#but there's lot of arts right now getting shafted because people apparently Need the output of skilled labor

[magpiemirroring]

Every time I see someone argue that AI is making art accessible, or making art possible for disabled people or whatever, I'm just....

Well, first: have you talked to any disabled artists? Some of whom were artists before they became disabled? Because I've yet to talk to any who would be content with a machine making art for them. The part folks yearn for is not really the idea magically being on the paper, it's the time spent making the piece. And artists can be very clever and very determined to find a way to make art in spite of any limits their bodies may have.

But really: Why are you so ashamed of being an amateur artist?

Like, I've been putting work into getting good at art since I was in preschool and paused while eating my crayons to consider that it mattered to me how many legs a horse had and I was damn well going to attempt to get it right!

But maybe that's not you. Maybe you haven't found the right art form for you yet. Maybe you haven't been willing or able to throw yourself at the challenge of getting better at any form of art.

There's lots of things I'd like to be good at, but I'm not. I didn't have it in me to throw myself at dance or music. I took music lessons twice in my life. Once with violin through my school, and once private piano lessons with a nice lady who taught piano in her living room. I murdered the violin. I was passable at piano. I wasn't passionate enough about either to practice frequently.

Any hope of dance or sports would have been nixed by my body. I'm flexible in the wrong ways and I have shoddy proprioception, so I would have inevitably torn something or broken something important in the process. And I didn't love either enough to sacrifice my body to them. (I love art like that and I am so careful of my hands and wrists and shoulders and I still have times where I can't make art or I have to make art slowly.) But I love to dance for fun, just for myself.

I'm an amateur chef and baker. I have a bare minimum of skill in sewing. I dabbled in making websites but coding gives me a headache. I love so many kinds of science and still do, but got burned out on trying to get my math to the necessary levels. I love history, but if you ask me to write a proper research paper I will probably cry from academic burnout but I will ramble about history if you give me an opening. I am frankly shite at any sport that involves running and the only sport I ever daydreamed about getting good at was archery. I love playing video games, but I despite the many many hours I have put into some games, I always play on easy mode and have no interest in Getting Good because that's not fun for me. I can't sing, I can't dance, and my acting skills are rusty at best. I used to do whatever theatre I could. I took theatre electives 3 years in a row in school and did summer school one year to make room for theatre. I sang and danced badly as required. I'm naturally shy, but I liked acting. A lot. But I didn't like it as much as I liked drawing and painting and digital art. I didn't want to throw myself into the grind to try to make acting work for me and I decided I didn't even want to devote my time to local theatre. It took so many hours that I would rather spend on art. But I exercise my dormant theatre kid muscles by DMing D&D when I can cram that into my schedule, lmao.

I am bad at so many things that I enjoy doing and I still enjoy doing them. Doing the thing is what's fun and fulfilling.

So when folks claim they need AI so they can make art, I'm kinda flummoxed, but that seems like you're letting the AI do the fun part, the important part, the part where the art is actually made. Do you actually like art? Do you actually want to make art?

Why are you so embarrassed and ashamed of not having professional level skills in something you never put professional level effort into? Look at all those things I'm shit at! There are professionals I can and will pay for if I need a thing professionally done with professional skill. But messing around with food, with learning, with video games, with theatre and improv skills, and making all sorts of things in areas of art and crafting that are not my focus? These are my side projects. My fun times with friends. They don't need to be good, just pleasing to do.

Why do you hold art to a different standard? Why is art all about the finished product's value in someone else's eyes and not the experience you have in making it?