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AI is here. Deal with it.
2 years ago
The other day I created content by hand-hacking some AI generated images, the usual "photo enhancement" job. The only difference was the original was generated by Stable Diffusion, not some horny human artist or photographer.
Y'all FLAMED me for "using AI".
Ok, 2 points, etc.:
1.) I'd missed the memo back in November when FA admin decided to ban all AI-generated content. So grace, friends. You can see my last journal post was FIVE YEARS AGO. Yes, as a matter of fact: I HAVE been living "under a rock" lately. I only weeks ago discovered stable diffusion was a thing and days ago got it running to abysmal results on my own computer. Me with a stray copy of stable diffusion is as of this writing zero threat to any artist's career.
2.) You cannot ban the evolution of technology. You can only ban yourself from the greater world community that's moving on with it. This applies to the Federal Reserve Bank's war on cryptocurrency, equally true about Fur Affinity's ban on generative neural networks, and it will be true of any ban on genetic engineering. Because y'all know some horny nerd like us is going to try to cook up an illegal nekko waifu in his mother's basement and the thing's going to get loose with a gene drive and force-evolve the whole planet to feline. You cannot stop the inevitable with laws and all laws attempting to do so are...unwise and short sighted. Better to embrace and adapt rather than exit and atrophy.
etc.) I am an ancient software engineer, from the days when we were first called "programmers". Seriously most of my career has been in writing Fortran code. I've watched AI, really "neural networks" grow from obscure academic papers from the 1960's to today's apparently "singularity" event with chatGPT (which I use and abuse daily), stable diffusion, Dall-E and all the like. I understand what it can do and what it can't.
It can't generate "ex-nilo", out of nothing. It won't solve problems nobody's ever solved before. All it can do is rehash the material and solutions it's been fed and strain you the purified "optimal". It's an optimizer, and that's all. And yes that's a huge force multiplier for anyone with a paperwork or artistic axe to grind. The smart ones use tools. And if you're not using AI in your career--ANY career-- you're now obsolete. You will be massively outpaced by those who do. Its not about taking jobs. Its about enhancing productivity and reducing time and labor costs. The machine is still dumb as a box of rocks and always will be. It has zero initiative and zero actual imagination as to what to do next. For those things a human will always be required.
Then there's the "rights violations" of folks who can't tell what part of which end of the output came from where. They're worried the machine will Borg their best efforts and spread them all around the world for free. Dude. Stop. It's called "marketing". Roll with it. You should be honored that the optimizer pulled out chopped-up bits of your work to include in its optimal "smoothie" answer. Hall back the output and rehash it yourself. Point to it everywhere with neon arrows that say "invented here! Want more original work like this inquire within!" Use your market as feedback to optimize your work product. The AI just drastically reduced the cycle time. If you're starving then get involved in crypto/blockchain projects that pay contributors in microtransactions to upload their training data. They exist. They've existed for years. Get educated about them.
Because frankly most of us here will be ignored as training data. "Optimal" we ain't. So it's a moot point. I've seen the results when the AI is trained on us, the default models generically trained on generic free images. It's...just us, usually mutated beyond recognition. It takes dedicated efforts to curate kwality training data and those who do should be praised for it and rewarded with our not-wasted attentions for their efforts. If more did we'd sooner get to the bottom and consensus of what "beauty" lies in the collective eyes of we the beholders.
Meanwhile there's me and my pickle. I've got DA that's rigged for full AI metadata and welcomes all commers--but has trained Nazi censorship robots to eliminate all futa material. And I've got FA who doesn't give a flying foreskin about futa--but has banned AI generated images in whole or part--fair use be damned. There's just no place left to post my latest material. I like futa and why should I even bother anymore with "non-optimized", human-generated fodder for my Photoshop mods when the optimized stuff is exactly as it says on the tin: optimized.
I call the AI "Tinkerbell". Because it slaps that fairy dust sh!t on everything. And yes she can write flawless Fortran code too.
Anywho this marks the FOURTH time I'm having to take my Tinkerbell and go home from FA or DA because of something irreparably stupid either on my part, the community, or the admins.
I can't say there won't be a fifth...if I live that long.
I'll see y'all when FA pulls its head out'a its arse and realizes they've just burned their own pants off. I give it a year or two. I been horny for 40 so no big to me. I just keep doin' my thing with Tink n' shovin' it down my pants while I wait. She and I together do make some surprisingly sparkly smut. I ain't missin' out on much.
Y'all are tho, if y'ain't doin' likewise.
Second star to the right and train the AI 'till morning.
-Paw.
Y'all FLAMED me for "using AI".
Ok, 2 points, etc.:
1.) I'd missed the memo back in November when FA admin decided to ban all AI-generated content. So grace, friends. You can see my last journal post was FIVE YEARS AGO. Yes, as a matter of fact: I HAVE been living "under a rock" lately. I only weeks ago discovered stable diffusion was a thing and days ago got it running to abysmal results on my own computer. Me with a stray copy of stable diffusion is as of this writing zero threat to any artist's career.
2.) You cannot ban the evolution of technology. You can only ban yourself from the greater world community that's moving on with it. This applies to the Federal Reserve Bank's war on cryptocurrency, equally true about Fur Affinity's ban on generative neural networks, and it will be true of any ban on genetic engineering. Because y'all know some horny nerd like us is going to try to cook up an illegal nekko waifu in his mother's basement and the thing's going to get loose with a gene drive and force-evolve the whole planet to feline. You cannot stop the inevitable with laws and all laws attempting to do so are...unwise and short sighted. Better to embrace and adapt rather than exit and atrophy.
etc.) I am an ancient software engineer, from the days when we were first called "programmers". Seriously most of my career has been in writing Fortran code. I've watched AI, really "neural networks" grow from obscure academic papers from the 1960's to today's apparently "singularity" event with chatGPT (which I use and abuse daily), stable diffusion, Dall-E and all the like. I understand what it can do and what it can't.
