My Anti-Generative-AI Page

This is not meant to be a major addition to my website. This is here because I honestly hate Generative AI. I made a whole movie which was about how "any culture that actively promotes it has no intrinsic value." Now if you've SEEN my art, I GET the backlash you're probably going to make. In my view, though, you don't have to be that professional in your approach as an artist, you don't have to get paid work, hell you don't even have to be GOOD, but you at least HAVE TO make what it is you've said you made. Say whatever you want about my art, at least what wasn't mine was changed and remixed in a meaningful way (and I'm phrasing it like that because the only time I handled art that WASN'T mine was in my YouTube page AND my movie "Prometheus"). In my view, if you want to make art, you HAVE TO get past the idea of "what if I'm bad and people laugh at me?" EVERY SINGLE person who has ever tried to be an artist of any kind will have had those fears (I'd also argue that art made by humans have soul compared to AI but this is getting off track*).

HOWEVER...I can understand your reliance on it if you're unaware anything else exists. That is what this page is for. This isn't meant to be a smug "YOU use Generative AI!?" thing (I actually give examples at the end of where I think "AI" is really helpful), it's merely meant to be a directory that shows you have options. So with that said, I am hopeful that many of you find what you're looking for.

I've also seen tech companies are starting to utilize their products to push the Generative AI snake oil onto everyone. To put it bluntly, if you use Microsoft Word or Google Docs, your work is going to be used in AI shit. So...alternatives

A news story about an AI generated video of a killer's victim 'forgiving them' in court

I'm actually going to add something of an amendum to this page and it is because of THIS image. A story of Generative AI being used to "resurrect" a killer's victim and "forgiving him." I'm sorry but fuck this shit! That is NOT the victim! That is a cartoon of the victim, at best. Now AI advocates having no respect for the dead seems to be a behavioural pattern (if you're questioning "well YOU say that but you have a photo of him on THIS website"...I'm standing up for this man's autonomy as a dead person. If we're comparing "who respected him more?", I win by default) but this is a whole new level of fucked. This is something the family generated, which I find insane. Firstly, if they wanted to forgive the killer of a family member, why not just have the family forgive them?(...!) Secondly, I don't care if these people ARE family, you don't KNOW how he would react to confronting the man that killed him! I'm sorry but no one has shown an emotional reaction to being dead because we don't have fucking Lazarus on standby! Now I've heard this wasn't included as evidence so I'm not going to talk about that...much. See I wonder what kind of a slippery slope this is. I mean if it wasn't evidence, what WAS the point of showing that video? Family invested in OpenAI and wanted to get their money's worth? In a related way I also have to question, if you can literally just make up "not-evidence" like that, what's the point of even HAVING a court? This is a serious question. If I get accused of armed robbery and someone generates a video of me "No, I definitely did it" why even bother trying to make a case if you're going to treat that as if it's real?

So...I'm sorry but this can get fucked

Before I finish - if any of you are AI advocates reading this, I never wanted Generative AI. I don't want to generate photos of something I could either find in the real world OR draw/paint myself OR (even better) PAY someone to make for me. Now, I say "Generative AI" because AI as we know it has existed for decades at this point (if you're a gamer and "Anti-AI", what are the NPCs?) and if we're talking "Analytical AI" (the kind of thing where AI is used to assist scientific developments - predict where bushfires will occur, analyse tissue samples for cancer, that kind of thing), barring the environmental impact, I honestly have no complaints. So I'm not WHOLLY "anti-AI." That said, Whether or not you're anti-AI, the simple statement of "I do not want this product. Can you stop forcing it onto me?" should not be a controversial one nor one that requires hoop jumping of THIS magnitude. I absolutely feel justified in fighting that. If you went to a mechanic who wanted to make a "Tetsuo The Iron Man" out of your car, you shouldn't have to keep constant watch just to make sure he doesn't do that (or you'd use another one that WON'T make a zombie/cyborg/human hybrid). Why should it be the same with tech and Generative AI?

That's all I've got for now.

* = I actually wanted to elaborate on this a little bit. See a lot of Generative AI art advocates, at least based on what I've seen, don't seem to add or appreciate details of art. Like if you were to write a prompt for "Saturn Devouring His Son" would anyone SERIOUSLY say that any Generative AI could match Goya's interpretation? Or Reubens? What each artist brought to the interpretation of the same scene is valid and can speak to something in a person. Now, I PERSONALLY prefer Goya's interpretation because I feel it draws more attention to the actual act, the body of the child appears full grown, as if it knew what was about to happen, Cronos' face is almost that of a wild animal but moreso that of someone or something completely crazed. However, what I think speaks to this art piece is Goya was a liberal person and seeing Spain fall into religious and political oppression definitely affected his art (compare that painting to his "Hannibal seeing Italy". I can't project onto a man who died 200 years before I was born but I feel the differences between the two speak for themselves). I ALSO want to note that Saturn Devouring His Son by Goya was painted on the wall of his dining room. He never actually intended anyone see it. What does it say to have THAT image staring at you while you eat alone as your country burns?

Now while I PREFER Goya's version, Reubens has an interesting interpretation of the scene. Both are commentaries on the same myth of Cronos heard that his son would kill him, he decided to counteract this with eating his kids, and eventually his wife hid a child away who actually would fulfill the prophecy - Zeus. This one is less cannibalistic and appears closer in theory to that of sucking the child's soul out. Now...because this one isn't AS obviously "devouring" and in some interpretations of the story, Cronos' children are able to survive in his stomach, what I think of is life beyond. We've all seen people who are damaged or destroyed by trauma. Sometimes parental figures do do that to their children. The smoke could be the deliberate obscuration of the act and the stars in the sky...I know it was originally "Saturn" because the planet itself had just been discovered but "in universe" of the painting, it could also draw light. Like WE are watching this, WE are observing, there is a light that this monster will get what he deserves.

I'm not an art major. I'm not an art expert. I'm honestly just a fan. However, the point I'm making is every single thing in these paintings has reason to be there. Even if I'm not aware of the artist's history. There's actual thought behind why it all works the way it does. Generative AI doesn't HAVE that! Now for those reading who think about picking up an easel or even a drawing program themselves - fair bit of fair play here, barring the "Hannibal", both were made decades into their artists' run. Expecting "I just learned how to draw, I WANNA MAKE A GHIBLI ANIMATION!" is just setting yourself up for disappointment. If you want to make art that looks good, if you want to make art that amazes people, what you need is an investment of TIME. Time and effort. Now I'm not saying you should be like these artists. If you have your own art that you find inspiration in...draw from that! Make music like them. Make films like them. Even if all the art you personally want to emulate is outsider/punk stuff (HI!). Inspiration from said art gives it...a soul in the way Generative AI just can't.

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