this post was submitted on 07 Apr 2025
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[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 month ago (10 children)

Machine learning is a tool amongst many. That being said, most good art requires more than a single tool, tools should be used with care. If you use enough AI that it becomes part of your artistic identity, it's unlikely that your work will be impactful.

I'm still waiting for someone to make art that requires machine learning and is obviously creative by our standards, instead of using AI to recreate old art. I know it's possible to use this tool in a way that's revolutionary, but the users and developers seem to have little interest in pushing art beyond replacing the artists.

I want to see someone develop an original ML model with an original training set that can generate something impossible by any other method. I have a feeling this kind of art would barely reach the mainstream, but it would outlast the slop.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 month ago

Good take.

Don't hate the tools, hate what capitalism turns them into and uses them for.

Reminds me of the old panic that photography would be the death of painters. It was shortly followed by an all time boom in art and creativity as painters tried new things and moved on from photorealism.

There's still so much room left for human art and artists even in a post-AI world, as long as we keep rejecting the slop and supporting actual artists. Then maybe new art forms will emerge. Who knows!

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago

Oops, just wanted to write a quick comment but it evolved into me giving some of my thoughts on AI gen as a means of artistry. Oh well, not deleting this now.


I’m still waiting for someone to make art that requires machine learning and is obviously creative by our standards, instead of using AI to recreate old art.

Most self proclaimed AI artists just type a prompt, maybe do a bit of "prompt engineering" (Read: putting the name of a good artist on the prompt) and then in-paint (Read: re-prompting, but only affects a specific area). That does not give you enough control over the drawing to do anything interesting.

I say this from personal experience. Even small differences is facial expressions, too small to be described with words, can make a big impact. The no. reason artists don't use AI and dislike it is because it doesn't given enough control over the final image, because it does not let them put in details which cannot be described through words. You might say we might someday have an AI that (somehow) gives you more control, but that would nullify the whole "advantage" of AI: Not having to spend time worrying about the details. If you are going to spend 4 hours prompting in details... you could have just gotten a better result by just drawing it yourself.

Think of it like making a level in Mario Maker VS making a game in a game engine. Sure, making things in Mario Maker is faster than making a game yourself, but it doesn't give you the same fine grain control that making a game from scratch would. (But even this is not a perfect analogy has, in Mario Maker you actually get to choose where the blocks go, instead of with AI, where you can only describe how the blocks go and hope the AI gets it right with little hope of editing it yourself.)

Actually, about that "editing it yourself". In this hypothetical AI Mario Maker scenario, you could go into Mario Maker's editor mode and edit the level with the same amount of detail a normal, handcrafted, Mario Maker level would, but with AI image gen, you get the image and... Ya, about has useful as any other downloaded image. Artists typically create layers to do their art thing, but AI output puts everything in one layer, making hard to edit. I could go on this, but I don't have all the time in the world to write this. Someone posted this video on [email protected] , where an AI "artists" quit AI because of these problems of lack of control. (Don't judge me based on the video, I found it on the aforementioned community here (lemmy.ml link))

I know it’s possible to use this tool in a way that’s revolutionary, but the users and developers seem to have little interest in pushing art beyond replacing the artists.

That's the multi billion dollar the AI companies are trying to solve, having to pay wages. The far right loves this as they feel like those who worked hard to develop artistic skills are below them somehow. Part of the conservative rhetoric. AI: The New Aesthetics of Fascism by Gareth Watkins.

I want to see someone develop an original ML model with an original training set that can generate something impossible by any other method.

I feel like people who want talk and argue about AI should know how the training works at a mathematical level. I swear the number of people who act like it's magic is way too much. I say this because it would give you a really good idea of how specialized training won't solve the lack of originality problem. I haven't had a refresher on this so I might be misremembering some things... Any who, this playlist is pretty good I think.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I want to see someone develop an original ML model with an original training set that can generate something impossible by any other method.

That Machine Learning model will learn... from what?

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 month ago (8 children)

It’s true. AI images ain’t art. It’s a best guess amalgamation by a computer, made with the stolen remnants of actual art created by actual artists, while not compensating them at all.

It runs on a platform none of us can even afford to run. Cost prohibitive and limits who has access to it.

It’s made by capitalists striving for profit and nothing else. So it’s built with the wrong intentions in mind. Intentions that are immediately at odds with what art is. Yet another limitation of who can participate in it.

Its current state can’t exist without the theft of tons of other actual art to try and imitate, while having no actual context or idea what anything is.

