But they conveniently leave out that it costs money to do anything with AI. It’s more like “open to anyone with a credit card.” The vast majority of people don’t have computers powerful enough to run generative AI models locally, and even then, server farms with a billion GPUs will always produce better results
This means that people have to rely on corporate platforms where you buy tokens that you use to get pulls at the various AI slop slot machines, hoping you get something decent. The mechanics more closely resemble a gacha game than any kind of artistic process
By contrast, learning how to draw, animate or make 3D models costs nothing. There’s free tutorials and tools everywhere, and you can also just pirate commercial ones if you want
All of the art that was used to train generative AI was used without its creator’s permission, meaning they weren’t compensated for all of the years of work and study that went into creating it. Then all of that labour was repackaged into a product that corporations are selling at a premium, with none of the money going back to the people who made the creation of it possible. These companies have well admitted that they wouldn’t be able to make a profit if they had to actually pay all these artists for their work. Now obviously, that isn’t technically stealing, but neither is it harmless. I personally know several artists who’ve told me that work has dried up in the years since generative AI became popular, and who are upset that their own work was used to train the machines that are replacing them.
I feel like you can level these same arguments against piracy. I “steal” art without permission all the time; the sum of hours and hours of work and expertise, and I consume it all for free.
AI is going to fuck commercial artists and I’m opposed to that (though it’s a capitalism problem more than it’s an technology problem), but I’ll stand by the fact that an individual making goofy pictures for personal use that they’d never ever had paid for pre-ai is harmless and by no means “stealing”, because nothing is being stole. Same as why I don’t feel guilty downloading a movie that I probably wouldn’t have paid for and watched otherwise.
I mean, yeah, piracy is stealing. I thought most people were okay with it because it’s mostly done with games and movies made by huge corporations who’ve already paid their developers and actors, and thus you’re not actually stealing from artists. I’ve personally never understood the “I never would have bought and watched/played this anyway” argument, because here you are, watching/playing it. But also, I really don’t care if other people pirate stuff, people must have their reasons.
Maybe I’m just going hard on the whole anti generative AI thing because of my personal connection to and harm I see it causing to people I know. But on the whole, considering the environmental impact, the corporatization of the technology, the exploitation of artists, the killing of creativity/critical thought, and the absolutely gross techbro culture that’s spwaned out of it, I just thought more people on this site would be against generative AI in general.
piracy is not stealing, stealing deprives someone of something.
I’m opposed to how AI is going to interact with our economy, and hurt artists, but as I’ve said that’s an issue with capitalism far more than it’s an issue with the technology.
I understand the kneejerk reaction against it, but in my mind the tech is out the bag now and not going back in, so it feels meaningless to argue against its existence, especially along lines we as socialists otherwise don’t agree with, like on “stealing IP” or the “soul of art” or whatever.
As always we should advocate for the rights of workers. In a fairer economy, AI would just be a harmless toy if not a useful and productive tool.