Thread by @memoakten

it's worth remembering that progress in generative (mostly image) AI has been insanely fast in last few yrs. And that's mostly in fundamental tech (GAN, CLIP, DDPM etc). Now that there is very promising proof-of-concept tech working, expect loads of funding & startups on tools.

you have a book that you want illustrated? it's going to be cheaper to use an automated service offered by some tech company to produce illustrations, than hire an illustrator. You have a film you want scored? It's going to be cheaper to use an automated service, than a musician.

there seems to be a rhetoric going around that "if you can be replaced by a machine, you're not rly an artist". Which is as sad as it is funny. Coincidentally, I RT this 👇 just few days ago. But clearly the term "artist" is causing some confusions...

so let's focus on what the concern really is about. Many folks who (barely) make a living from their craft, are about to find it even more difficult to make a living from their craft. Because it's going to be cheaper to use automated software offered by some startup.

Many will survive this, many will even thrive & might even be able to charge more! for being a 'human' (i.e. brand). (Similar to how we pay more for 'organic' food). Many new superstars will be born. But many will find it even more impossible to make a living from their craft.

if there is a discussion, & concerns being raised abt AIArtTools, it's this. Not "you're not rly an artist anyway". - And I say this as someone who has benefitted GREATLY from "AI" (& software in general), and have no fears of being replaced by AI 😅 (as I am also an AI dev).

yes there are going to be loads of new jobs, eg "prompt engineering" or whatever we call it. yes i know photography didn't kill painting (in fact, even liberated it :); yes i know the drum machine didn't kill drumming (and gave birth to whole new genres of music :).

and while painting and drumming as *practices* didn't disappear, *making a living* as a painter or drummer is reserved only for very select few. (ofc same goes for photographer & drum machineer!)

in the next few yrs, there are going to be automated tools that make it even more difficult for many to make a living from the craft that they love. Similar tools will also allow many others to do things that they cld never do before (like me :), & whole new artforms will be born

I don't think this can be boiled down to a "net +ve" (or -ve). And is an important discussion to have. Esp when biggest winners are going to be companies offering automated services & undercutting human artists, such that the only human artists who will be able to make a living

are those that have managed to create a brand for themselves. I.e. how it already is in the (capital A) Art World (and now NFT world), but instead, also spread across industry (illustration, editorial, film, tv etc) too.

And to dismiss these concerns with strawman args, "stupid luddites", "not rly artists if they can be replaced" etc is just .... (hold my tongue) ... missing the point.
/end rant (for now)

(like ok, if you think not everyone who works in illustration, design, 3d modelling, animation, video editing etc are "real artists", let's not use that term. But maybe we can still talk about how there are going to be companies whose business model is to automate those jobs)

Some AIArtTools are going to be designed to make possible things that were not possible before, and create new forms of expression. Other AIArtTools are going to be designed to replace people - craftspeople let's call them - to make things cheaper for clients, & nicer profits.

This👇is also a fair criticism. I think a complicated pt. A common counter arg to this is "all culture is based on inspiration, nothing is original, all humans learn / steal from each other, now we have machines learning from all humans". Yes, awesome. But

Yes we are a product of all of our inspirations. And yes my work is even very similar to a lot of my key inspirations. But even though I contain all of my inspirations within me, I can at least *aspire* to create a personal blend. And most importantly...

when a client comes to me & says "can you replicate <work of one of my peers>" (this happens so much🤦‍♂️), I can say (& have said) "yes I can but I wont".
I don't think it's unreasonable to be 😡 w software that has explicit options to replicate your work for others' financial gain

I'm all for AI-assisted creativity tools, I literally gave yrs of my life to do a PhD in this exact topic! (best yrs of my life😅😭). I'm loving the tech & I can't wait to see more weird shit that wasn't previously possible. But we shld be prepared for the 'shipwrecks' [Virilio].

"real" artists can never be replaced 😅