AI art - automation. A working artist's take.
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- Опубликовано: 19 янв 2023
- Also some stories from my childhood. Art as a live service. I'm wrong a lot so maybe I'm wrong about this stuff.
Music: "Un coin tranquille - Instrumental Version" by Nono feat. Anat Moshkovski
I got it on Artlist (like most of the music on the channel) which is a royalty free library that I understand pays their artists pretty well. 
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(If you like it) Spread the word on this one, RUclips doesn't know how to recommend stuff when someone makes different than what they usually do. (I also don' t know how much they recommend unmonetized videos)
Yes, a clear example of why reliance on AI is still years away from being a sure thing.
I got this as a recommendation, but possibly just cuz I'm subbed to you? Idk
In this, RUclips is like the world. :)
@Zee Bashew This was all Short & … Profound 🥂
Would it be improper to ask about your parents music?
I know a guy whose story is important in this context. He's a blacksmith. There is nothing he does that a machine can't do but, technically, better. He is still around, because even as his trade became a victim of progress. His art flourished in it's own way.
People will never stop appreciating the work of real hands, even as it fades back into the realm of magic it is so distant from us.
Automation is great for mass producing things that should be relatively consistent. But humans are much better at creating things period. You can easily teach a robot to build a lego set following instructions, but you cannot teach a robot to kit bash using random parts.
@@Temperans The point is, that we're getting to a point where you CAN.
Sure, but how many blacksmiths are there now compared to even 200 years ago? Though there will always be some artists, as people like art, and 'real art' will certainly alway sbe valued more highly than AI, I think we're going to see the collapse of massive parts of the Art Sphere in our lifetime.
"People will never stop appreciating the work of real hands"
I totally get where this statement comes from - but it is only applicable to high-quality / artistic work.
Today we use machines if it is simple work - e.g. for producing nails. 200 years ago some apprentice used to waste his hours at work to mass-produce manually crafting nails - do you think that the apprentice liked his own 'real work with real hands'? Same goes for plowing a field, picking fruits etc.
@Court Jester Smiths are still there, the Job evolved and transformed. Here in Germany they are called "Metallbauer" or "Schloßer", in english metal worker. They are still molding, cutting and forming metal, now with heavy machinery.
Sure they aren't heating rods of metal in a smoldering pile of coal and hammering them into horseshoes but in the todays world you don't need horseshoes anymore, literally and figuratively.
"Pure" Art is also a completely different beast than artisanal work and won't/can't be replaced completely, as it is purely guided by preference, in contrast to the workpiece which needs to possess certain physical properties to be useful.
What you are fearing or seeing is the commodification of art, degrading it into something that you can package and sell. Most art today is created for financial gain, instead of artistic expression or cultural value. Bearing that in mind you also see a great homogenization of art, which in fact enabled this kind of AI in the first place, as you get more commissions creating art that appeals to a broad audience, rather than art that is challenging or experimental.
AI art is not the disease but another symptom of the ever growing impact of capitalism and consumerism on our cultures.
This is exactly my thoughts. As a designer, I see ai automation much the same way you do. I really love the idea of data unions and teaching people proper processes. It's hard, but if Ai can be used as a tool and not a solution/substitute for expression, I think we have a new world to explore. There are no mistakes in the arts. "Mistakes" are the art. That's what gives things character.
As much i like to agree with you the real world will never let data unions be a thing.
It's like selling water from a public lake.
Solong you dont put a signs, fences and guards around it you will have thiefs.
And how are this data unions help protecting stuff? Putting so many watermarks and DRM into each image to the point that pirasy is the only obtion to enjoy the art?
Also: something something AI dont use Art from other Artits like that... its complex and if we dont want to trademake colors or soundnotes... we better dont do anything.
