Is AI generated art - art? (I don't care)

Is AI generated art - art?

My answer might surprise you...

I don't care.

The current dialogue surrounding AI is what concerns me - and it's mostly the semantics I'm ranting about here. The profound, real-world implications of this technology are already here. So I think we should discuss how we discuss things.

"Everybody copies"? ...Not like that they don't!

Not like AI they don't! Let's look at the current dialogue.

People say...

"Everybody copies - AI doing it is no different!"

"It doesn't matter how the AI was trained. It's the output."

"AI is like every new technology - get with the times!"

This dehumanizing logic only makes sense to the ignorant & to grifters. Sorry! We can embrace our ignorance (I have!) but we don't have to rest on it like a laurel.

Let's embrace it: We're ignorant!

Only the willfully ignorant would claim "it's the same thing" when comparing an AI's ability to perceive with our own. Even if you think the computer "does it better" - there is a vast difference between the way a computer sees and a human sees. (Try finding IBM's tech developments during the 1940s ).

Only a grifter would say "I drew this" knowing full and well the implications of their statement. They appreciate the muddiness of the term.

This is a semantic issue currently - but the implications will reach further than we can currently imagine .

You shouldn't TRUST every piece of technology - and ASSUME everybody knows how it's working. The datasets themselves are SO large that we are creating massive Knowledge Debts to the tune of Having No Clue What The AI Knows. That is a very shaky foundation for a technology that people trust IMPLICITLY.

Let's check ourselves before we wreck ourselves

Remember - every piece of technology is a Faustian Bargain . And AI carries the most profound implications. Why? For one: because we believe it to be intelligent. Secondly: because we don't understand how it works (Read: On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big? ).

AI for treating diseases (wonderful) can be reversed to create bio-weapons (terrible). AI for rescuing highly degraded film reels (amazing) can be used to create hyperreal fake videos (bad).

We don't just trust AI to make the right decision - NO - we trust it to make the BEST decision. At that point we are handing it over to a technology we do not fully understand. Let's not.

Let's not project intelligence without understanding the many forms of intelligence.

Let's not project sentience without knowing how the technology works.

Let's not deskill our workers in the name of progress (again).

Let's be critical of AI technology.