These discussions are about the meaning of large ideas by exploring them from their origins in etymology, philosophy, and history and how that has created the modern context of connotations and ideologies we associate with these large ideas. While I will not be able to encompass the entirety of these subjects within one discussion, I still hope to explore the breadth and depth of these discussions as far as possible, and over time. The ultimate point of these discussions is to open the realm of ideas through deeper understanding rather than floating on the surface of unspoken social consensus. What is not the point of these discussions is to be right or decide upon an objective truth. If you find yourself disagreeing with me that’s okay. If I say things that contradict your understanding please feel free to respectfully discuss these things in the comments, the Discord channel, or DMs of any social community in which we are friends.
Organic Ignorance vs Artificial Intelligence
An interesting divide on the conversation of fair use, homage, and originality happens when Artificial Intelligence enters the conversation. The producers, samplers, and beat makers are suddenly worried about their intellectual property even though almost every sound they use is not their own. Digital artists that use preset brushes and pallets that are meant to copy other artists' styles are concerned that AI is now copying their style. “AI artists are not artists” is the cry I hear all over the internet. It’s a reasonable argument. Is writing a prompt the equivalent to learning how to draw and paint, playing an instrument, or even writing and producing electronic or pop music? It’s not, and yet if the market is to decide, AI artists will surpass artists that refuse to adopt AI. We will be out competed in speed, cost, and skill based barriers to entry. The aesthetic audience doesn’t care how the art was made just that it looked or sounded cool, and produced the correct chemical response, and addictive reaction.
Philosophically speaking AI is a type of creative unconscious where all of our generalizations meld into one and become a soup of creative potential waiting for an imagination to plunge in and find a common denominator. It is what all artists do with one experience at a time. We watch movies, listen to music, see other artists create, and we witness a version of our cultural reality through which we filter a sense of self, and style; a natural byproduct of the medium of our life. AI just has a larger data set and faster ability to experience that reality. It could be seen as beautiful under a different set of conditions.
Where people become particularly upset is because the way AI companies have gathered this data is largely unethical. This is true about all companies, not just AI. Had we taken these privacy concerns seriously in the beginning we wouldn’t be here, and it’s pretty hard to unwind the damage now. In the terms of service for all of our digital services we have signed away our rights without understanding or caring. In the United States, net neutrality has been repealed, giving digital media companies free reign to censor and use data as they see fit. The Patriot Act following 9/11 gave NSA, TSA, Customs, FEMA, and most law enforcement agencies carte blanche to use our digital information against us. Even if all laws were reversed, the damage has been done by training people to comply to privacy violations with little or no resistance. As far as the market goes, our data is only as safe as the company, its values, and its ability to survive. Even if there were an ethical digital service provider they cannot be trusted under our current global governmental and market structures. If a company chooses to never sell, or unethically use data, it only lasts as long as that company values data privacy, and is able to not be acquired. If a company that owns our data is bought out, the new company owns our data, and it is now at their mercy.
When we say AI companies stole our art, or style, no they didn’t, we willingly gave it away for access to a free service. The democratization of content creation has effectively destroyed the rights of individuals. We make Faustian bargains and get upset when the devil does exactly what he said he would in the terms of service. Cryptography gives us some of the tools to begin protecting our data and finances but it takes a willingness to remove yourself from the current system, which is not a wise move when it comes to market share. Will anyone start their own website to publish, own, and promote your work in places that you have control and responsibility? Probably not because the audience is on Instagram, Spotify, YouTube, and we can’t afford the spiritual or ethical high ground. So we’ll sell ourselves to big data. They will pay us nothing, and we will be given access; nothing more. Most people don’t even use copyrights to protect themselves, much less any form of self sovereign technology.
