Can We Please Stop Being Disparaging Towards Artists And Others Affected By AI?

Submitted by apinkphoenix t3_zmt3i5 in singularity

Disclaimer: while I do sometimes create art I do not consider myself to be an artist, and I certainly don't make any income from it.

Artists, especially illustrators, are facing an existential crisis. Just last year, no one was talking about how artists were going to be replaced by AI. ChatGPT, which we know is limited to data from up to 2021, had this to say on the subject:

>While it is true that some of these jobs will be replaced by AI, it is unlikely that they will all be replaced. Many jobs require a level of creativity and human interaction that AI technology is not yet capable of. For example, jobs in the creative arts, such as writing, music, and design, will likely remain safe from automation for the foreseeable future.

Which, as someone that's followed AI since 2018, I agreed with until very recently.

Here are some comments from another post regarding a protest by artists on Artstation:

>However the reactions of some artist about AI-generated art in general is rather ignorant.

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>This is a reality everyone will face, you either get with the times or you will be left behind.

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> I see a lot of cheering around here for artists losing their jobs. I guess we're not that different.

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> The luddites also made a pretty big stink too...

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> It's luddites. They are scared of losing the thing they are good at and so are screaming at the hurricane.

You get the point. These weren't some unpopular opinions that were downvoted or had no interaction. All of them were positively upvoted. Can we have some compassion towards artists or anyone else who might be losing their job in the very near-term future? Is that really too much to ask for?

Look at what's happening over on Fiverr - today:

Screenshot from: https://www.fiverr.com/search/gigs?query=ai%20art&source=main_banner&acmpl=1&search_in=everywhere&search-autocomplete-original-term=ai%20&search-autocomplete-available=true&search-autocomplete-type=suggest&search-autocomplete-position=4

Not only are people selling AI art from $5, but there are about 170 ratings averaging 5 stars just on those 12 (of 653 currently) pages alone. People are selling AI art for rock bottom prices and paying customers are loving it. And most of society still hasn't heard of AI art yet.

We all look forward to a future where automation removes the necessity of work, however there is no system in place to deal with widespread, sudden automation. This isn't a case of an entire category of people being replaced by AI but they can go on with their lives. Their livelihood have been suddenly stripped from them and no one seems to care. How do they pay their rent? Their bills? Buy food? Selling $5 AI art on Fiverr?

Yes, we're here to talk about the singularity, but it hasn't happened yet (allegedly), and we're not living in a utopian society, so can we please show some humanity towards those who are suffering because of the way our society is structured, and not simply write them off as modern-day luddites?

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GeneralZain t1_j0fkc42 wrote

look mah! I said that!

listen, I know that they are angry at the wrong thing (i've said that before too...) but I would have said the same thing about every other sector when it happens to them.

Being a luddite hasn't helped before...pushing our government officials to make the system do its fuckin job will

getting mad at the AI wont fix their problems. that's why people are calling them luddites. they got mad at the technology NOT the government.

if somebody acts dumb, I'm gonna call em dumb...

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Silicon-Dreamer t1_j0gdauu wrote

> if somebody acts dumb, I'm gonna call em dumb...

And on this subject, that makes the situation better, definitely not encouraging in-group/out-group bias & polarization, how?

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apinkphoenix OP t1_j0hqog9 wrote

Getting mad at AI isn’t going to solve their problems but what other options do they have when they are cornered? How will they make a living when a share of the work they previously had is going to start being taken by AI?

This is an entire class of workers, all around the world, that will happen very suddenly with no safety net for them to fall on.

Can you at least try to put yourself in their shoes before calling an entire class of people dumb?

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GeneralZain t1_j0i6ygm wrote

what should they do? I already said. they need to contact their local politicians and get them to move on things like UBI or some other social safety net.

this will continue to happen for ever job in every sector, art is just the tip of the spear in this coming wave of automation.

I understand and empathize believe me, but I know they weren't the first to fall to automation and they most certainly wont be the last.

how much crying did they do for all the warehouse workers who were automated away? how many "ban robots" posts did you see when they came for the car manufacturing jobs?

it sucks but its gonna happen to all of us...just a matter of time.

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SnooDogs7868 t1_j0fzc0f wrote

If you woke up tomorrow with a decrease in the prospect of an abundant secure future, you too would be angry.

Their value has taken a critical hit overnight.They deserve sympathy. My only suggestion would be to pivot and adapt. It’s what humans do.

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apinkphoenix OP t1_j0hs9fr wrote

Thank you!

Pivot and adapting is right, but it’s not a solution. A year ago no one was expecting an overnight, mass-scale, art competitor in the form of AI, yet here it is.

Coding was seen as a safe haven, and it was a meme that truck drivers who will be replaced by self driving trucks (drivers still have jobs btw) should learn to code. Well that’s obviously not going to be as safe a job as people once thought either. So that begs the question: what jobs will be safe? We don’t know.

I don’t think people realise just how rapidly, and just how widespread these jobs will be replaced. We’re seeing it start now but this is only the beginning.

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YaAbsolyutnoNikto t1_j0fzkkp wrote

Look, those people are indeed Luddites. Is it unjustifiable? Of course not! Back in the 19th century, luddites also feared for their livelihoods and acted in a way to try to ensure their survival, even if the way they went about it might not have been the best one. It’s normal.