@@jacek7348 You realize that AI as a tool for art is quite often the exact opposite of what you just described? You probably don't really understand AI or its full potential but not every single AI just creates images based on a text prompt. Thats a common misconception because mid-journey popularized the idea of that, but there are many AI tools that start with your original piece of art work, inspiration, time, effort and idea fully your own, and then manipulate that image based on a description of what you made to increase the quality or realism of areas. Keyword areas. Because 80% of what it shits out is unusable garbage that needs to be replaced with your original artwork in the final composition, so even in the final product only small portions are AI, and no "lack of inspiration or experience" existed
@@HungryHunter This is a good point; being both pro-artist and pro-piracy is still a paradox to many people. Right now though, copyright is art’s main way of protecting artists, but it pretty much exclusively protects the big ones, and commissions have typically been artists’ main means of bypassing that conundrum.
Commissions themselves are being threatened by the march of progress… but creativity sits at the center of art as is. Artists will find a way to keep going, because these things exist now and they simply must.
@@technicolormischief-maker5683 Well said. I like to add: Finding the right word for an AI promt can be as much a skill as drawing (with pen and paper) and editing (using software).
Everyone in fear of AI (the non military and surveillance kind) just dont understand its use and potential and there inner working.
@@jacek7348 Basically any artist that does digital art already uses AI in their art. Selecting tools, Coloring tools, anti-red eye tools. The list is actually pretty huge because a lot of the times making a machine do something so you don't have to tediously do it manually, its an AI algorithm that was trained to do that thing really really well. Flat out saying AI is bad and its just to take money from artists is beyond an uneducated take on the matter.
RUclips is such an odd platfrom. You’ve got all this talent and all YT wants you to do is make more D&D videos. This is such a lovely video. Seeing your style in this different context has made me really appreciateive of your art and your voice. Such a shame you can’t make something like this without fear of upsetting some algotithm. What an odd age we live in, for sure.
That's the problem inherent in the algorithms and virtual intelligences that sort, promote and conceal content. It can see that certain videos are popular but not understand why, so it takes a wild guess and settles on a certain theme or topic. It doesn't understand that we love Zee's content because it's HIS content, not because it's D&D-related or animated. Truth is we don't love the CONTENT of the videos so much as the people CREATING it. And while not every video is fried gold, I don't think I've ever come away from Zee's content without feeling entertained, educated, introspective or some combination of the three.
It is not a new problem. The problem artists have always had of being pigeonholed if they get successful during their lifetime is actually getting a lot better, probably because their audience accesses the content through a significantly more open platform. If a mildly successful author submits a manuscript that is not in the wheelhouse of what their publisher handles it will usually be turned down by their normal publisher but it will also be turned down by most other publishers without the manuscript actually getting reviewed because the publisher assumes that author's work doesn't fit well in their portfolio. There are a few authors I have met at cons over the years that publish different genres under different pseudonyms for this reason.
RUclips hates art & just wants to turn into television but online because the company's run by morons who have no idea why people come to this platform.
1: Success and failure both tend to snowball, albeit with caveats.
2: People tend to resist change to their categorization and frames. Once someone defines your or your work as something, they have some resistance to changing that definition and to things that contradict it.
the corpos love only one thing
consistency, with consistency they can plan everything around it and exploit it to their benefit
if zee push dnd content, than the regulars come in and give youtube their money
if zee tries something new, the consistent regulars aren’t consistent anymore and youtube doesn’t like that
so, no pushing the vide, and instead mr beast gets another video into the recommended.
p.s: i don’t hate mr beast, he’s a saint compared to others as rich as him
This is genuinely the highest quality opinion on the subject i have seen and it was only three minutes. This is why we love you
This is truly beautiful and bittersweet.
No seriously though. Also, why am I crying?
You must not have seen a lot of opinions on this subject then.
But it's not really, their views on " gathering data" shows this. A.I art algorithms gather data just like humans gather data. They examine art and use it as a reference to create an original piece. How is this any different then humans using other humans work as inspiration?
