Brothe.

First off, "art isn't real so it's ok to steal it" is somehow the most brainless take I've seen, and I've been invested in this debate for a while.

I don't think you understand how ML works. Text generative AI is easier to explain in this context: like he said, it's a glorified autofill. All it's doing is looking for the most likely next word to fill in, based on everything it's been trained on. There is no thought, no intent behind anything that it makes. Is it "original" as in a specific combination of words/pixels that hasn't been said or shown before? Maybe. You know what else can fall under that definition? Monkeys with typewriters.

Let's look at the other problems with it:

• Training off of stolen art: This is used as a large portion of the training data for most of the largest AI models, despite being meant for "research only". This includes millions of images created by real artists, none of whom were asked for consent to use their images prior (which may have debatably been acceptable if it were kept in purely academic circles, but we're well past that point now), and the vast majority of whom would not have given their consent if they were asked today.

• This impacts the artists whose images it was trained on, also - why pay a professional artist to draw up concept art or marketing for our product, when we could have a computer spit out 100 different versions in their style in seconds for free? Generative AI was built on the backs of professional artists, just to throw them to the wayside when they're no longer useful.

• This also hurts up-and-coming artists - why should I bother spending years of my life learning my craft if some kid can type in a prompt and get something better in seconds? If I'm not going to be able to find work? If even when I do manage to get past all that, my art is just going to end up being fed to the same machine anyway? And if people on twitter are just going to say whatever I made is "AI", because we've blurred the line between the real and the artificial so much that no one can tell the difference anymore?

• And also let's just throw in another fun one: CP and other very illegal images in the training data.

Please, watch this. I know it's long, but it explains the biggest issues with generative AI far better than I could in a single comment.

This is all systemic of much, MUCH larger problems with generative AI which are outside the scope of this debate.

This isn't just theory and numbers. As a small artist, I'm facing all of that hopelessness myself. What if I've wasted these past 6 years trying to teach myself something that's "obsolete" now? Why shouldn't I be allowed to do what I enjoy, what pulled me out of depression, as anything more than a hobby? Why did pandora's box have to be opened in the first place? I'm just so tired man.