Hello, I've been subscribed to your newsletter for a while now and I find your posts on various topics to be quite fun and engaging. However, when I saw this post I felt disappointed.
This is regarding your use of AI with respect to visual art & images (I hadn't read your policy on AI use prior to this). I'm an artist (I love sketching) and its a lot fun to create art (I'm sure you feel the same). While I can understand why people find AI image generation useful, its built on the stolen work of many, many artists who spend decades honing their craft. All their work taken without consent and given no compensation. Maybe if there was an ethically built model, I can see the use for the tech in this particular field. But right now its just not it. It's also a tool to devalue the work of artists and pay them much less than what they deserve (capitalism at play like usual).
The point is not that AI can never replicate / replace humans so its not a real threat. The point is that its being used to hurt creatives even though its far from perfect (I'm not pointing at a single person but that is what tech is doing and people who don't know about this unknowingly play a part). I think its better to support real creatives instead. I just wanted to bring some of these issues to your notice. Sorry for the long essay but I just really needed to say this. I really do respect the work that you do and would love to know what you think of this (in case you want to watch some good videos on this topic I can send them your way as I suck at explaining stuff)
Re: "A nice side effect of my newly rekindled love of comics is that it seems to have inspired my son to accelerate his literacy..." My grandparents bought me oodles and oodles of comics as a kid. I attribute my love of reading and art to that steady supply of fun reading material.
Thank you for sharing this! My son stayed up past his bedtime (with permission) so he could finish coloring tonight, and I'm really hoping he takes an earlier shine to creating art than my husband or I did. Back when I was student teaching I did a couple of rotations through art classes and learned a ton that I wish I'd been exposed to younger.
Have you seen any Nodus Labs videos? The link is https://www.youtube.com/@noduslabs. The website is https://infranodus.com/. The blurb: Get a clear overview of any text, topic, or AI knowledge base. Uncover blind spots to generate actionable insights.
I like comics, for the art as much as the text. I think AI can help assist in things, but I really don't think I'd want to read a comic with AI generated art, even if the plot is fully human written. That's my preference and I don't see that changing any time soon, no matter how 'good' the AI gets at consistency across images or finger counts.
yah, everybody has their own aesthetic preferences. A few weeks back I wrote about how all the art hanging on my walls has some sort of story/personal connection, but I also have a few prints instead of originals. I know people who only do actual oils, never cheap prints, and my husband went to college with a guy who only wore tailored shirts.
For myself, I don't enjoy watching modern cartoons because the aesthetic of computer-generated animation annoys me. Lots of people love Moana, but I much prefer the old hand-drawn animation style of the Merry Melodies and such.
Everyone has their line in the sand :) Some folks are very unhappy I use Substack instead of something open source, for example. Others think it's unethical to link to Amazon book pages.
For anyone coming in later, my AI policy has been listed on my About page for quite some time, and I've been using AI generated featured images for featured images for even longer, but I'll repost it here for anyone curious:
I use OpenAI models for image generation, spelling and grammar check, to suggest research directions I may have missed, and Readwise’s Ghostreader to search highlights of documents I’ve personally read. AI is never used to write verbiage in the original drafting of my essays except in rare cases where I can’t think of a word and ask it to help me figure out the phrase.
I’m a big fan of anything Moebius - particularly The Incal, and Edena
It’s all about the surrealism for me, but it can be a little jumpy plot wise, a result of compiling a long running story that was published gradually, also presumably something is lost in translation. Also The Incal inspires every sci fi block buster of the 80s so so it feels too familiar. And don’t let your kids look over shoulder it’s very French and adult
Aphantasia at 5 for me as well unless I am in the process of waking up. Then my inner vision is so clear that I can read text.
Hello, I've been subscribed to your newsletter for a while now and I find your posts on various topics to be quite fun and engaging. However, when I saw this post I felt disappointed.
This is regarding your use of AI with respect to visual art & images (I hadn't read your policy on AI use prior to this). I'm an artist (I love sketching) and its a lot fun to create art (I'm sure you feel the same). While I can understand why people find AI image generation useful, its built on the stolen work of many, many artists who spend decades honing their craft. All their work taken without consent and given no compensation. Maybe if there was an ethically built model, I can see the use for the tech in this particular field. But right now its just not it. It's also a tool to devalue the work of artists and pay them much less than what they deserve (capitalism at play like usual).
The point is not that AI can never replicate / replace humans so its not a real threat. The point is that its being used to hurt creatives even though its far from perfect (I'm not pointing at a single person but that is what tech is doing and people who don't know about this unknowingly play a part). I think its better to support real creatives instead. I just wanted to bring some of these issues to your notice. Sorry for the long essay but I just really needed to say this. I really do respect the work that you do and would love to know what you think of this (in case you want to watch some good videos on this topic I can send them your way as I suck at explaining stuff)
Re: "A nice side effect of my newly rekindled love of comics is that it seems to have inspired my son to accelerate his literacy..." My grandparents bought me oodles and oodles of comics as a kid. I attribute my love of reading and art to that steady supply of fun reading material.
Thank you for sharing this! My son stayed up past his bedtime (with permission) so he could finish coloring tonight, and I'm really hoping he takes an earlier shine to creating art than my husband or I did. Back when I was student teaching I did a couple of rotations through art classes and learned a ton that I wish I'd been exposed to younger.
I hope he does, too. It’s far too easy to lose the spark.
Have you seen any Nodus Labs videos? The link is https://www.youtube.com/@noduslabs. The website is https://infranodus.com/. The blurb: Get a clear overview of any text, topic, or AI knowledge base. Uncover blind spots to generate actionable insights.
I have not, but it looks neat! Thanks for the tip.
I like comics, for the art as much as the text. I think AI can help assist in things, but I really don't think I'd want to read a comic with AI generated art, even if the plot is fully human written. That's my preference and I don't see that changing any time soon, no matter how 'good' the AI gets at consistency across images or finger counts.
yah, everybody has their own aesthetic preferences. A few weeks back I wrote about how all the art hanging on my walls has some sort of story/personal connection, but I also have a few prints instead of originals. I know people who only do actual oils, never cheap prints, and my husband went to college with a guy who only wore tailored shirts.
For myself, I don't enjoy watching modern cartoons because the aesthetic of computer-generated animation annoys me. Lots of people love Moana, but I much prefer the old hand-drawn animation style of the Merry Melodies and such.
https://www.eleanorkonik.com/p/ai-cannot-replace-genuine-human-connection
Sorry, AI is a line in the sand. Best of luck, since I'm afraid you're at the mercy of the machine.
Everyone has their line in the sand :) Some folks are very unhappy I use Substack instead of something open source, for example. Others think it's unethical to link to Amazon book pages.
For anyone coming in later, my AI policy has been listed on my About page for quite some time, and I've been using AI generated featured images for featured images for even longer, but I'll repost it here for anyone curious:
I use OpenAI models for image generation, spelling and grammar check, to suggest research directions I may have missed, and Readwise’s Ghostreader to search highlights of documents I’ve personally read. AI is never used to write verbiage in the original drafting of my essays except in rare cases where I can’t think of a word and ask it to help me figure out the phrase.
I’m a big fan of anything Moebius - particularly The Incal, and Edena
It’s all about the surrealism for me, but it can be a little jumpy plot wise, a result of compiling a long running story that was published gradually, also presumably something is lost in translation. Also The Incal inspires every sci fi block buster of the 80s so so it feels too familiar. And don’t let your kids look over shoulder it’s very French and adult
oh I bet my husband would enjoy the Incal too -- I'll pick it up! Thanks!