@@bignasty6395 a human using a reference can not perfectly copy a line, a color, or a painting stroke. Each artists craft is diffrent and through out history we have had a want to say "i like that, but what if we did it my way" AI from my observation can copy those lines and you can find bits and pieces perfectly replicated in images from human artists.
Another way to look at it is: say you were to be invited to a gallery and you brought your best image. You set up, the exhibition starts and things are going great. But then some crew of people walk up and bring a scanner into the room. They start scanning every piece of art. next time the gallery opens the people who brought in the scanner have images up in exactly everyones style but slightly altered to be a bit "off" most people there would think this misses the spirit of the gallery.
Art in my mind should be an expression of something from yourself not just an expression of only other people's work.
The phrase ‘the last generation of working artists’ is terrifying
But, there’s still some hope in there
It just means the next generation of artists won't be doing it for work. They'll be doing it as hobbyists, not as professionals.
It's a sensationalist take honestly. It's a little silly to think that everyone born from this point forward will be content with derivative works based on old or dead people offered to them by an algorithm. Humans desire to be unique, sometimes more than anything in the world
@@CrizzyEyes, “Working Artists”, I think you misunderstand, people will always want to create, nobody was selling cave paintings back in the BC, however, it will very soon be much cheaper to use AI over people, hence Art will not be work because of economics. Disney f***ing hate everybody who works for them, if they could cull the entire animation department and replace them with a machine that won’t fight for its rights or have an artistic vision they would do it in a heartbeat.
@@CrizzyEyes I agree it's a sensationalist take, but I think there's a kernel of truth in it, even if the timing is extreme. I can foresee a future where, at least in small-scale projects, all the people who currently are willing to pay commissions for art instead pay the much cheaper fees associated with AI art, and the art commission industry slowly dies out.
@@CrizzyEyes The problem is this chops off the bottom and most of the middle of the art industry. People aren't born great at art, they have to hone their craft over many, many years, many of them going deep into debt for the privilege... and I guarantee you that all the greats used the bottom and middle of the art industry to sustain themselves while slowly climbing to being great. "For Fun" doesn't pay the bills.
This was beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. And I agree I hope we can eventually live in a world where everyone benefits from AI and not just the people who already have more money and power than they know what to do with.
We already are, you just don't notice.
As a biotechnologist I can tell you, a LOT of our old predictive work is going the way of AI. We still make the tests of course, but before algorythms, it was literally impossible to make the kind of data screening a single person can now do in a working day, and before those algorythms gave rise to what we now call AI, it would take months to make the kind of predictive modelling AI can now do while we sleep. This has made our tests so, SO much easier and cheaper its frankly ludicrous. Which has made medicine developmemt in turn much easier and cheaper. And I assure you, EVERYONE who takes meds, at least in Europe where hospitals can't overcharge like they do in USA, has felt this in their pocket. EVERYONE's life is now easier thanks to this implementation of AI. And this has also had an impact in agriculture, which impacts food price. It has also enabled a lot of work on alternative sources of energy, I don't think I need to explain either of these and their impact.
But that's far from all. Note how I said "what we now call AI" at first. I was making a point. AI is bullshit. It's just an algorythm. And I don't mean that in the metaphorical "robots are just maths" way. I mean what people in the late 20th century called AI has never been achieved. What we now call AI is just called that way because of publicity, but its really just a slightly better algorythmic system.
And that system is being used for so much more than people imagine. Practically everything labelled as an "algorythm" is in truth the same as this. Sure the algorythms themselves are oldschool, but they are adapted by what is labelled sometimes as a "black box", and an algorythm that adapts is really just what they now call AI. The black box is an AI by our current labelling system. It's just not called out as such often because of the same reason other AIs are called that way. Publicity. Namely the fact that this means the companies using black boxes have way, WAY less legal rights than those that don't, and they really don't wamt you to know that fact. Because it would embolden a lot of people to seek ways to make alternatives without fear of their massive legal teams.