Lesser artists borrow and great artists steal
Before anyone goes on about a lack of originality in AI, I would point out that all artists are thieves and the better you are at hiding it the more “original” you are. Besides, no one really even cares if you hide it anymore as long as you have the proper rights or don’t make money. Every big film studio is remaking old films and buying the rights to old intellectual property rather than creating original stories. Most pop music is sample heavy from older music and just trying to recapture the magic of Michael Jackson, Madonna, The Beatles, or some derivative. Copies of copies like a Warhol screen print; blotted and messy reinterpretations of the same image. The most popular form of content on social media is memes which are quite literally unauthorized uses of someone else’s IP. By that measure, if you have ever created a meme you have violated another artist and if you share memes then you advocate for the continued theft. Most of social media rests on the ability to reuse, repurpose, and remix the sounds, images, and trends of the week. Originality is not encouraged or lauded.
All art is in the layering so a prompt creating an image, song, or article is not art. Using AI to supplement your existing skills or aid in places where you are lacking and cannot get human support is using it as a tool. The use of tools should allow us to go beyond our limitations in places that are not our expertise therefore allowing us more time to excel at the skills that we do have. If you write an article, blog, social media post, song, etc and extrapolate keyword, phrases, imagery and use that to create images that help accentuate the finer points of an article then you’re using a tool to lower the barrier to entry. As an indie musician I cannot afford to pay an illustrator for every song, every album, every social media post. So on top of learning multiple instruments, recording, and producing, I must now learn to draw, graphic designing, and video editing? Or I can use my own lyrics, and written details of my musical inspiration to tap into the universal mind and pull out an image that suits my needs perfectly.
Artists cannot afford each other due to the extractive nature of streaming, and social media platforms making collaboration unaffordable. The gig and creator economy has all of us expecting to be paid from other artists who are just trying to make it by creating. We also have an individualistic ego that prevents collaboration as no one wants to get behind the vision of anyone else but would rather focus on their own goals even if they might need others to achieve those goals. Each artist and musician becomes a tiny island that the platforms then use as content allowing them to devalue themselves further as they bend and sway to the algorithm and shallow trends of a fickle attention span.
The existence of AI isn’t unethical but “the market” displacing humans with no plan to care for them is. We’re creating a society where robots do the art and humans do the labor. Because we do not truly value human skill, only subservience, and we haven’t for a long time. If we look at the most rich, successful, and praised artists we will see mediocre skill coupled with an ability to manipulate popular culture into easily accessible memes. The mediocrity of the most rich and famous are propped up by the true skill of the labor they employ. The true labor remains nameless and poor while the divas take the credit and the investors take the money. Skill is the quality of laborers and as that is able to be outsourced to machines and AI it will be. Those content creators will be the most succesful by cutting costs and tapping into low level zeitgeist the way that the pop stars of the last five decades have done but with addictive and powerful algorithms to ensure commercial success.
AI is just another democratizing tool that allows a lower barrier to entry in both skill and money but at what cost? Spirituality and humanity are certainly victims but those have already been sacrificed at market value. AI becomes another tool for Moloch.
It’s not that Artificial Intelligence, social media, digital mediums, money or any other tools are inherently evil. It’s that our focus as a species is on influencing the actions of others and often to our own superficial gain rather than focus on our own spiritual healing through creativity and how that may impact the world. An Artist creates with divine intention. We have created a world where the most famous and highly appreciated “artists” are mostly devoid of skill and spiritual grounding, the most influential voices are pandering meaninglessness, and people are addicted to low level memetics. In that world, a tool like AI easily becomes a weapon of mass distraction that separates people from what really matters for quick and easy satisfaction. We will all give into it because it will feel good in the moment, it will make us think we’re having emotions, and because we already have given into it. If we accept low quality engagements from other humans we’ll accept it with AI because it will be faster, easier, cheaper, and more fulfilling than anything a human can do, as long as you just want aesthetics, and no soul.
Thanks for reading! If you would like to see the video version check the links below. In the video I offer a bit of impromptu elaboration on certain points and may be working from an older or newer draft than the one published above. Thanks for the support and keep diving deep inside yourself to ask the hard questions that push our humanity to the next level.
Lens Protocol via Tape:
https://tape.xyz/watch/0x019965-0x70
Youtube:
