Apart from everything else, the idea of art specifically tailored "for your tastes" makes no sense because the way you develop tastes is by encountering art and having a reaction to it.
Even on the level of what the "AI" boosters want, which is like "Ghostbusters but the ghosts are big tiddy anime girls", you can't ask for that unless you've previously encountered Ghostbusters and cartoons of women with big breasts.
Yes! The other example I've seen is "another season of Narcos starring Mr Beast and Jason Kelce" - to want that, you must be familiar with the show Narcos, and watch enough YouTube and football to have opinions about those two guys.
(Also, although it's not relevant to the main point here, when I try to imagine what the AI would create, I can't picture it giving me 12 hours of coherent serialized drama. I picture it creating a 30 second nonsense video that plays while I'm pumping my gas.)
So the one guy out there who spontaneously created the exact kind of art the AI lads were looking to spank over ends up being the one whose work is stolen from him and sold. Incentive killer.
Meanwhile, as I found out during the height of the NFT bubble*, actual big tiddy anime girl commission artists were producing bold, inventive art in highly individual styles because the competition in the field was so strong at the time. I wonder if that is still the case.
* one artist/programmer on X was compiling evidence against the NFT bubble, and a list of 'big name artists' who had gone to the dark side. I didn't recognize any of the names, and found that some actual famous artists who'd done NFTs weren't on it, so I dug deeper.
The names were all big within the 'big tiddy anime girl' field, a subgenre I knew nothing about. The same person also boosted colleagues who hadn't gone over to the NFT side, and these were the ones producing surprisingly interesting work.
You know how Facebook is a sort of nutrimatic dispenser of something almost but not quite entirely unlike friendship or any other network of human interaction? AI art's the same, but art.
AI's great achievement is that after a century where artists, critics, and theorists came up with such a massive tent that practically everything can be considered art in the right context, it's managed to be art shaped, but not art.
You are 100% correct. If you think about it, the advancement of technology was because inspired by writers and artists who came up with these concepts in science fiction works to start with. Look at the tech in Star Trek, for example, and look at what we have today. Ipads, 3d printers, siri, etc.
It also takes time. I don’t most people who are into experimental improv and free jazz and other “difficult” art loved it the first time they heard it, let alone conceptualized it on their own first. Broadening your taste and learning how to appreciate new things is one of the best things about art.
No insult intended - decoration done well & thoughtfully adds joy to life. Their Venn diagram has some overlap, but art & decoration are different things with different functions.
And there is nothing like the rush of meeting the art that fills your soul, rattles your brain, the absolute joy. Then there's experiencing it thru life, getting new realizations with each contact.
Each time one of the techbros (and it's never artists, just techbros) enthuses about it, their example always sounds like smashing action figures together.
Not to sound a little self-centered, but how would anyone or anything know me well enough to actually give me what I want (when I'm not always sure what that is)?
"For You" is never what I want. Bad personalizing is insulting.
And moreover it might take multiple times of interacting with an art form to be a fan of that art form, obsessed with it, then dive deep into adjacent ones.
They think they’re perfect the way they are and don’t ever need exposure to anything new. Just constant coddling with whatever makes them feel warm and fuzzy.
Reminds me of an episode of a popular sitcom where it turned out one of the cast regulars had been protected from everything with a sad ending. Saw OLD YELLER, saw BAMBI, but her family hid the scary bits.
I think one of the reasons why we have 40 year olds doing YouTube criticism of early 00s cartoons is that it's the last time a lot of people really watch something new.
Like, maybe Avatar: The Last Airbender is the last piece of art that affected them.
🤔 Most algorithims don't cater to "my tastes" because I have very specific tastes that are outside the census of "normal, trendy, a current tiktok fad, and popular". It fails at presenting me with stuff I enjoy. How can AI possibly figure me out?
They can't even articulate why they like something. When you start actually studying how art is made you begin to get a sense for why something is good or bad beyond "I like this".
The people promoting this idea simply don't want to have their thoughts, their emotions, their preconceptions challenged a single day in their lives. They hate art because art confronts them.
We’ve pretty much always had art that challenges and art that lets us turn off our brains and enjoy a story. Some of the best art lets us think we’re just enjoying the story while slipping in a message.
I remember an artist who had the client fill out a questionnaire so the art would be the right size, color and match the couch. It was a statement, not a goal.
Algorithms to suggest new media based on what I already like are great. But they preclude the growth of taste as you organically get exposed to new things. Amazon can't replicate wandering the stacks. Netflix can't copy flipping channels. Spotify can't mimic flipping records.
Same exact people who are yelling at everyone leaving Twitter that it's imperative not to ensconce yourself in a bubble where you're not exposed to opposing viewpoints.
I mean there are instances were I would want stuff tailored to my taste BUT 99% of the time I want to be challenged, in a good way. Like I hated brutalism but Denis Villeneuve made me see it in a different light. A/ is gonna flatten taste and style. You can already see it happening in illustration.
*nods* Even video games, which ARE the example of “it’s different every time depending on the choices you make,” are never 100% user generated. The artist gives you constraints, sets up the rules, and starts a conversation. You can’t do it without the artist.
OK. I make art tailored to the taste of the recipient, it takes skill to do this, and I'm proud of it. Why on earth would I spend months hand sewing a quilt that wouldn't be appreciated? It's a challenge to try to express something of their personality, and it leads me in unexpected directions.
I don't know who's dug up this four-month-old post of mine, but the context was talking about some "AI" booster talking about how people like you would no longer be necessary because all art would be algorithmically generated to fit the tastes of those consuming it (and consuming would be the word)
