless islands and varied archipelago. Settlements are largely coastal, and shipping is primarily done by surface ship. Main industries are fisheries and cultivation and export of exotic fruit from highly secure plantations of predated by raiders and pirates as the black market value and trade in exotic fruit commands a considerable amount from Capella and other richer imperial systems.
Atria IV: Slightly mountainous jungles and golden tall grass covered savannahs that give way to marshlands and small desert belt, Several oceans and seas, extensive rivers and lakes. Main industries are manufacturing of rejuvenate drugs, local largely tribal populace trade heavily in meat of scaled savannah-dwelling predators. There is heavy black market and smuggler presence as the system is lightly policed by imperial forces. Significant militia presence guard the rejuvenate manufacturing facilities located in largely ignored swampland.
Deneb: Fertile green farmland spanning the entire surface. The planet is in fact Deneb II however Deneb prime is a massive ringed planet rendered completely uninhabitable due to it's proximity to the system's star which renders it a radioactive wasteland. Deneb II is an agriworld and the bread basket that is critical to the survival of countless galactic neighbors. It's primary exports are fresh produce and meat as well as grain, it secondary industries involve tourism.
Geist III: A charred black landscape dotted in occasional craters and a lot of heavy industry. The planet is volcanically active but rich in mineral deposits. It's fairly large moon is home to manufacturing and administration while Geist III itself is concerned mostly with extraction and refining.
Capella: The wealthiest and most populace sector, looked on with envy by its galactic neighbors. Extensive orbital installations, platforms and shipyards immediately separate and signify Capella as the de-facto capital of this region of the void . Largely arid with some mountainous regions, surface is also dotted in oceans, the wealthy gamble in sea side casinos and abscond in red light districts, in land cities focusing largely on commerce and luxury goods. A highly segregated society, large worker habs fill out the inner continents. Some habs classified as slums, with heavy arbite presence. Main industry are military and weapons manufacturing and leisure and hospitality.
That's an awesome looking legions project! I'll have to read through that all at some point... I like the use of AI as general background atmosphere that helps visually describe the feel of the locations.
...And it's a perfect case-study for how ridiculous banning AI images in online circles is. You take opportunities for creative expression away from hobbyists and people without a lot of experience/ time/ money. Whilst it does absolutely nothing to stop the use of AI by large businesses - which are the ones who are actually going to use AI replace real jobs in the coming years. You take away the legitimate and interesting uses of AI images whilst not doing anything to combat the negative aspects of it.
shmvo wrote: That's an awesome looking legions project! I'll have to read through that all at some point... I like the use of AI as general background atmosphere that helps visually describe the feel of the locations.
...And it's a perfect case-study for how ridiculous banning AI images in online circles is. You take opportunities for creative expression away from hobbyists and people without a lot of experience/ time/ money. Whilst it does absolutely nothing to stop the use of AI by large businesses - which are the one who are actually going to us AI replace real jobs in the coming years. You take away the legitimate and interesting uses of AI images whilst not doing anything to combat the negative aspects of it.
That's what I find odd about the less than nuanced stance people take, it throws context out of the window. I get people's revulsion to business commercializing ai artwork, at the same time it's basically impossible to combat. But game resources like world building and campaign stuff, event posters not made in ms paint, these aren't things people are commissioning artists to create.
There's also the problem of composite work combining real imagery and ai generated imagery, as others have mentioned, generating a background for an army photo to declutter what may be a less than negative space but have ai or a mix of ai and photoshop make a sky or some sort of pleasant background that compliments that army photo. There are already applications that utilize ai for smart selection/cropping/cutting out part of images ect. Photoshop has implemented ai that is generative as well.
I understand the concern about AI generated imagery flooding the gallery, but I don't believe that's occurred yet, nor is it likely to as the focus of the board still seems largely hobby centric with modelling and gaming and painting as the most common subject matter both visually and post-wise.
It isn't impossible to combat, there is an unwillingness to combat because people tend to see power in it and are mesmerized by it.
Regardless, I will always combat AI.
I just see massive parallels to the Industrial Revolution and automation of cloth production. Just because machines have taken over the baseline production of cloth doesn’t mean that there isn’t a massive industry of artisanal production.
I mentioned I wasn't sure on reasons for posting AI images other than backgrounds for minis, hadn't thought of materials for campaigns, that's a cool idea, and as you say, it's not like you have the budget to hire a professional anyway.
Unless you ask them to do it for exposure, but I'm not sure if that would offend them more or less than just using AI
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Leopold Helveine wrote: It isn't impossible to combat, there is an unwillingness to combat because people tend to see power in it and are mesmerized by it. Regardless, I will always combat AI.
Context is important though, Dakka isn't exactly flooded with professionally generated artwork that would compete with AI in the first place (other than commission painted miniatures, but AI isn't doing anything to compete in the realm of physical painted models).
I think AI is going to change the way we do a lot of stuff, you can combat it but unless you're bringing in regulation to ban it, companies are going to do what's best for their bottom line, and that's what's going to hurt artists. What a bunch of hobbyists, who would rarely to never commission a professional digital artwork anyway, do on a random forum isn't going to change anything.
I get students occasionally submitting AI generated work, and it's usually obvious because it uses a whole lot of words to say nothing meaningful, but I'm sure as it improves it's going to get harder to tell something made by a human from something made by AI, except the AI generated one will take seconds versus days for the human.
Leopold Helveine wrote: It isn't impossible to combat, there is an unwillingness to combat because people tend to see power in it and are mesmerized by it.
Regardless, I will always combat AI.
What about images that are composites of two or more images? What if the subject is real but the background is ai generated? If a human still had to use photoshop to bring the two images together, is that ok? Context and nuance really start to eat away at "combatting ai".
Just like you would credit the artist, laber the piece with (Ai - Generated) and that is it
Lolz Eldar "amazing technological advancements" automated life essentials and freed the Eldar to focus on Art and Music.
Human "amazing technological advancements" automated art and music and "freed" the Umies to focus on manual maintenance labor of the life essentials.
On the side note:
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(As an artist) AI-art tech is a bit gimmicky, mostly useless, and dependant on the database of real artist through out history, who are never credited. It is still way faster for me to concept and paint exactly what I want rather than to randomly generate images and hope that some will end up like I need them too.
How about some AI tech that could reduce development and production costs that would translate to the end user hu? How about some useful tech, that makes things actually affordable!
Food, transportation, housing grows in price like crazy while AI is painting pretty pictures from database of real art.
Llamahead wrote: Going to agree with Crablezworth here that looks great and is definitely on topic!
It also takes someone else's art, uncredited, and basically pretends to be "original".
There's a reason why a bunch of these companies are in trouble after their "training set" has been found to just be scraping & copying for the output.
I'm constantly inundated with tik-toks that don't appear to credit the musical artist that is being danced to. A shame really, I'm sure said unknown artist would want to be associated with random teenager dancing in costco
With ever increasing size of data trained on and access to the internet, it's a bit hard to parse out who to credit when its everyone. If a prompt involved "in the style of mc echer" or something sure, if the prompt was "make a cute can and a nice sunset" much hard to parse out.
The 40k universe does its share of "borrowing" and "inspiration", that hasn't been lost as people experience dune who may have missed the 1984 version.
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I think tagging AI art is fine in terms of gallery policy, but a lot of stuff might be composite, or partially ai generated.
Any ability to verify stuff though is a bit merky on the enforcement end. This pic I posted like 14 years ago is photoshop, but could be confused as "partially ai". (obv date puts that into question, but just an example of a composite thats not ai related)
Llamahead wrote: Going to agree with Crablezworth here that looks great and is definitely on topic!
It also takes someone else's art, uncredited, and basically pretends to be "original".
There's a reason why a bunch of these companies are in trouble after their "training set" has been found to just be scraping & copying for the output.
I'm constantly inundated with tik-toks that don't appear to credit the musical artist that is being danced to. A shame really, I'm sure said unknown artist would want to be associated with random teenager dancing in costco
With ever increasing size of data trained on and access to the internet, it's a bit hard to parse out who to credit when its everyone. If a prompt involved "in the style of mc echer" or something sure, if the prompt was "make a cute can and a nice sunset" much hard to parse out.
The 40k universe does its share of "borrowing" and "inspiration", that hasn't been lost as people experience dune who may have missed the 1984 version.
I think tagging AI art is fine in terms of gallery policy, but a lot of stuff might be composite, or partially ai generated.
yeah, perhaps there should be a few different tags for ai, so there can be a bit more specificity? as discussed, there's a big difference between using ai to generate a background for a model, and using it for something substantial, so we should be able to tell the two apart
I'm on board with Crablezworth here too. I have used AI generated images as fluff enhancement for my own campaigns like the 40k Crusade I did a few years ago. I think using AI in this context is fine.
Llamahead wrote: Going to agree with Crablezworth here that looks great and is definitely on topic!
It also takes someone else's art, uncredited, and basically pretends to be "original".
There's a reason why a bunch of these companies are in trouble after their "training set" has been found to just be scraping & copying for the output.
I'm constantly inundated with tik-toks that don't appear to credit the musical artist that is being danced to. A shame really, I'm sure said unknown artist would want to be associated with random teenager dancing in costco
None of those tiktokers are claiming the music used is their own creative work.
Llamahead wrote: Going to agree with Crablezworth here that looks great and is definitely on topic!
It also takes someone else's art, uncredited, and basically pretends to be "original".
