Hehe “borrowed”
I wish we could start arguing about the ethics of compensation for training data and requiring a concrete way to both protect opt-out, as well as compensate those who contribute, rather than argue about a product that absolutely does have a user base (as is continually proven). I don’t think there’s a win against the demand, but you can win the ethics battle and force better regulations.
What does that phrase even mean? Asking something else to make something for you is not artistic, so it can’t be that. People who commission other humans to make things aren’t suddenly artists. If they literally just mean consumption of images, it’s not as if web searching for images has been difficult for the last couple decades at this point. If you don’t care about art at all and just want content, there are lifetimes of things you could look for readily available to indulge. Just start typing and away you go! Literally the only thing that has changed is that now you are accelerating dead internet theory and removing human interaction from what you consume. Of course, if you don’t care about art that is a moot point, since human self-expression and communication never meant anything to you in the first place.
At best, the phrase should be specialized, on demand consumption of niche content is more accessible, not art.
Artists understand that art is primarily about self-expression. Non-artists often instead think art is about producing nice pictures. When all nice pictures come with self-expression baked in, the two groups seem to be on the same page, but when a computer makes nice pictures that are completely devoid of self-expression, we find out they’re not on the same page at all.
I have a pretty quick ~$500 phone (snapdragon 8 gen 3) and tried this local AI app once (just something on fdroid, you could probably find it) but the experience was pretty terrible. Like a minute per image on the small local models from 2022. I’m sure you could do better, but my conclusion is that an $800 phone is as useful as a $60 phone for generative ai because you’re going to have to use some remote service anyways.
If what you need is a constant stream of ever-changing imagery that you don’t glance at for more than a second or two before moving on, I’m sure AI is great for that. So are jangling keys and those slime ASMR videos. But if that’s what you want from viewing or making art, you are an alien to me.
I use it for illustrations of characters, items, and locations for my homebrew TTRPG campaign. That’s basically exactly what happens: party looks at it once, gets a general idea, and usually never looks at it again. Without AI, I just wouldn’t have the illustrations; I’m not commissioning art that’s going to get looked at once.
I wouldn’t call that “art”, in any real sense. They’re visual aids, not aesthetic masterpieces.
Without AI, I just wouldn’t have the illustrations
Well, this situation has existed for a long time. You can buy extant asset packs, no commission necessary. They’re not too expensive, either. As you noted they are just visual aids. Actually I happen to have a supermassive amount laying around from random humble bundles over the years, that were pack-ins with other items I wanted
No judgement or anything, it’s just far from an “AI or nothing” situation
I’m very particular, and my setting is not thematically typical. AI gives me the power to have a decent degree of control over the content when it’s difficult, if not impossible, to find media that’s appropriate for a particular character or scene.
It sounds more like AI has disempowered you to exercise your creativity tbh
I draw when I want to draw, paint when I want to paint, narrate when I want to narrate. I design, print, and paint minis and settings, I make props and maps and documents. When it comes to semi-important limited-use side characters, sometimes 5 minutes describing them to an AI is sufficient effort for the demands of the task.
You could run it on your own PC instead
You could also draw in the sand with a stick or piss in the snow. I’m pretty sure the point is it doesn’t take advanced technology to make art.
Yeah it didn’t take computers or anything to make art. More about the artists than the method right?
Then instead of a subscription, you’re paying for a gpu and power. Not everyone has the money for a computer, but pretty much anyone can afford a pencil and paper.