Related Recs

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Thinking about The purpose of AI

Apologies if this is strongly worded, but I'm pretty passionate about this. In addition to the functions public-facing AI tools have, we have to consider what the goal of AI is for corporations. This is an old cliché, but it's a useful one: follow the money. When we see some of the biggest tech companies in the world going all-in on this stuff, alarm bells should be going off. We're seeing a complete buy in by Google, Microsoft, Adobe, and even Meta suddenly pivoted to AI and seems to be quietly abandoning their beloved Metaverse. For decades, the goal of all these companies has always been infinite growth, taking a bigger share of the market, and making a bigger profit. When these are the main motivators, the workforce that carries out the labor supporting an industry is what inevitably suffers. People are told to do more with less, and cuts are made where C-suite executives see fit at the detriment of everyone down the hierarchy. Where AI is unique to other tangible products is that it is an efficiency beast in so many different ways. I have personally seen it affect my job as part of a larger cost-cutting measure. Microsoft's latest IT solutions are designed to automate as much as possible in favor of having actual people carry out typically client-facing tasks. Copy writers/editors inevitably won't be hired if people could instead type a prompt into ChatGPT to spit out a product description. Already, there are so many publications and Substacks that use AI image generators to create attention-grabbing header and link images - before this, an artist could have been paid to create something that might afford them food for the week. All this is to say that we will see a widening discrepancy between the ultra-wealthy and the working class, and the socio-economic structure we're in actively encourages consolidation of power. There are other moral implications with it that I could go on about, but they're kind of subjective. In relation to art, dedicating oneself to a craft often lends itself to fostering a community for support in one's journey, and if we collectively lean on AI more instead of other people, we risk isolating ourselves further in an environment that is already designed to do that. In my opinion, we shouldn't try to co-exist with something that is made to make our physical and emotional work obsolete.

@theclack

Mar 24, 2024

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ITS WASTEFUL, IMMORAL, ANNOYING, ETC

you can do whatever you want, but if you really want to hear my opinion on it... at best, ai-art is demoralizing to actual human beings and creates novelty slop that vaugely looks like an art piece, while not harboring any skill in using it. and theres nothing wrong with not wanting to make art fir the skill of it, though. but at worst, it's an environmental and economic disaster, a predatory business model to consumers and customers of AI, and a great way for businessmen to try and take creativity away from us to turn us into cogs in the machine. it's built off of the stolen work of artists who already struggled to make a living, now forced out by a tool that's turned on them with their own work. it can help make propaganda that is virtually unidentifiable, turn victims into deepfakes, and generally evil we have yet to see. and that's just the image side of things, but the cons of all types of ai models overlap. I've had to watch people throw away their lifelong dreams because of this garbage. it's no coincidence elonely muskrat and every ceo you can think of are obsessed with it - it's a perverse business tool. I wouldn't mind coexisting with it if it wasn't out to get me. but it is. I also feel like it's the reason nobody makes fun photobashes or random photoshops anymore. it will never fully phase out human art but I think it's starting to take over the photography world, especially commercially. I'm sick of  looking up real places and animals and sorting through fake slop im being told is real.

@flowers

Apr 14, 2025

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Raise your expectations

A.I. used to make art cheaper and to avoid paying artists is abhorrent. Used to write speeches and summarize books reduces the practice and makes the accomplishment meaningless. It cheapens the process and provides no value. The way it’s being advertised is nothing short of disgusting. Google aired an ad where a father uses A.I. to help his daughter write a letter to her favorite athlete. Why are you shortcutting time spent with your daughter, teaching her how to put emotion into words, helping her work through something challenging? It’s soulless dreck. I’m tired of hearing about it, talking about it and thinking about all the ways it can ruin society. Since corporations and industry insist on shoving it down our throat, I think it’s (as always) our responsibility to demand better. The linked essay made me reconsider the use of it as a tool to expand, as you put it, as long as it’s not used to enable laziness and shortcuts.

@Shadowbeni

Jan 14, 2025

Top Recs from @its_just_kate

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Get off social media

at least casually. don’t delete the accounts but don’t have the apps on your phone either. rediscover your love of reading thru the magic of recognizing titles strangers are holding on the subway. become a subway reader. don’t use sound as an escape from your thoughts/feelings/surroundings. grocery shopping without headphones is actually kind of beautiful! pick up a new hobby or two or three. one of them should be something you’re not good at, and at least one should be no- or low-cost. never. stop. learning. the library, the parks and rec department, and nearby museums offer great materials already but also usually have free lectures or courses. go outside more. like, a lot more. (took this much less literally, so apologies if it’s not what you’re looking for lol — as a narcoleptic I have no tips on how to Not Sleep since Sleep is basically my job)

@its_just_kate

Sep 30, 2024

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2025 is the year of being hot and causing chaos

destined in the stars

@its_just_kate

Jan 1, 2025

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Reading multiple books at once

keeps it funky, keeps it fresh! a book for outside, a book for downstairs, a book for bed, a book for the subway, a book for the bathtub…..

@its_just_kate

Nov 30, 2024