#the artificial condition

[wowzerwyrm]

I know there’s more to it than just copyright and fiction, but I really truly have a hard time understanding why anyone would care if their fic was one of hundreds of thousands of other fics copied off of Ao3 to be used in a GenAI database.

Like, don’t get me wrong, I’m not shouting the praises of genAI literature from the heavens. I haven’t put a lot of thought into it but my initial thought is that generating stories has even fewer use-cases than generating images does (though I can think of a few for each, it’s not exactly the hype-train of all-encompassing utility companies try to make it out (or force it) to be).

But like

I dunno, what exactly is the problem here? Why is this something that you have to lock your fics down for, like you’re battening down the hatches to defend against an invader? It’s essentially just taken a picture and is learning from it to (maybe) write better.

I’ve got a fic on Ao3, and it’s pretty long and I’m really proud of it. And like… it’s still there. It’s not going anywhere. The AI didn’t take it away or change it at all.

And especially on Ao3, the archive famous for fighting for people’s rights to take other people’s content and do whatever they want with it (as long as it’s not making a profit) it seems *really* weird to be up in arms about someone… taking your content and doing something unrelated with it.

[jupiterlandings]

Target brand Magic School Bus vs Great Value Conor Cyberlife: who will win?

[wowzerwyrm]

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with disliking AI, and it’s definitely not good to say that ‘disabled people’ as a whole can’t make art without AI (becuase that’s a very reductive statement and reduces a large demographic into an infantilized group)

I think the issue comes in with deciding for other people what kind of effort they’re required to put in in order to get something out of it. If less effort is possible, people should be allowed (regardless of disability but especially if disabled) to take the easier route.

Perhaps there are benefits to taking the harder way. Perhaps some disabled people (or even most of them) would prefer to learn a style of art that doesn’t involve something like AI. And there are discussions to be had on whether a tool is causing more harm to others than it helps an individual (though I don’t current believe that AI as a tool inherently has a harmful trade-off like that, at least not more so than any other tool artists use).

But the point is that it should be someone’s choice how they approach and handle their disability. Telling someone that they should not be allowed to take advantage of a tool that allows them to create in a way that they enjoy and that alleviates pain or difficulty or any other number of things that would not be possible without that tool is ableist.

Akin to saying “I think it’s more ableist to assume that disabled people can’t get around without a wheelchair than it is for me to not like wheelchairs.” Perhaps not the best analogy because I doubt op would have any particular beef with a wheelchair, nor have wheelchairs been shoved into every single digital tool and website we own without being asked (see the underlying theme of choice in all this)

But sure, it would be ableist to declare that all disabled people as a whole require wheelchairs to get from point A to point B. It’s also ableist to walk up to someone in a wheelchair and say “I saw you stand up a minute ago to grab something off that shelf, you clearly don’t need that wheelchair and are holding yourself back from getting better at walking by relying on it.”

It’s about choice and allowing people to use the tools they determine are best for themselves.

not to be that guy but i think it's a lot more ableist to assume that disabled ppl can't make art without ai than it is for me to not like ai

[wowzerwyrm]

Sudden thought I had about this whole AI discourse is just how similar it is to the student loan forgiveness stuff, emotionally. People look at something they had to work hard for, something they put blood and tears and sweat into, and then when someone else gets the same thing for free it feels wrong. And the instinct is to say “No, it’s the work that made it worthwhile! If I had to work for it, so do they!”

And that’s a totally normal thing to feel, but that also doesn’t mean it’s right. The thing is, it’s easy to justify because in some ways it is right. Work, effort, time spent learning and earning things, it does and can make it more worthwhile to do things! Getting everything for free, without effort, would be boring and unenriching. We climb mountains and create art and dance and play for the sake of climbing mountains, not just for getting to the top.

But I still stand by the idea that we should have the right to choose what aspects of effort we engage with. If someone wants to climb the mountain, they should be allowed to, but if someone wants to just be at the top so they can practice landscape painting, they shouldn’t have to climb the mountain to get there unless they want to.

And yet, if someone had to climb that mountain in order to paint, they might still object when they hear about the ski lift being installed.

[freyadragonlord]

[wowzerwyrm]

I’m pretty sure the people who use AI now would just copy something else before. AI doesn’t magically make someone who was willing to do the project themselves before suddenly unwilling to do so

"what did students do before chatgpt?" well one time i forgot i had a history essay due at my 10am class the morning of so over the course of my 30 minute bus ride to school i awkwardly used by backpack as a desk, sped wrote the essay, and got an A on it.

six months later i re-read the essay prior to the final exam, went 'ohhhh yeah i remember this', got a question on that topic, and aced it.

point being that actually doing the work is how you learn the material and internalize it. ChatGPT can give you a short cut but you won't build you the the muscles.

[everywaythatmatters]

ART about to meet its best friend in the whole wide universe: what if I started this conversation in the scariest way possible

[theartingace]

a direct followup to my other post of them meeting, which I've already changed how I draw MB 3 times since then, including once since I started this but it's *FINE* we're putting it out anyway because I'm not drawing ART all over again

[a-spectacular-pigeon]

It's my personal theory that Art hadn't actually intended to introduce itself to SecUnit until it started watching Worldhoppers.

[wowzerwyrm]

I don’t have a lot of time at the moment, and everyone here is pretty angry, but if anyone would like to have a conversation about this I’d love to talk about people’s potential right to choose when and how they want to work

"ai is making it so everyone can make art" Everyone can make art dipshit it came free with your fucking humanity

[ghostcashewart]

guess who ended up drawing a comic of an entire scene from Artificial Condition

[fearless-seagull]

Pushing my ART is a giant scary spider agenda

[wowzerwyrm]

Much as I agree that the energy costs from AI being shunted in as customer service at every big company is a bad thing, I think it’s probably important to note that this graphic and article seems to be from a ‘pro-Ai’ company that appears to have made it their job to track the growth of AI in order to tell AI investors how much it’s going to keep growing and booming and making them money.

So, like, I wouldn’t necessarily trust this one anymore than someone who tells you that it’s time to hop on the Dogecoin train.

[bearmakesart]

This is so dumb i cant

^pov mb hacking everything within a five mile radius every time it gets the chance

[wiklm]

murderbot and ART first meeting u will always be famous 2 me..

[thepaper]

Relistening to Artificial Condition and loving this intro to Art with the new information from Rapport

Art recieving the request to board from Murderbot and it takes a minute to respond. I can only imagine the process it went through.

1) wtf who is this

2) thats a secunit, why the fuck is there a secunit trying to board me.

3) continue the pretense of being a regular botpilot and alert local security or deal with it myself?

4) obviously i should deal with it. Who sent it? What does it know about my crew? What does it want. Obviously it doesnt know about me or my giant awesome brain so ill squash it like a bug and dispose of it if necessary after i find out what its after.

5) its just watching TV what the hell