3 ms·

My 2 cents - people often compare this AI to automation that came before say the printing press, or automatic fabric production . But it’s actually far worse.

My 2 cents - people often compare this AI to automation that came before say the printing press, or automatic fabric production . But it’s actually far worse. If all the calligraphers drop dead, the printing press still works. If everyone who hand makes fabrics drops dead, the automatic fabric machines continue to develop. But midjourney doesn’t work without artists, it depends on them like a parasite depends on its host. Once the host dies, the parasite is doomed. So it’s value-destroying, more vandalism than capitalism. Or maybe like Viking pillaging. It’s like the people who used to burn millions of penguins alive to convert their fat into oil. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21501-boiled-to-death-penguins-are-back-from-the-brink/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21501-boiled-to-death...

Minor49er 3y ago
What about training on art that's in the public domain or that's privately made specifically for training?
its_ethan 3y ago
> If all the calligraphers drop dead, the printing press still works. If all artists drop dead, MidJourney still has a trained model that will continue to work.... it relied on artists to become operational (just like the printing press and automatic looms relied on their respective artisans success) but it is not dependent on them to continue to function.
- ClumsyPilot 3y ago
  Printing press does not rely on work of calligraphers at all, not to become operational, not to continue functioning. new fonts and typefaces are created by an entirely different profession. Printing industry is still advancing and the number of calligraphers is basically zero. Without artists, midjourney will never learn a new style. It is not capable of advancing.
kghe3X 3y ago
I think the analogy holds. Printing presses can't produce hand-drawn calligraphy just like Midjourney can't produce art outside some boundary on it's training set. Both are limited in capability compared to humans, both have inhuman capabilities. Both required humans to initially produce value. Neither requires humans to continue to produce value.

Minor49er 3y ago

What about training on art that's in the public domain or that's privately made specifically for training?

its_ethan 3y ago

> If all the calligraphers drop dead, the printing press still works. If all artists drop dead, MidJourney still has a trained model that will continue to work.... it relied on artists to become operational (just like the printing press and automatic looms relied on their respective artisans success) but it is not dependent on them to continue to function.

ClumsyPilot 3y ago
Printing press does not rely on work of calligraphers at all, not to become operational, not to continue functioning. new fonts and typefaces are created by an entirely different profession. Printing industry is still advancing and the number of calligraphers is basically zero. Without artists, midjourney will never learn a new style. It is not capable of advancing.

kghe3X 3y ago

I think the analogy holds. Printing presses can't produce hand-drawn calligraphy just like Midjourney can't produce art outside some boundary on it's training set. Both are limited in capability compared to humans, both have inhuman capabilities. Both required humans to initially produce value. Neither requires humans to continue to produce value.