There's a reason why a bunch of these companies are in trouble after their "training set" has been found to just be scraping & copying for the output.
I'm constantly inundated with tik-toks that don't appear to credit the musical artist that is being danced to. A shame really, I'm sure said unknown artist would want to be associated with random teenager dancing in costco
None of those tiktokers are claiming the music used is their own creative work.
No, just profiting financially from dancing to said music artist's work largely without credit or license.
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Tyranid Horde wrote: I'm on board with Crablezworth here too. I have used AI generated images as fluff enhancement for my own campaigns like the 40k Crusade I did a few years ago. I think using AI in this context is fine.
I can say with a fair bit of confidence that the Dakka galleries have not been flooded with AI images (if I've been fooled let me know). But I'd like to hear opinions.
I'd like to reiterate the bulk of what was said at the time which is that I'd prefer no AI imagery as it's a stain on cultural thought and skills. It doesn't provide anything useful and given GW has come out and said they've banned it's use internally we should echo that.
Instagram is awash with AI crap so it would be good to not have the slop seeping in here.
I have not noticed a lot of AI generated images in the galleries either. My opinion on the forum’s policy has not changed; I still favor a blanket ban.
Dakka being a niche forum has likely escaped what's hit a lot of mainstream places like Instagram because, basically its not social media so there's no hotbed of users ready to flood the site.
That said I'd also support a blanket ban on the gallery hosting AI images. Honestly Dakka Gallery has always stood for being primarily photos of hobby stuff - real world real proper hobby stuff and I think its all the stronger for standing on that foundation.
The Gallery isn't flooded, but I think such a policy just helps drive home that this isn't a place for AI to infect and that instead its a place where real world hobby stuff is able to be "safe"
People can always use off-site image hosts to embed AI images into threads if they want to show them. I'd argue that a blanket "must declare its AI" policy would be good to have and it would be best to monitor so that it doesn't smother the site. Though again the fact that this isn't insta/redit etc likely is protection itself.
AI has its place. That place is not impersonating or replacing human creativity.
I get not everyone (hi, I include myself in this) has the skills and know-how to get what’s in their head on the page/canvas/wall/etc. But I’m afraid, again including myself in this? Your choice is to accept that, or learn.
I’m also dead against AI tripe showing up as model rumours. How one polices that though, I haven’t the foggiest.
AI has its place. That place is not impersonating or replacing human creativity.
I get not everyone (hi, I include myself in this) has the skills and know-how to get what’s in their head on the page/canvas/wall/etc. But I’m afraid, again including myself in this? Your choice is to accept that, or learn.
I’m also dead against AI tripe showing up as model rumours. How one polices that though, I haven’t the foggiest.
Wow. This is a pretty fething offensive thing to say.
I'll make sure to tell one of my friends who has severe nerve damage in his hands to give up on making his comic book a reality by no longer using AI and learn to draw by hand?
That'll go over great.
AI assistance art has a place. A lot of people abuse it, and a lot of people use it to troll others, but it still helps people realize the dreams they have, when life has put roadblocks up.
I'm sorry you don't like AI art. But think about those it actually helps.
I too have nerve damage. And tendon damage. In my dominant hand. Result of an inadvisable teenage arm/window interface and a “down to the bone, missing my artery by 2mm” laceration.
Over 30 years ago. Still have little feeling in the thumb, index and middle finger. Still have limited mobility of said thumb.
AI has its place. That place is not impersonating or replacing human creativity.
I get not everyone (hi, I include myself in this) has the skills and know-how to get what’s in their head on the page/canvas/wall/etc. But I’m afraid, again including myself in this? Your choice is to accept that, or learn.
I’m also dead against AI tripe showing up as model rumours. How one polices that though, I haven’t the foggiest.
Wow. This is a pretty fething offensive thing to say.
I'll make sure to tell one of my friends who has severe nerve damage in his hands to give up on making his comic book a reality by no longer using AI and learn to draw by hand?
That'll go over great.
AI assistance art has a place. A lot of people abuse it, and a lot of people use it to troll others, but it still helps people realize the dreams they have, when life has put roadblocks up.
I'm sorry you don't like AI art. But think about those it actually helps.
Many people have overcome disabilities without resorting to a technology that can only function by plagiarism.
AI has its place. That place is not impersonating or replacing human creativity.
I get not everyone (hi, I include myself in this) has the skills and know-how to get what’s in their head on the page/canvas/wall/etc. But I’m afraid, again including myself in this? Your choice is to accept that, or learn.
I’m also dead against AI tripe showing up as model rumours. How one polices that though, I haven’t the foggiest.
Wow. This is a pretty fething offensive thing to say.
I'll make sure to tell one of my friends who has severe nerve damage in his hands to give up on making his comic book a reality by no longer using AI and learn to draw by hand?
