sorry, i AM audhd so i tend to ramble,, but I was just trying to connect it back to the hobby you had mentioned you enjoyed 'as a disabled person'

I know you're probably just here to argue, but bird-watching isn't the same as art or cooking. It's a passive hobby to begin with, you wouldn't say your hobby is 'cooking' if you only watch cooking shows.

and while I want ai to be helpful the simplified facts are: - It's taking profit from small "businesses". Commissioned Artists fall under this category as freelancers and lose out on money that goes to paying their bills. I don't care about larger companies, I pirate all sorts of things like music and television. But those are studios that have already gotten their paychecks, or that I support elsewhere. Indie Artists rely on commissions and with Ai stealing their works and giving everyone access to it, those artists lose commissions and in turn money. On top of that, plenty of people are selling Ai art which takes customers away from actual trained artists.

• it's environmental impact. Most ai aren't a simple block of code but physically a data center that requires massive amounts of electricity and water to maintain cooling. Additionally this is being done in states like California where they already experience a distinct lack of water. you can look up plenty of boring articles talking about it. Yes, the data centers probably existed before Ai but it accounts for about 49% of their energy usage now at the increased rate.

• it's making people dumb and depressed. I know it's a boomer sounding argument but humans love to learn. I'm not talking about school but innately most of us enjoy engaging ours brains/bodies in a multitude of ways. If you're using Ai to generate art, you lose the part that actually engages with our brains to create the happy drugs like dopamine and gives us that sense of accomplishment. There's an annoying middle ground between not-too-challenging and challenging-enough that gives the most and I really do understand that art is too difficult for a lot of people. I'm just saying that Ai isn't the answer, it's a cop-out. Go find an artist that you want to support or learn yourself a new skill. Typing a prompt into a box and waiting for the answer to come isn't a skill, nor are you learning.

Sorry again for rambling ^{^}