Setting aside the usual arguments on the anti- and pro-AI art debate and the nature of creativity itself, perhaps the negative reaction that the Redditor encountered is part of a sea change in opinion among many people that think corporate AI platforms are exploitive and extractive in nature because their datasets rely on copyrighted material without the original artists’ permission. And that’s without getting into AI’s negative drag on the environment.
The anti AI movement is so interesting. Its what I imagine how people would have imagined other progress like the printing press
The analogy doesn’t work. The difference is that this “printing press” is stealing massive amounts of creative work and calling it its own, and using massive amounts of energy to do so.
I mean, apart from the “using massive amounts of energy” part, that is exactly what people said about the printing press.
From what I understood, the fears surrounding the printing press (as well as other advancements throughout history related to information, text, & writing) were more about people being overloaded with information both false and/or true, or people becoming less studious/disciplined. (Link as an example)
https://slate.com/technology/2010/02/a-history-of-media-technology-scares-from-the-printing-press-to-facebook.html
Further to “stealing massive amounts of creative work and calling it its own,” this is what was said about the printing press:
https://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/401189.html (see halfway down)
https://www.vox.com/2015/6/1/8697947/elizabethan-book-pirates
Thanks for sharing, those are indeed sources that I’ve never encountered before.
You talking about humans or AI?
I’m talking about AI. However, the statement I made wasn’t very well informed. Others have shared with me how the printing press did indeed give rise to fears about piracy, and create entirely new discussions & problems related to intellectual property.
Kinda off topic, but I love Lemmy. How many more people actually think about what they say here. Refreshing compared to a lot of other social media. Anyway thanks for listening to others point of views.
It’s also why I love it here. Actual discourse without (much) shouting mindlessly at each other.
I say in every art form you’ll find more copies than originals. Literature, cinema, paintings, photography, music… Everybody who’s creative is copying and reusing and recombining and sampling and synthesizing ideas.
And that’s true also for computer generated art.
The difference is that it’s hardly possible to claim ownership for a picture or a video that was automatically generated by algorithms.