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I am a Sloppist.

In the 1920s, we had Futurists in worship of cars, planes and the industrial.

Today, in the 2020s, we have Sloppists who see the potential of AI in all paths of life: work, play and rest.

Today, GenAI produces what some call, on the whole, "AI slop". But we all know that's going to change soon.

As a non-visual creative myself, I get it. But my Tumblr is made with GenAi art, and as someone who's not great with my hands, it helps me realize my art ambitions.

It helps me scratch an itch.

And I know it's slop... But seeing art come from ideas, tinkering around with prompts makes me happy.

And if I'm happy, then I'm proud to call myself a Sloppist.

The Futurists were misunderstood, and we Sloppists probably are too.

We're living in the future the 1920s saw being realized.

History repeats.

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The AI Debate

Look, I get the whole hating on AI because it steals content from creators to train itself, I understand disregarding it as actual art because it was created from algorithms and pre-made images, I even sympathize with the disappointment most people feel when find out something they were interested in (be that an artwork, a fanfiction, or anything else) was artificially generated.

But for the love of everything, stop acting like it is the end of the world as we know it.

AI is a tool. AI can be misused, like literally any other tool. The original purpose of AI was to cut down on research time, and to provide resources to those who didn't have access to them.

Have an idea you want to explore, a certain room in a fanfiction you want to describe but are either lacking the skill in descriptive writing or simply cannot find a good enough reference anywhere, or have the money or time to commission an artist to create it for you, as well as factoring in changes? Generate an image to give yourself a clearer picture of what you are already imagining.

Can't find that exact right phrase that would tie your work together in a beautiful little bow, giving yourself the satisfaction that you spent hours and hours pouring your creativity into it and the gratification that you finally completed it? Tell an AI to rephrase a sentence for you.

Don't have the time to properly research the nuances of a specific character's speech style you'd like to include in your writing? Don't have the energy to get farther than just your idea and actually try to come up with a plot that would tie into it? Tell the AI to make a prompt. Let it give you information and inspiration and a starting point.

It is the people you should hate. The ones who pass off entirely AI generated works as their own, the ones who benefit from no other work than putting in 1 line of text and having it create the rest. It is the ones who misuse a tool. It is designed to assist you, not create for you.

When you utilize AI with its original intention, it is absolutely no different than asking your friend to beta edit your story, pouring over a thesaurus to find the right word for your story, or spending hours finding the perfect reference images, just that it's faster.

Yes, AI is flawed in it's information sometimes. Quite literally everything is. Whether you got your information from a textbook, firsthand accounts, AI, or the News makes absolutely no difference - you will never have the entire story, you will always be missing pieces because the people providing the information are biased. Everyone is biased. It's called pushing a narrative, and it might be wrong but it's a real thing that really happens, and there's nothing you can do to stop it.

Yes, AI is bad for the environment because of carbon emissions in their energy usage. Literally no different from the celebrities using their private jets to fly everywhere, the fashion industry creating cheaply made clothing just to end right back up in a landfill, or pesticides and inorganic fertilizers in agriculture. The world doesn't care, you can't cherry pick a particular angle of a problem to use in your argument without including the things that are better or worse, and the benefits and consequences of doing so.

Be as mad as you want, but AI misusage will inevitably happen because humans are inherently selfish and starved for instant gratification. It is inevitable that your creations will be misused for personal gain, that's the sad shitty reality we live in.

So please, stop your incessant whining and filling up all of these fanfiction tags with AI debate nonsense. You complain about people leaving negative feedback on works when there's a back button? Take your own damn advice. Report it and move on.

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I have existed on the sidelines for a long time - carefully learning more about AI and its implications for the larger world. Separating fact from fiction.

(Probably worth mentioning that this was written by me, and not AI, given the subject matter :D ) I've come to the conclusion that, while I will push for continually more ethical, environmentally-friendly, and open-source forms of AI, I am overall in support of AI tools.

Should we push for training sets that are trained on data provided only from those artists who opt in? Definitely. Should we aim to make AI affordable and accessible? Definitely. Should we push AI Companies to use renewable energy and climate friendly solutions wherever possible? Hell yeah. But I cannot deny the impact that AI tools have had on my life as a late-diagnosed neurodivergent person. Tools like ChatGPT are the only thing I can find that keep up with my brain, and the rate at which questions occur. I've been able to learn more in the last year than I have (maybe ever?) - both academically, and about myself. Whether it be image generation, LLM's, video, audio chat (for things like language practice) you name it. It has awoken a spark in me that I thought was long dead. And this isn't merely a spark to create things using AI - but to incorporate it alongside an arsenal of artistic and digital skills (drawing, 3d sculpting, writing, pixel art, sound design, music production, etc.) I do think that, like many things in the modern world, it will be a toy for some, and a legitimate tool for others. Some people will be content typing in a simple 3-word prompt and seeing what AI-Generated Image Roulette as in store for them that day. Some will be content to lose their critical thinking skills in place of the convenience of AI searches. Others will instead use AI as:

A starting point, an opportunity to see what their ideas could look like if made visible. A seed of inspiration and excitement.

Part of an existing workflow. Speeding up more monotonous tasks and freeing up time to focus on the aspects of creation that light you up the most.

A Partner in Learning, a peer who is always able to give focused advice. All hours of the night, every day of the week. Someone to bounce a quick idea off of, or to check your story for plot holes.