The scuffle

Last July I saw a tweet from an improv comic I liked, encouraging his followers to use AI to make fake movie posters.

I thought I was being gentle -- maybe even a little flattering -- in my response:

AI generation used vast amounts of energy, contributing to climate change, and steals from actual artists. I think you are too good a person to encourage that. 

That was not appreciated.

I’m not stealing from artists. I’m having fun in a way that nobody’s losing a job. People using technology to eliminate jobs is a different story. Is photoshopping bad, too? You shouldn’t question my ‘goodness’, for simply using AI in a victimless manner.

Now, I was not able to find all of the exchange. I can see that his original post was deleted, and I could not find the one where he suggested that I unfollow him instead of ruining everyone's fun. 

If he deleted that, it would still not have deleted my replies, so I am not sure what happened, except that it has been several months.

Anyway, I am going to share the posts that I could find. If it were not clear, I am going to spend a few posts preaching against AI.

I do remember replying with an article on the Nizhoni issue and one on the climate destruction. I don't see the reply that obviously what the Dutch company was doing was wrong, but that what he was asking for wasn't anything like that, because it wasn't commercial. 

Then, I guess to address the climate change issue...

You might also want to stop eating almonds, avocados, and toss out anything you own that was manufactured under untenable and underpaid overseas working conditions. Then, I will stop making silly pictures on my iPad.  

 

(Then there were emojis for peace and love, but I don't believe they were sincere.) 

I did reply to that.

I don't eat almonds, not because I think completely ethical consumption is possible under capitalism, but because I can still try and do better. Almonds overtax water and pollinators, so I don't use them. 

Not included in my reply is that I completely avoid avocados because I think they are disgusting. 

Of course, that could have looked like I was avoiding that issue because I was a hypocrite on something I really liked. In fact, I am. I tried giving up ramen because they generally involve palm oil. Palm oil is not harvested responsibly which damages orangutan habitat. I backslid on that one.

 

Regardless, I do try and be more conscientious, believing that my actions might make a difference and not wanting to support destruction. 

 

I don't do it perfectly, which is probably not possible at this time, but I try.

 

He was using it as a "gotcha" but it didn't really work; that's when he suggested I quit following him, which I did.

 

I did not see that the original post was deleted until I was trying to find the thread for this post, so I don't know when it happened. Maybe he did change his mind, despite being irritated.

 

AI is terrible for the environment, artists, law... people in general, really. More on that later.

 

With the post on cryptocurrency, there were indicators that people might get involved with it for reasons of greed; maybe hoping to get rich quickly, maybe hoping to defraud lots of people. There was probably still an element where for some people it was new and different, therefore exciting.

 

There is greed involved in the pushing of AI, but the big problem is the people for whom it just seems fun, interesting, and cool.

 

My goal over the next few posts is to make you hate AI as much as I do. 

Without knowing who will read this, it is highly possible that you have used AI to see how you would look in different decades or get questions answered or even to get work done.

 

I am not saying that makes you a bad person. I could be saying that as you become more aware of its harmful effects, that your desire for good will make you feel like you should stop.

 

At least consider it.

 

That only leave the obvious question of "who", and I feel a little bad about that, especially seeing that the post was deleted. 

 

"Improv comic" could easily direct people to Whose Line is it Anyway? and then it seems even more important to identify, because there are many of them who have been so consistently fair and good-hearted in their interactions and the causes they support, that I would not want anyone to think it was them.

 

But hating Trump doesn't automatically mean that you will hate AI; people aren't even framing the issue in the right terms.

 

What else can I do but multiple blog posts?