That'll go over great.
AI assistance art has a place. A lot of people abuse it, and a lot of people use it to troll others, but it still helps people realize the dreams they have, when life has put roadblocks up.
I'm sorry you don't like AI art. But think about those it actually helps.
Many people have overcome disabilities without resorting to a technology that can only function by plagiarism.
What other technology is freely available to people on disability to work on their ideas?
What other technology is freely available to people on disability to work on their ideas?
I can't think of any.
For what it's worth, we had a family friend who was quadriplegic, who spent 40 years painting with a paintbrush held in his mouth. He was part of a large association of artists with various disabilities, who all paint with either their mouth or their feet, and in many cases turn out superb work. There are artists out there doing similar with digital art, as there are a whole slew of devices available for people with limited or no use of their arms to use a computer.
AI is not the only option for people with disabilities to make their art a reality. It's arguably not at all a way for people with disabilities to make their art a reality, since it's not really making their art.
What other technology is freely available to people on disability to work on their ideas?
I can't think of any.
For what it's worth, we had a family friend who was quadriplegic, who spent 40 years painting with a paintbrush held in his mouth. He was part of a large association of artists with various disabilities, who all paint with either their mouth or their feet, and in many cases turn out superb work. There are artists out there doing similar with digital art, as there are a whole slew of devices available for people with limited or no use of their arms to use a computer.
AI is not the only option for people with disabilities to make their art a reality. It's arguably not at all a way for people with disabilities to make their art a reality, since it's not really making their art.
It makes him happy, and I've been at such a loss for how to help.
And in the end, that's all that matters. He'll never publish his stuff, but it makes his day a bit brighter and he's actually excited to show me what he's done. I can't remember that before.
So I'm sure that it's all a terrible thing, and steals everyone's ideas. But for this. It works, and I'm not going to hate something that brings absolute joy to someone's life.
By inflicting misery on others- directly, the artists whose livelihoods are threatened by the plagiarism machine, and indirectly the collective public, as climate change initiatives are scuttled to enable AI. So I have absolutely no problem hating it.
I'm sorry for your friend's injury, but if making art himself is out of the question, he can always commission its creation, rather than resort to stealing it and burning down a rainforest in the process. AI slop sucks.
Wow. This is a pretty fething offensive thing to say.
I'll make sure to tell one of my friends who has severe nerve damage in his hands to give up on making his comic book a reality by no longer using AI and learn to draw by hand?
That'll go over great.
AI assistance art has a place. A lot of people abuse it, and a lot of people use it to troll others, but it still helps people realize the dreams they have, when life has put roadblocks up.
I'm sorry you don't like AI art. But think about those it actually helps.
Now, I don't know your friend, and I am sorry for his condition, but I fail to see how someone could get a computer to generate sloppy, badly shaded images for them and be proud of it as if it's their own hard work. You aren't 'realizing your dream' you're getting a machine to make a poor approximation of your 'dream'. The human touch must be there to make truly great art. There's nothing inherently 'offensive' about that statement. It's how skills work.
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It makes him happy, and I've been at such a loss for how to help.
And in the end, that's all that matters. He'll never publish his stuff, but it makes his day a bit brighter and he's actually excited to show me what he's done. I can't remember that before.
So I'm sure that it's all a terrible thing, and steals everyone's ideas. But for this. It works, and I'm not going to hate something that brings absolute joy to someone's life.
That sorta understandable I guess, sorry for the potentially inflammatory message.
Yep AI right now is super cheap because mega firms are paying the bills because the more people use it the more it trains it. At some point the reverse will likely happen and the costs will go up since it burns insane amounts of power to generate things.
The actual raw resource cost is likely greater than paying a human artist to create something even if the human is slower (though honestly sometimes it seems human way is faster as you don't have to re-generate it a billion times over).
And yes we can ALL think of ways AI can help. Eg animation could make great use of it by having living artists create key moment artwork and using AI to fill in the animation cells between instead of, almost, slave labour style sweatshops.
However AI isn't something we can currently restrict to specific situations (nor does it feel like there's a big enough push to do so). So alongside the good you've got the bad and the bad is that it destroys income for a huge number of people.
Heck I started getting Displates this last few months and their website is smothered in AI generated and submitted material. To the point its broken approvals for new art being added and hidden regular artists because now their work is buried under a mountain of AI.
So even if you want to support a real artist you have to do some work to actually find their art; and if they aren't a big named star in the art world they are even more buried.
AI can bring great things, I'm sure there are areas of science and development that will make huge leaps and strides with the technology. It's not 100% evil. It's just a pandora's box of problems we've never had to deal with because it has potential to replace a LOT of people's work and a lot of what honestly many people considered a passion for them in creative work. In a way its a technology that might have to be heavily regulated to work alongside society without devaluing human input.