Well said--and I find it strange how people without the interest or discipline in actually building creative skills seem so excited about this. I was at a conference where a speaker excitedly exclaimed, "Now, everyone can be a novelist!" No, that's not how it works.
The focus on creative pursuits which have historically made very little money is bizarre, too. "You too can sell no books like everyone else, but without even having the creative satisfaction."
Yes! The satisfaction of someone saying, "I love what you said!" or "your words were exactly what I needed to hear." Imagine hearing that praise if an A.I. came up with it. I think I would feel awful.
Story’s the same with AI generated music. It sucks. Many producers are touting the incredible things it can do, but it’s just nifty. It doesn’t make anything good. It could someday replace stock music, but that’s a long way away. It will never replace real music though because real music is art and art is innovative and rule-breaking. I just hope in the meantime our race to the bottom doesn’t last too long or cause too much permanent damage.
Yeah. A few platforms like LinkedIn are being destroyed by auto-response AI comments. They’ve forgotten the number one rule of ‘engagement’ — it has to add value to the conversion. AI does not.
Yeeeees, I also saw it on Notes! I think that people use it to ramp up their engagement in order to get more subscribers/followers. The hilarious thing is that it seems to work for them! This is nuts!
This piece has me going on in my mind about a few ideas that im putting into short form fiction. Mainly how at some point we'll start seeing thebdivide between artificially saturated people and those who tend to look for more original works.
My worst fear with GenAI is that there will be a day in the future where the average consumer cannot tell the difference between lazy AI slop and authentically good writing/art.
Content will end up like Hollywood movies - there are so many nostalgia-fueled remakes, sequels, prequels, etc. that the average movie-viewer cannot differentiate a good movie from a bad one. The fact that the Barbie Movie was considered on par with that wikipedia page of a movie Oppenheimer is tragically telling.
The average movie-viewer already can't tell, and that's why AI sludge movies will find an audience. The avergae Facebook user can't seem to spot AI-generated images. Most people could probably be fooled by AI-generated music. If/when it improves, this is exactly how it plays out. And that's why I worry about the market for real, human-made art/writing/music.
Well said! I've been wondering that this was going to be end of the story for a while now. GenAI is just another tool for non creatives who feel entitled to control over the artist, they'll use it until the market humiliates them over it. It's like catnip to them, it's fundamental to their identity that they're smarter than musicians and writers and everyone else, and GenAI let's them live out that fantasy.
What's more, if you even understand a tiny bit about LLM's and "A.I.", you will realize that it isn't even A.I. if we had actual A.I. I would be more concerned, but we don't. At all.
Very good piece, we need to keep demystifying this A.I. crap.
I use to generate me lists of very-specific synonyms sometimes, but frankly it's quality has very much dropped. I recall it being much better, and much more precise a year ago. Too my understanding ChatGPT uses an insane amount of servers and energy. I suspect OpenAI started simplifying the process to decrease usage cost.
It's a crying shame that we would have to consider "created by a human" or "LLM free" as necessary indicators, but there's every chance we'll need them, unless we can force the opposite ("Made by AI") to be an enforced watermark on everything generated by AI.
Yeah, it got to 'serviceable' writing quickly, but the next jump is a significantly bigger leap. As time passes, and new releases of AI appear, I am less sure it can make that next step (and I've no complaints about that).
Well said--and I find it strange how people without the interest or discipline in actually building creative skills seem so excited about this. I was at a conference where a speaker excitedly exclaimed, "Now, everyone can be a novelist!" No, that's not how it works.
Exactly! I put some thoughts down on this a few months back - https://www.trend-mill.com/p/ai-is-turning-creativity-into-a-commodity
The focus on creative pursuits which have historically made very little money is bizarre, too. "You too can sell no books like everyone else, but without even having the creative satisfaction."
Damn, I wish I said this. So true.
Haha. Great point! The only worthwhile gain from these pursuits is the satisfaction it brings, and people are happy to automate that to AI?!
Yes! The satisfaction of someone saying, "I love what you said!" or "your words were exactly what I needed to hear." Imagine hearing that praise if an A.I. came up with it. I think I would feel awful.
Story’s the same with AI generated music. It sucks. Many producers are touting the incredible things it can do, but it’s just nifty. It doesn’t make anything good. It could someday replace stock music, but that’s a long way away. It will never replace real music though because real music is art and art is innovative and rule-breaking. I just hope in the meantime our race to the bottom doesn’t last too long or cause too much permanent damage.
Honestly, I think people who want to listen to AI-generated music are dead inside.
Artificial music for artificial personalities.
Same POV from where I stand. How is anyone impressed with it? Does it sound like anything anyone actually listens to?
I’ve noticed ai generated comment responses here on Substack. I can spot em a mile away. The Platitudes ChatGpt writes omg!
Yeah. A few platforms like LinkedIn are being destroyed by auto-response AI comments. They’ve forgotten the number one rule of ‘engagement’ — it has to add value to the conversion. AI does not.
Yeeeees, I also saw it on Notes! I think that people use it to ramp up their engagement in order to get more subscribers/followers. The hilarious thing is that it seems to work for them! This is nuts!
This piece has me going on in my mind about a few ideas that im putting into short form fiction. Mainly how at some point we'll start seeing thebdivide between artificially saturated people and those who tend to look for more original works.
Interesting! Would be cool to imagine just how far that divide could go and what it could mean. Very dystopian (my favourite)
AI continues to live up to its acronym: Always Inferior. Really appreciated this read, Stephen.
My worst fear with GenAI is that there will be a day in the future where the average consumer cannot tell the difference between lazy AI slop and authentically good writing/art.
Content will end up like Hollywood movies - there are so many nostalgia-fueled remakes, sequels, prequels, etc. that the average movie-viewer cannot differentiate a good movie from a bad one. The fact that the Barbie Movie was considered on par with that wikipedia page of a movie Oppenheimer is tragically telling.
The average movie-viewer already can't tell, and that's why AI sludge movies will find an audience. The avergae Facebook user can't seem to spot AI-generated images. Most people could probably be fooled by AI-generated music. If/when it improves, this is exactly how it plays out. And that's why I worry about the market for real, human-made art/writing/music.
Well said! I've been wondering that this was going to be end of the story for a while now. GenAI is just another tool for non creatives who feel entitled to control over the artist, they'll use it until the market humiliates them over it. It's like catnip to them, it's fundamental to their identity that they're smarter than musicians and writers and everyone else, and GenAI let's them live out that fantasy.
What's more, if you even understand a tiny bit about LLM's and "A.I.", you will realize that it isn't even A.I. if we had actual A.I. I would be more concerned, but we don't. At all.
Very good piece, we need to keep demystifying this A.I. crap.
Man, couldn't agree more with everything you've written. Not only do I like the internet less but editing "sludge" is stealing my love for editing.
Yeah, it's grim stuff!
I use to generate me lists of very-specific synonyms sometimes, but frankly it's quality has very much dropped. I recall it being much better, and much more precise a year ago. Too my understanding ChatGPT uses an insane amount of servers and energy. I suspect OpenAI started simplifying the process to decrease usage cost.
It's a crying shame that we would have to consider "created by a human" or "LLM free" as necessary indicators, but there's every chance we'll need them, unless we can force the opposite ("Made by AI") to be an enforced watermark on everything generated by AI.
Yeah, it got to 'serviceable' writing quickly, but the next jump is a significantly bigger leap. As time passes, and new releases of AI appear, I am less sure it can make that next step (and I've no complaints about that).