But point is. If we look at the products of these black boxes... Oh they go so much farther. Every search engine is made by a black box. Every website that recommends anything, like youtube, has a black box. Screening algorythms used by banks and investors, and that's before we talk of other products of AI...
Everything. Every. Single. Person. Who uses a computer nowadays. Is using at least one product of so-called AI at least once a day. People just don't realize it.
@@thespanishinquisition4078 I agree with all of this.
@@thespanishinquisition4078 Love this analysis, said it so well. People are afraid of "AI" because of publicity but algorithmic technology has quietly, invisibly helped so many people.
The thing is, if AI art was a tool only available to the wealthy, it wouldn't really be competing with artists in a meaningful way. But it _isn't_ such an exclusive tool. Anyone with a mildly modern computer is benefiting from the ability to use AI to generate art at effectively no cost. And this is why it is so significant.
In a few more years, advances in reinforcement learning and brain-computer interfaces may even remove the need to scrape training data for AIs. Instead, a handful of people might be paid to rank the quality of the AI's output as it is trained.
This is one of the best thought out pieces I’ve seen on ai art- the suggestion of royalties on data is a really nice idea. I would personally love to let people use my art for non-profit ais, and I know I’m not alone in that. I wish this all had been done a little different so artists and ai has a more collaborative relationship, rather than people’s work being scrapped up into training data without their permission or knowledge.
That ending gave an unexplainable feeling of hope, dread, and beauty. Something an AI cannot do yet
A kind of sad beauty. Like the sun setting on the best day you've had in a while. Tomorrow life moves on, and you'll move on with it. Not because this moment isn't beautiful, but because it's beauty comes from knowing it ends.
Give it a few generations in the neural net and it'll do that too
They can. Because this whole video was made by AI
(IM JK chill)
No ammount of algorithms can replicate the feeling of creation. Artists make because we want to.
Like he said, AI is just a new tool. People will use to help create wonderful and terrible things.
As a classical musician and writer, I can see and feel this. We are at an age where there is so much art, and so many artists, but not enough people appreciating them.
I wish I could reassure all the artists here, and say it gets better. It doesn’t.
The only thing to do is be more flexible, pursue your passions, and make art when you can. The joy of art is not in the creation itself, but rather in the creator making it, and I hope everyone can realize this and appreciate it.
I think AI art and AI generated stuff. will indeed cause a shrink of artists to some degree...
I still see the fact that appriciation for those who work from scratch will go up.
In an age where computer animation and such are considered cheap and easier to do...
What was considered one of the best animated movies of last year? Not puss in boots (though it's a great example)
a Stop Motion movie based on Pinochio...
An art that was considered DEAD.
everyone appreciate art though, but not directly, only through commercial lenses. everyone is delighted by the visuals and music of Dune, and respond to that by giving the movie money. but how many people would look to support Hans Zimmer or Deak Ferrand directly ? very few people, because its only when the music and art turns into entertainment that it gets appreciated. and THAT is the problem, AI can never replace true art, its the human element that gives it value, but it can easily replace the commercial part of art, companies may one day not need to hire a Hans Zimmer or Deak Ferrand to make their movies, even though the people that appreciate those artists still appreciate them
If the joy of art is in the creator making it I think very few people like art.
Well, we humans kinda have ourselves to blame, so much music, stories and even artwork are so heavily inspired by existing things that an AI can do the same. AIs lack imagination so they can basically just steal things from others and put it together in a new way. We are a long way from making an AI that actually can think but they sound eerily much like they could.
So I think there is room for actual artists and writers even with AIs but only the strange types that make weird things, people who write top chart pop music will certainly loose their jobs as will writers for basic streaming shows and artists who follow the popular trends.
But then most jobs are in danger once it gets cheaper to replace your workers with something that can work 24/7 without salary and make exactly the same thing every time. There are already fully automatic fast food restaurants out there.
