People who unironically call themselves "AI Artists" are easy targets.
this post was submitted on 07 Apr 2025
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I like the tech and I want it implemented in an ethical way by someone who cares. I got into technology because I love it, I want to see humanity reach ever greater feats of knowledge and have the benefits accessible to as many people as possible. I think LLMs and image generation have enormous potential and it'd be a shame to not it see so much of it fulfilled in my lifetime.
That said, god, I hate the absolutely insane arguments used by AI fans. Look at this comment section. It's just the worst, most nonsensical comparisons, over and over again. Use the fill tool in paint but don't like it when someone compares a fill algorithm with massive art theft by corporations enriching billionaires? Hypocrite. Use anything you've ever seen as reference but don't think software and human beings are comparable? Hypocrite. Take pictures with a camera? Believe it or not, hypocrite.
Can't we agree that Sam Altman and his friends don't have our best interests in mind? That what has been done to artists, authors, journalists, and all sorts of creators, is immoral and shouldn't be ignored? Shit, they're the only reason the tech is even possible! We would not enjoy such powerful image generation if not for the decades of material they've provided humanity and AI companies have taken without permission.
Why are you so cruel to those who made it all possible? To frame the shoulders you stand upon, those of creators whose work was stolen and whose livelihoods are at risk, as of Luddites and elitists, then claim their protests should be ignored, is beyond disrespectful.
Angry and scared people often lash out, and nobody likes being on the receiving end of that, I get it. I would also like it if we could talk this out calmly... But they're the ones being kicked down. I think a bit of anger is to be expected, it's understandable. What it isn't, is an excuse to keep trampling over humanity's creative workers because someone was mean to you.
"I am a photographer!"
"So you just push a button and steal people's privacy? Not real art!"
Photography involves shot composition and timing. You don’t just point and press a button. That’s why people typically hire photographers for things like weddings - it’s an actual skill, and not something you want to just trust some random who doesn’t know at least stuff like the rule of thirds with. What to include in the frame, not cropping things out awkwardly, dealing with moving people, trying to catch flattering angles…
That’s not even getting into post processing and editing.
Your example would only make sense if someone was going around claiming they were an “artist” because they went around a museum taking full frame pictures of the pictures.
That is exactly why I said it
If you open up your camera app and spin around and take a picture, 99% of the picture will be garbage.
If you boot up a AI art program and type in a random prompt, 99% of that will be garbage.
Photographer have specialize lenses and choices of FOV that affects how the pictures look. Ai artists have specialized weight and loras that affect how the picture will look.
Photographer don't just take pictures at random. They set and frame the scenes - doing prep work and framing. AI artist can use base pictures instead of random noise to bias the outcome (image to image).
With live subjects, photographer can either give no guidance, or direct the subjects (think "look at the camera and say cheese", only more nuanced). With AI art, there is a whole subfield of prompt engineering l which is akin to this.
After a photographer take pictures, they do minor touch ups and photoshoping to clean up parts that didn't come out right. So too with AI artists.
And with both, you can get 100s if not 1000s of pictures of a subject. The photographer and the AI artist true test is being able to pick from those thousands the one or two good shots.
Yes there is a bunch of legal and copyright problems with AI art. When the camera was first invented, people argued that you couldn't take pictures of crowds without getting everyone's concent, nor could you take picture of other people's property with out breaking the law. That the legal realities around photography weren't settled didn't mean those taking picture back then weren't artists, and it doesn't mean that people doing AI art today aren't artists. AI generators are like camera in that you get out better results depending on how much work you put it.
This is as lazy of content.
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