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As a non-artist whose compensation is, so far, unaffected by ML-generated images, I'm more interested in the effects the technology has on people. Over the pa

As a non-artist whose compensation is, so far, unaffected by ML-generated images, I'm more interested in the effects the technology has on people. Over the past 150 years it became possible to compute cube roots in milliseconds, instead of minutes. Slide rules became obsolete, and the things we learn to do do arithmetic changed. Over the past 20 years, the way we look up arbitrary facts changed. We learned to construct Web search engine queries and we learned to evaluate the quality of results. Other library skills are still relevant, but certain kinds of rote memorization become obsolete. Now people are rapidly learning a new "prompt language" which uses English words but combines them in a way which is for now something like computer programming (given an input string, compile it to an output image). Will "prompt languages" for text / image / video generation systems turn into a full-fledged, non-English language that you can learn? What will be the social effects of people learning and using this language to communicate?

bigcheesegs 4y ago
I think the much more likely outcome is further research on making the prompts smarter and more human like.
bobthepanda 4y ago
I think it will be interesting, but not result in total annihilation of the existing field. As a general counterexample, TV did not kill radio despite it having more dimensions for creativity. Radio changed, but it did not die, and was quite comfortable for many decades after. Coallescing on prompt languages is probably unlikely, if only because part of the thing that defines a language is that a community has rules, both opaque and explicit, about what is acceptable in the language and what is not, and there's no effort to standardize inputs.
- mistrial9 4y ago
  sign makers were put out of business en masse at a certain point, and there were quite a few, and it is high-skill, high-commitment work. Some kinds of print arts related to magazines for example, were next. There is a chapter in the Stanford AI Index (2021) that opens with "The rise of AI will inevitable raise questions of how much these technologies will impact business, labor and the economy in general .. " there are winners and losers here, not just interesting questions. In the 1930s America there was mass unemployment among many skilled "workers" .. can't imagine the 1990s ex-Soviet economies.. I dont think these questions are neutral or innocent.
  - andybak 4y ago
    And vintage sign making is now highly valued (whether hand-painted or digitally produced simulcra) We tend to value scarcity. Things that resemble AI art will become passé and anything that is difficult/impossible for AI to produce will become highly regarded. I'm very curious to see how this shift in popular and/or high-brow taste will play out.
    - mistrial9 4y ago
      thousands of small companies sustain and employ humans, reliably now as sign makers? I live in a metropolitan area, sign makers were reliably found and nearby in my living memory. There are very few now, mainly as corporate franchises with catalog contents. How is the value of scarcity you refer to, being circulated in terms of reliable income and stability for humans living now? How plural are the products in modern markets
      - bobthepanda 4y ago
        I mean, that has mostly been supplanted by graphic design as a field, which is still making signs, just not necessarily literally handmaking signs out of outdated technologies like neon tubes. And now also helping design websites and other such new technologies.
      - andybak 4y ago
        You're entirely right. I was talking about cultural value. Things are really going to suck for working artists who can't adjust. That's not cool and I should have acknowledged it.
        forgetfreeman 4y ago
        This assumes adjustment is even possible. Prior history suggests "adjust" is a euphemism for pivoting to unfulfilling lower wage work. If that seems like hyperbole to you I highly recommend taking some time out to research the before/after effects of globalization on rural factory towns in North America or the impact of high intensity corporate agriculture on family farms. If you want the tl;dr, just look up a graph of farmer suicides over time.

bigcheesegs 4y ago

I think the much more likely outcome is further research on making the prompts smarter and more human like.

bobthepanda 4y ago

I think it will be interesting, but not result in total annihilation of the existing field. As a general counterexample, TV did not kill radio despite it having more dimensions for creativity. Radio changed, but it did not die, and was quite comfortable for many decades after. Coallescing on prompt languages is probably unlikely, if only because part of the thing that defines a language is that a community has rules, both opaque and explicit, about what is acceptable in the language and what is not, and there's no effort to standardize inputs.

mistrial9 4y ago
sign makers were put out of business en masse at a certain point, and there were quite a few, and it is high-skill, high-commitment work. Some kinds of print arts related to magazines for example, were next. There is a chapter in the Stanford AI Index (2021) that opens with "The rise of AI will inevitable raise questions of how much these technologies will impact business, labor and the economy in general .. " there are winners and losers here, not just interesting questions. In the 1930s America there was mass unemployment among many skilled "workers" .. can't imagine the 1990s ex-Soviet economies.. I dont think these questions are neutral or innocent.
- andybak 4y ago
  And vintage sign making is now highly valued (whether hand-painted or digitally produced simulcra) We tend to value scarcity. Things that resemble AI art will become passé and anything that is difficult/impossible for AI to produce will become highly regarded. I'm very curious to see how this shift in popular and/or high-brow taste will play out.
  - mistrial9 4y ago
    thousands of small companies sustain and employ humans, reliably now as sign makers? I live in a metropolitan area, sign makers were reliably found and nearby in my living memory. There are very few now, mainly as corporate franchises with catalog contents. How is the value of scarcity you refer to, being circulated in terms of reliable income and stability for humans living now? How plural are the products in modern markets
    - bobthepanda 4y ago
      I mean, that has mostly been supplanted by graphic design as a field, which is still making signs, just not necessarily literally handmaking signs out of outdated technologies like neon tubes. And now also helping design websites and other such new technologies.
    - andybak 4y ago
      You're entirely right. I was talking about cultural value. Things are really going to suck for working artists who can't adjust. That's not cool and I should have acknowledged it.
      - forgetfreeman 4y ago
        This assumes adjustment is even possible. Prior history suggests "adjust" is a euphemism for pivoting to unfulfilling lower wage work. If that seems like hyperbole to you I highly recommend taking some time out to research the before/after effects of globalization on rural factory towns in North America or the impact of high intensity corporate agriculture on family farms. If you want the tl;dr, just look up a graph of farmer suicides over time.