I don’t think being a ‘luddite’ is inherently wrong. It’s just human nature.

So.. I don’t really understand what is so wrong about those comments you’re mentioning. Our time will come too and many more luddites will come.

Let’s focus on creating those safety nets.

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apinkphoenix OP t1_j0hq4di wrote

My problem is that the comments are dispassionate and many of them are completely devoid of empathy.

It would be an entirely different story if society was saying, “hey, look, this is going to affect your livelihood but we have this safety net for everyone to fall into. You’ll all be able to live comfortable lives where working is optional”.

But that’s not the reality. The reality is that many artists are going to be earning less and less revenue and there is nothing they can do about it, and this will happen rapidly.

A common argument is that alternative jobs will be created. But what are those jobs? Where are they right now, while people are making money from AI art? Professional prompt writers? One of those can do the work of a hundred artists in the same amount of time.

The comments I’m seeing on this subreddit in particular actually terrify me. I can understand why artists might be lashing out because of what is happening and the situation they are facing. There is no excuse however for the way they’re being talked about here when it doesn’t affect the commenters directly.

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QuietOil9491 t1_j0honqp wrote

Feel free to point out any significant developments in those safety nets compared to the blindingly fast developments in getting rid of human jobs

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Effective-Dig8734 t1_j0fpuz4 wrote

I doubt the people who were using art to pay their bills are the ones being replaced by ai

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TheSecretAgenda t1_j0gaxzg wrote

I think those are exactly the people in the most danger. If you are doing album covers or book covers, packaging art, logos and such an AI can crank out 1000 variants in minutes. Most working artists aren't painting portraits or doing gallery shows. They are doing the dull normal art that AIs are now great at.

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apinkphoenix OP t1_j0hrfre wrote

The very best artists will survive but it’s not a black and white case of some artists get paid and others do not. Like everything, it’s a spectrum of earnings and I am arguing that a significant percentage of revenue that goes to artists as a whole is now going to go towards those who make AI art.

If you can get 100 options for the same price that you’d previously pay for 1, this will ABSOLUTELY affect people who currently create art to pay their bills.

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ai_robotnik t1_j0hc0ob wrote

I don't want them to suffer. At the same time, it's harder to have sympathy for them when they stubbornly stick to fundamental misunderstandings of how the technology works. Coupled with the fact that I am of the opinion that the singularity can't come fast enough, and as such, I don't particularly care how the AI arrives at the correct answer, as long as it always arrives at the correct answer.

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TheSecretAgenda t1_j0gaiij wrote

I sort of see it as people standing on a train track. The train is barreling towards them. They won't get off the train track. They can yell and scream about the train but, nothing is going to stop it. (Short of a solar flare and a massive EMP.) Yet they rend their cloths and nash their teeth. They will be no more effective than the luddites or blacksmiths at the turn of the 19th century into the 20th. They will simply have to adapt.

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apinkphoenix OP t1_j0hsw90 wrote

Adapt to what? Learning to code? Well joke’s on them because the meme AI-resistant career is looking like it’s workforce will be heavily reduced in the near future. Drive taxis, Ubers, trucks, buses, train drivers on your metaphorical train tracks? Soon they’ll all be automated as well, and they will all be fighting over the rapidly shrinking pool of jobs that actually aren’t being automated.

Saying that they should adapt is so absurdly cold and lacking in empathy.

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rixtil41 t1_j0ilxlo wrote

You seem to be talking about immediate solutions which im not sure anyone has right now. But I'm against banning future developments or advancements as an answer.

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apinkphoenix OP t1_j0k1k3c wrote

I’m not advocating for anything to be banned. I’m advocating for empathy, and to raise awareness of the suffering of millions of people for no fault of their own.

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TheSecretAgenda t1_j0i4v35 wrote

Doing caricatures on the street is adapting. Paint portraits for people of more modest means is adapting. Doing street murals is adapting. I just thought of those in under 60 seconds. Artists need to be more creative.

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ILikePracticalGifts t1_j0i7nrn wrote

Humanity is under no obligation to reward you for your talent.

If your art will be replaced by an AI, then it was a commodity to begin with.

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apinkphoenix OP t1_j0jo95y wrote

How can you be so cold towards a group of people who have brought so much joy to the world?

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QuietOil9491 t1_j0hocnx wrote

All the AI fans who pretend it’s no big deal all mention some vague utopian ideas of UBI or that magically the jobs of artists will simply be handed over to prompt-diddlers, yet they never seem to give a fuck about actually creating or furthering or developing or producing any supposed potential solutions… just happily typing in the names of their favorite artists mashed up with their favorite IPs and gleefully posting their regurgitated art that was created by the AI as if they had any talent or skill or input whatsoever.

All these people pretending that the mangled watermarks and signature blocks aren’t clear and obvious evidence that the original creators wanted credit and compensation for their work as they make excuses and hide behind legal loopholes.

Every time someone types in an artist’s name into the prompt they must lobotomize themselves a tiny bit to pretend they aren’t explicitly removing consent from the very artists they pretend to admire

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