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> People are doing cool things with it Things are cool because they are unique, very hard to create, and require creativity. When those things become cheap com

> People are doing cool things with it Things are cool because they are unique, very hard to create, and require creativity. When those things become cheap commodities, they are no longer cool.

minimaxir 1y ago
The same could be said about software, and it's safe to say that open-source software making complex workflows easier and more efficient is a net good. Making better tools is better for everyone: the median usage of those tools downstream is a separate issue.
- viccis 1y ago
  If you're comparing how art is evaluated to how software is evaluated then it sounds like you only understand one or the other.
  - cubefox 1y ago
    Indeed. Art is partially evaluated by how impressive it is. That's why posting AI images on social media won't yield a lot of likes anymore. People have gotten used to images being easy to create, so they aren't seen as valuable anymore. The same will be true for videos. AI pictures today are much less impressive than Dall-E 2 pictures were a few years ago, despite the fact that the models are much better nowadays. Currently AI videos can still be impressive, but this will quickly become a thing of the past. Then people will move from trying to create art to creating "content". That is, non-artistic slop. Advertisements. Porn. Meme jokes. Click bait. Rage bait. Propaganda. Etc.
thorum 1y ago
I would argue that we just get pickier and more sensitive to slop. When everyone can make a movie, the standard for a good movie will be higher. Many current Hollywood films wouldn’t make the cut. But maybe some kid in Nigeria makes the greatest film of all time.
- cubefox 1y ago
  By that logic, some kid in Nigeria could have written the greatest book of all time. At least by commonly accepted measures, that didn't happen.
  - squidsoup 1y ago
    Hard to interpret that comment as anything but racist. Chinua Achebe is widely considered one of the greatest modern novelists. He was 28 when he wrote Things Fall Apart.
    - cubefox 1y ago
      Perhaps learn the meaning of the phrase "by commonly accepted measures" before you accuse someone of racism. I'm pretty sure hardly anyone knows about Chinua Achebe, so your definition of "widely" must be quite wide.
      - famouswaffles 1y ago
        Things Fall Apart has sold over 20 million copies and has been translated into more than 50 languages. It is a staple of literature curriculums in schools and universities across the globe. That isn't a "wide" definition of widely known; it's the standard one. Then you have Chimamanda Adichie, who has sold millions of copies and won several awards, including the BBC National Short Story Award, widely described as "one of the most prestigious awards for a single short story" Then another Nigerian writer, Wole Soyinka, won the Nobel fucking Prize in Literature in 1986. Or is that measure not good enough for you, your highness ? Not only do you come across as racist, you clearly have no idea what you're talking about. Congratulations.
        cubefox 1y ago
        These examples seem highly cherry-picked. If you look at bestseller lists, or writers who average people actually know, the results are in fact very different. Your accusation ("racist") is defamatory.
bonoboTP 1y ago
Exactly. Pushing a photo through a Van Gogh filter doesn't get near what a real Van Gogh expresses. It's in a temporal context, communicates something about the person and their thoughts about reality. Their artistic choices matter, because they can't just put out 10 different variations, instead they have to pick one. And then we can think about why that one was chosen.

> People are doing cool things with it Things are cool because they are unique, very hard to create, and require creativity. When those things become cheap commodities, they are no longer cool.

minimaxir 1y ago

The same could be said about software, and it's safe to say that open-source software making complex workflows easier and more efficient is a net good. Making better tools is better for everyone: the median usage of those tools downstream is a separate issue.

viccis 1y ago
If you're comparing how art is evaluated to how software is evaluated then it sounds like you only understand one or the other.
- cubefox 1y ago
  Indeed. Art is partially evaluated by how impressive it is. That's why posting AI images on social media won't yield a lot of likes anymore. People have gotten used to images being easy to create, so they aren't seen as valuable anymore. The same will be true for videos. AI pictures today are much less impressive than Dall-E 2 pictures were a few years ago, despite the fact that the models are much better nowadays. Currently AI videos can still be impressive, but this will quickly become a thing of the past. Then people will move from trying to create art to creating "content". That is, non-artistic slop. Advertisements. Porn. Meme jokes. Click bait. Rage bait. Propaganda. Etc.

thorum 1y ago

I would argue that we just get pickier and more sensitive to slop. When everyone can make a movie, the standard for a good movie will be higher. Many current Hollywood films wouldn’t make the cut. But maybe some kid in Nigeria makes the greatest film of all time.

cubefox 1y ago
By that logic, some kid in Nigeria could have written the greatest book of all time. At least by commonly accepted measures, that didn't happen.
- squidsoup 1y ago
  Hard to interpret that comment as anything but racist. Chinua Achebe is widely considered one of the greatest modern novelists. He was 28 when he wrote Things Fall Apart.
  - cubefox 1y ago
    Perhaps learn the meaning of the phrase "by commonly accepted measures" before you accuse someone of racism. I'm pretty sure hardly anyone knows about Chinua Achebe, so your definition of "widely" must be quite wide.
    - famouswaffles 1y ago
      Things Fall Apart has sold over 20 million copies and has been translated into more than 50 languages. It is a staple of literature curriculums in schools and universities across the globe. That isn't a "wide" definition of widely known; it's the standard one. Then you have Chimamanda Adichie, who has sold millions of copies and won several awards, including the BBC National Short Story Award, widely described as "one of the most prestigious awards for a single short story" Then another Nigerian writer, Wole Soyinka, won the Nobel fucking Prize in Literature in 1986. Or is that measure not good enough for you, your highness ? Not only do you come across as racist, you clearly have no idea what you're talking about. Congratulations.
      - cubefox 1y ago
        These examples seem highly cherry-picked. If you look at bestseller lists, or writers who average people actually know, the results are in fact very different. Your accusation ("racist") is defamatory.

bonoboTP 1y ago

Exactly. Pushing a photo through a Van Gogh filter doesn't get near what a real Van Gogh expresses. It's in a temporal context, communicates something about the person and their thoughts about reality. Their artistic choices matter, because they can't just put out 10 different variations, instead they have to pick one. And then we can think about why that one was chosen.