It’s not producing art; it’s producing a way for capitalists to fire and not hire artists so that they can pocket the extra money for their yachts and summer homes.

It’s absolutely everything art isn’t nor ever will be. Art is for everyone. AI is for rich, talentless corporate ghouls.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 month ago

If I ask Taylor Swift to make a song about a chicken eating marshmallows and she does, all the lyrics, music, production, and voice, are me and not Taylor. I made it. Me. That's how AI art works. Even if Taylor was also just copying other artists. All me. I'm so talented my words can only be appreciated in prompts to Taylor. You wouldn't understand. Buy my marshmallow song.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (8 children)

Not to mention the ecological damage.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (23 children)
  1. That's not how AI works.
  2. How is access limited and at the same time you are bullying everyday Joes who are actually using it?
  3. Delete all software and turn off your computer or be a hypocrite.
  4. The stuff they use for training is free for any artist to train on.
  5. You don't own the definition of art and nobody you will encounter in a post of any sort is even doing it for major profit.
  6. You don't own the definition of art.
  7. AI is for everyone, but is made for the rich to get richer, like literally everything else you see or do online.
[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

That’s not how AI works.

How does it work ?

How is access limited and at the same time you are bullying everyday Joes who are actually using it?

Paywalls limit access, cost of hardware to run locally limits access.

Can some people access it, yes, is access limited, also yes.

Delete all software and turn off your computer or be a hypocrite.

Strawman? maybe?, it's unclear how it's related and as a singular statement is mostly nonsensical.

The stuff they use for training is free for any artist to train on.

It absolutely is not, there are several ongoing lawsuits and repeated strikes about this exact thing.

You don’t own the definition of art and nobody you will encounter in a post of any sort is even doing it for major profit.

This i agree with.

You don’t own the definition of art.

I agree with this also.

AI is for everyone, but is made for the rich to get richer, like literally everything else you see or do online.

AI is for profit, not for everyone.

The major difference here is the scale but you'll have to look in to that yourself.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)

That’s not how AI works

How does it work then? I see lot's pf people claiming to know how it works... only to not actually know how the training works exactly, only a superficial understanding.

How is access limited and at the same time you are bullying everyday Joes who are actually using it?

Ah yes, because people in 3rd world countries earning $1 an hour or less to label that data for the image gen can 100% afford the $10/month for a subscription or a pc to run locally.

Delete all software and turn off your computer or be a hypocrite.

How so?

The stuff they use for training is free for any artist to train on.

The fact that you think AI training and humans looking at thinks are the same thing tells me you don't know how humans art nor how machines train.

You don’t own the definition of art and nobody you will encounter in a post of any sort is even doing it for major profit.

  1. True. However, this argument should not be about semantics;
  2. I got news for ya.

You don’t own the definition of art.

This is not about definitions, I won't spend time arguing semantics with you. Also, why re-state yourself?

AI is for everyone, but is made for the rich to get richer, like literally everything else you see or do online

Without social development, all forms of technological development will do nothing but allow for greater forms of torment.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The same people saying shit like "if buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing" are calling training AI on publically available data "stealing"

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Because obviously pirating games & shows for personal use does the same amount of harm as a corporate entity stealing the work of hundreds of thousands of writers and artists in order to turn a profit

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

How is it stealing though? Do the artists not have the art anymore?

This is the same braindead logic as people saying downloading someone else's NFT is stealing.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (5 children)

It's the same logic as saying someone tracing another persons art and passing it off as their own to make money is theft because that's essentially what they're doing. Except they're scraping the internet in order to feed millions of artists' works without their consent to a machine that approximates what "art" is supposed to look like.

This is the same braindead logic as people saying downloading someone else's NFT is stealing.

If someone stole an artist's work and passed it off as an NFT as has happened many times that's also an example of theft. I know that's not the strawman you're presenting but that is the actual NFT equivalent of what we're discussing. But yes, conflate it with downloading an image so you can call me braindead instead of formulating an argument.

It's fine if you personally enjoy slop, there's plenty of it out there now. But if you're gonna try to morally grandstand about it you may as well just say you don't think artists deserve to be paid for their own work and be done with it.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (6 children)

Yeah, that is pretty much how it goes. Some nice person shares a piece of AI art they find interesting and the AntiAI bros bully them nonstop and proceed to word vomit their nonsense for the next 3 years all over every site even when it isn't relevant.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Odd that there's so much hate for the image generation. I hate AI, but not for the images. I have an image generator myself and it's funny as hell. I hate AI for ruining the internet. After August of 2023, every search engine became borderline useless, and every "informative" website became auto generated dogshit.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Image generation is often done remotely, using massive amounts of energy and water cooling. I enjoy the funny images as well, but I don't like the massive volume of AI images that make it tougher to find human artists.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Machine learning is a net positive for technology and society, IF used wisely. The people who consume art are distressed that they can no longer filter for AI. AI images would be less controversial if we didn't have so much of it masquerading as human art.

This technology is not the issue, it's how people use it to the detriment of society and the environment.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I am not convinced this is even an actual problem, just what people are worried about happening.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Careful now, Lemmy is the most anti AI echo chamber there is

Edit: case in point

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

People love it when they find something they can bully people with and feel self righteous about it. Especially when they feel like they have a big enough gang to back them up.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (3 children)

What's it like not being creative? Must suck.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Check out the youtuber "Neural Viz". Using multiple AI tools, he has built an incredible universe of consistent characters. As @tjsauce pointed out, it ultimately comes down to how much you care about what you publish. You can spend hours trying to get AI systems to produce the exact effect you're aiming for—but few people are truly searching for something specific. That’s where the artist becomes a designer: someone who not only creates, but curates with intention. Most people aren’t thinking that way.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

Using multiple AI tools, he has built an incredible universe of consistent characters.

He hasn't, though. He's done some rudimentary work and then turned the lion's share of the design/development over to an algorithm that supplants his designs with work harvested from other professionals.

You can spend hours trying to get AI systems to produce the exact effect you’re aiming for—but few people are truly searching for something specific.

I think part of the problem with the "AI is Art, aktuly" discourse is that people who aren't professional artists really believe art is a commodity and meeting volumetric need is the artist's end goal. This isn't about an individual synthesizing personal memories, ideas, and technique to produce an experience for an audience. This is about individuals within an audience stating their desires, and some random assortment of artists throwing out tropes that fall somewhere in between their collective demands.

There is no concept of originalization. Everything is just a commercialized composite of prior works, created first and foremost to meet an immediate stated economic demand. Execs barking "I want a guy who looks like the Halo guy, but with long hair and a sword instead of a rifle" instead of some guy with family in the military and a talent for 3D rendering envisioning what a futuristic commando would look like.

‘An Overwhelmingly Negative And Demoralizing Force’: What It’s Like Working For A Company That’s Forcing AI On Its Developers

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (8 children)

This is Lemmy, all AI is evil and useless.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

I thought we left the echo chamber bullshit behind on the other website

-.-

Can’t people discuss stuff without it being derailed by other people who don’t want to discuss?

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

OK but now do that without stealing other people's art.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

In a sense everything every artist makes is inspired by other people's art and general life experiences. We humans only have some extra sensory channels and brain paths to map that inspiration through, so it "feels" more original.

I'd argue our creation of art is just a couple of levels more complex. But at its core its just external stimuli followed by some internalisation that enables us to create art. But we needed the aggregated input.

Which does not mean that we can't disapprove of literal copies of other people's work. But I think we should be very aware of the fact that it's more or less a complexity scale.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

"People get inspired from art therefore lifting someone's entire portfolio as training data is OK actually"

Is it hard to type with your head that far up your own ass? Or did you just copy paste what chatgpt told you when you asked it to defend ai generated images?

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago

Me: "Oh? Show me some of your original art."

Artist: "ONE ART PLEASE! ONE ART PLEASE! ONE ART PLEASE! ONE ART PLEASE!"

Me: "What... what are you doing?"

Artist: "Sorry, my artistic tools aren't working properly. Let me try refining my prompts."

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

"I am a photographer!"

"So you just push a button and steal people's privacy? Not real art!"

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

"ai bad, updoots to the left"

I think this is really rivaling AI generated images for lack of substance

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago

People who unironically call themselves "AI Artists" are easy targets.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Keep fighting the good fight. If we can just be a little bit more elitist and haulier than thou I'm sure we'll make AI art go away.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Oh no, we made talentless duschebro sad by dissing his favourite slop creating forestburner. Whatever we will do

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (11 children)

Exactly. If you just insult people enough, they will surely chabge their mind!!!

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago (1 children)

We are not trying to change your mind. We are making fun of you.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Cool. I'll keep that in mind next time you cry about AI """stealing""" art and making artist redundant.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

That's why we're making fun of you

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (22 children)

If we're just a bit nice to those fascists they'll change their mind 😢

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