And what will happen if 90% of all people loose their jobs? I don't think the Star trek world where there is no money and people can spend their time doing whatever they feel like are going to happen, rich people are ruling the world and they rarely feel like giving all that money away out of the good of their hearts, they sometimes pretend they are doing that but if you look a bit closer they use charity for power instead.
The problem for them though is that the workers are the ones buying their products and if everyone is poor no one can afford buying new smart phones and crap so the post AI economics could screw up the world pretty badly.
I guess we can take job as shadowrunners or something, or maybe join an evil old one cult.
On the plus side, the computer games will be amazing. AIs can make truly massive games that no team with human devs could afford to make so I guess the glass is still half full.
Something that pushed me away from music as my main job were videos of me performing at an event, the event uploaded my performance to RUclips, and then all the performances received copyright strikes - even though everything I played was in the public domain. For me, it was something of a last straw.
There will never be a last generation of working artists. They may dwindle in number, but never will the spark fully be extinguished. I am a young artist just out of college working in several traditional hand crafts. I love making things and that love will find others in the future. I believe it. Love your work! Stay well.
I think the point was that you won’t have artists doing it as their paying work, yeah, people will still make art, as humans have for tens of not hundreds of thousands of years, what appears to be an evolutionary accident that flourished into something amazing, but nobody’s going to be making a living off of it
We still have blacksmiths, we still have coach makers, basket weavers, people who hand make the most expensive mattress in the world the same way it's been done for 200 years.
These professions are not mainstream, or mass produced like they used to be, because they are no longer required as an essential service, no now, now they are an art form, a rare and sought after skill that is well respected in it's trade not dying, but thriving small communities.
Ai is a tool, it may become mainstream and take the spotlight, but true art made by traditional artists, will only become more desired as it's niche grows.
Art will never die.
@@MrDrSirLord Art and industry go hand in hand, and you have given a great example of how industry becomes art, when we are so overloaded with examples of how art became industry.
You will always be an artist however the economy might dictate your art to be worthless.
People get mad at AI but we need to look at the systems of economic distribution. Capitalism says that if you have infinite production of any good the value of that good is zero.
Thus in an AI world our labour is worthless. Capitalism currently threatens the "worthless" with starvation and destitution to demand they find worth but under that system it may not be possible to be valuable as the only individuals with value would be those who own AI.
I even dount if they will even reduce in numbers
While their numbers will decresse in major industries i feel like people will just make their own art
I see very few artists, animators, game developers, writters, etc who got into the job for profit and not because they want to make art in the first place
It brought tears to my eyes - thank you for this profound and poignant tribute. Few people possess the unselfish, loving and considerate heart that you have. I am SO proud to be your Mom and feel so blessed to have you in my life ❤❤❤
Your Zee's mom? Wow, pleasure to meet you. I would just like to say that your sons work brings happiness into my life. I look forward to each and every one of them. They are some of my favorite videos and I share them with all of my friends. We make references in our life about the content your son has produced and it makes us laugh and think. You did good with this one. You did real good.
Thank you so much Michael! I sent a reply to your channel🙏
You've somehow made me feel both warm inside and very sad at the same time. Thank you, Zee. I think I needed this.
Wow what a phenomenal and touching animation. I really like the way you drew this one. It doesn't feel like an essay or an argument, rather an expression of a complicated feeling. You know, Art.
As a musician, this may be the most thoughtful, beautiful video I have encountered on RUclips. I appreciate your perspective on art as a whole, and the analogy of a lottery ticket is an important one for someone who wants to pursue it as a career and not just a hobby. Thank you for your work and your wisdom, from rural PA.
I really appreciate this perspective, because it clearly points out that people's labor is being exploited by AI art. Technological advances aren't the problem; the problem is _who owns_ the technology and thus gets to decide _who benefits_ from the technology. (And, as Kwame Ture said, "The question can only be answered two ways: either a few will own, or everybody will own. It's as simple as that.")