It can't generate "ex-nilo", out of nothing. It won't solve problems nobody's ever solved before. All it can do is rehash the material and solutions it's been fed and strain you the purified "optimal". It's an optimizer, and that's all. And yes that's a huge force multiplier for anyone with a paperwork or artistic axe to grind. The smart ones use tools. And if you're not using AI in your career--ANY career-- you're now obsolete. You will be massively outpaced by those who do. Its not about taking jobs. Its about enhancing productivity and reducing time and labor costs. The machine is still dumb as a box of rocks and always will be. It has zero initiative and zero actual imagination as to what to do next. For those things a human will always be required.
Then there's the "rights violations" of folks who can't tell what part of which end of the output came from where. They're worried the machine will Borg their best efforts and spread them all around the world for free. Dude. Stop. It's called "marketing". Roll with it. You should be honored that the optimizer pulled out chopped-up bits of your work to include in its optimal "smoothie" answer. Hall back the output and rehash it yourself. Point to it everywhere with neon arrows that say "invented here! Want more original work like this inquire within!" Use your market as feedback to optimize your work product. The AI just drastically reduced the cycle time. If you're starving then get involved in crypto/blockchain projects that pay contributors in microtransactions to upload their training data. They exist. They've existed for years. Get educated about them.
Because frankly most of us here will be ignored as training data. "Optimal" we ain't. So it's a moot point. I've seen the results when the AI is trained on us, the default models generically trained on generic free images. It's...just us, usually mutated beyond recognition. It takes dedicated efforts to curate kwality training data and those who do should be praised for it and rewarded with our not-wasted attentions for their efforts. If more did we'd sooner get to the bottom and consensus of what "beauty" lies in the collective eyes of we the beholders.
Meanwhile there's me and my pickle. I've got DA that's rigged for full AI metadata and welcomes all commers--but has trained Nazi censorship robots to eliminate all futa material. And I've got FA who doesn't give a flying foreskin about futa--but has banned AI generated images in whole or part--fair use be damned. There's just no place left to post my latest material. I like futa and why should I even bother anymore with "non-optimized", human-generated fodder for my Photoshop mods when the optimized stuff is exactly as it says on the tin: optimized.
I call the AI "Tinkerbell". Because it slaps that fairy dust sh!t on everything. And yes she can write flawless Fortran code too.
Anywho this marks the FOURTH time I'm having to take my Tinkerbell and go home from FA or DA because of something irreparably stupid either on my part, the community, or the admins.
I can't say there won't be a fifth...if I live that long.
I'll see y'all when FA pulls its head out'a its arse and realizes they've just burned their own pants off. I give it a year or two. I been horny for 40 so no big to me. I just keep doin' my thing with Tink n' shovin' it down my pants while I wait. She and I together do make some surprisingly sparkly smut. I ain't missin' out on much.
Y'all are tho, if y'ain't doin' likewise.
Second star to the right and train the AI 'till morning.
-Paw.
And no, I'm not here to "flame you". I'm just telling it like it is.
The thing is, I had always really enjoyed your art, particularly your depictions of superpowered women. Rather than using AI, why not try bettering your own drawing craft instead? Your drawing style is supposed to be distinctive to you. But having a computer do it results in something soulless.
Getting "human soul-crushing results" currently takes quite a bit of learn'ed work and educated whip-cracking. It's not skill-less. It's just a different skill SET. Yes it enables people with no art skills to create images. But you must have sys admin and coding skills to succeed. And I for one appreciate those for what they are: respectable. They're at least as respectable, and in the post-processing often identical to, photoshop skills. The tools of the trade have evolved is all.
And yes, as "living" beings we are all animated by the breath of God, our "souls" as you would. And yes the machines will never have that. They're creatures animated entirely by entropy. But they are "creatures". All that word means is they were created. And it implies they've various wriggly bits.
AI uses randomness to simulate creativity. Your novelty-addicted brain can't tell the difference. Nor does it really care. Stand on humanist principles all you like. You'll still experience a hit of dopamine whenever you look at something "pretty", regardless of its origin. The synthetic "pretty" is just optimized. It's like going from cocaine to crack. Same stuff, more processed, better highs, more addicting. It will put the base cocaine dealers out of business. It's already conquered DA. FA is just a matter of time.
I'm not even here to try and change your mind at this point. I'm simply sharing my own point of view just as you are yours. From what you're suggesting, you seem to be giving off the vibe of, "The new world order is here. We can either embrace it or perish into obscurity." I've seen LOTS of AI art and one thing they ALL have had in common is the eyes. When I said soulless, I meant it. There's no "soul" in that art. It feels devoid of meaning compared to something someone actually created with drawing tools. There's a certain connection that all AI art has in common that is recognizable. I've seen more refined art generated from it and while that dopamine hit is a thing for seeing something impressively created with AI, at least for me, I still see the emptiness in the image and a zero desire to retain it. At this point, it's more based on principles than anything else that I insist on keeping AI art away from me.
Then there's the sheer amount of data and bandwidth this art eats up. People can churn out these images like a candy factory on overdrive. dA no doubt has almost endless amounts of bandwidth to accomodate it all. But FA? They may be big in their own right, but I'm sure they recognize how much of a can of worms this is to allow such a tidal wave of low-effort art to swamp their servers. I don't pretend to know just how much is really involved in making AI art. What I do know is it takes away from the efforts of artists who have put in hours upon hours of effort into making their art. At best, AI art should be kept isolated on their own websites just for them. But that's just my opinion, I guess.
I still intend to keep AI art far away from me. You do you, I guess. But there are many people who would more fiercely disagree with you than I have.