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I struggled with this a few months ago and decided to not use any more gen AI images as a choice [0]. In the end there are many reasons to dump gen-AI for this

I struggled with this a few months ago and decided to not use any more gen AI images as a choice [0]. In the end there are many reasons to dump gen-AI for this specific use of generating post thumbnails. 1) The negative associations of readers mentioned by OP. People do assume that because some AI is used, all of the content is suspect by proximity. 2) The quality just ain't that good. Although we deliberately chose to limit to cartoon/non-photo-real, after a while you notice an ineffable sameness about all the AI stuff. 3) It takes away the fun of 5 minutes in Photoshop/Gimp 4) Maybe this has changed, or got worse, but we got a creepy sense of sinister censorship and embedded values in the AI, especially around race and gender bias. I got really tired of finding Gordon Freeman lurking in almost every image, whether prompted for or not. 5) Which raises the thought... maybe we are just shit at using AI image gen? In which case, why not use the tools we are good at (digital image tools) and have spent 20 years mastering. The whole AI image episode reminds me of something I saw when working as a music producer. In the middle of an album, a band took receipt of a cool new drum machine (actually the tech companies just give expensive new toys to big bands and names) and it caused problems. It wasn't that the machine was "bad", it was just so cool and distracting that it sucked the creative energy out of the band and became the focus. Eventually the tail started to wag the dog and some members even started to ask "How are we going to use the MPC in this track?", as if it had become necessary. That was the 1990s but I've experienced the same lesson about tech many times since. It's great to use new stuff. You should jump-in and know what is all about. But there's a time to walk on past the latest novelty and hype and not get hung up on it. [0] https://cybershow.uk/blog/posts/nomoreai https://cybershow.uk/blog/posts/nomoreai

xk_id 2y ago
Wow, a great example of healing in response to internal tensions.
JohnFen 2y ago
> The whole AI image episode reminds me of something I saw when working as a music producer. The music world is full of this sort of badness. The same thing happened with the vocoder, autotune, and so much more. Until people learned how to use the tools, the use of the tools made the music much worse. I think the same effect threatens to happen with the use of generative AI for artistic purposes. The results of that use are going to be pretty bad until everyone figures out when and how it should (and should not) be used.

xk_id 2y ago

Wow, a great example of healing in response to internal tensions.

JohnFen 2y ago

> The whole AI image episode reminds me of something I saw when working as a music producer. The music world is full of this sort of badness. The same thing happened with the vocoder, autotune, and so much more. Until people learned how to use the tools, the use of the tools made the music much worse. I think the same effect threatens to happen with the use of generative AI for artistic purposes. The results of that use are going to be pretty bad until everyone figures out when and how it should (and should not) be used.