Open sourced AI art programs have answered the question for you already.
@@thes6550 How many are subscription-based?
In a way that matters? Just Midjourney. Otherwise you can run the models yourself or pay someone for access to their hardware.
@@Catalyst375 About none of the open-sourced ones. The vast, vast majority of AI-generated art you see in the wild is just some random running it on their mid-range computer.
But why is it not okay now? Everybody thought it was fine when companies were gathering data and using it to cut out people in non-art sectors of business.
This is my favorite video you have ever made. You have said more true things about art in this one video in three minutes then I have heard in entire semesters I took at art school.
I am sitting here doing art for a book I am writing listening to your words, "The last generation of working artists." That got me to look up from my piece as auto play pushes media into my head. Wow, you're right. I am happy to be a part of that generation.
I am getting ready to go to an art college. Trust me when I say I am not alone. There are many traditional artists in my school who stick together and help each-other improve. I’m apart of a student lead art club that is amazing. I want to take part in keeping the medium alive.
I don't know why but I haven't drawn in over a month and a half because of this. I just graduated college with an art degree and I feel like I regret it. yeah, I feel stupid for believing that I was going to make it with art. my family has been asking me if I've drawn at all and if I've created any art. I just cant answer honestly right now. I think I may be done with drawing and creating art for a while.
I’ve ramped mine up! Gotta beat this robot f**ker. In all seriousness though do not give up on your dream, i still have faith in people and it seems to me so far most are not supporting AI. Spread the world of the criminality and move forward how you envisioned, cant let AI take one of the purest things we have.
Exactly how I feel. I've put a year's effort into a single painting before, and now it just feels like such a waste. Who'd buy original (or particularly prints) of artwork when they can type 6 words into an AI generator. This is why I've turned back to traditional woodworking...
I have started picking up art, and this last year I found the thing I most loved doing
I am at high school, 2nd grade, and have made my decision. I will do my art, prey to God that this works out somehow and fight for what I truly love until I die.
Maybe what I am saying is stupid, super corny and destined to fail. But I want to be part of the last working artist generation, and make the best send-off that I can
@@josephborra5754 People want the voice of a person, not a synthesized remix of pixels. If you have images to make or visual stories to tell, you can still do it.
This video is really wonderful!! I am a traditional artist because it brings me joy, and I am sure it will bring others lots of joy for generations to come. I'm also an art professor, and it's difficult to train the next generation of artist when I cannot predict what the future of commercial art will look like. But at a basic level, I adore the message, "drink the champagne before it goes flat."
I'm an art major, and this actually gave me hope. Thank you Zee.
Really? I thought it ended with a depressing tone for the future
Yeah I didn't feel very hopeful, bittersweet at most
AI art is the beginning of the end for human made content.
Doesn’t mean you can’t fight for artists rights😊
At 31 years old, I look at the world I live in. And I don't recognize it.
I am a writer. My brother is an artist. It was always our dream to do comics and stuff together. I'd write scripts and he'd animate them. I'd create rules and lote for board games and he would craft miniartures and boards to play them.
But either because we just weren't that good, or we got caught up with the rest of life's messy little adventures, we never really made any headway as creators. And I used to always think to myself, "There's still time. Maybe next year." But now it feels hollow to think such silly things. My time is up. My dream is made obsolete by a computer. Maybe not today. But two, three, five, ten years from now at the absolute most.
I feel such a deep sadness in my heart. And it's like I finally understand the generations that came before me. That couldn't understand the world I so readily embraced. When I once criticized my parents and grandparents for holding back progress for a selfish desire to return to simpler times. I get it now. It's a scary feeling to know that the version of reality you were born into is gone. Forever.
The issue is that this IS different and even the newer generations are genuinely concerned
This isn’t the printing press letting an writer make 100s of books to sell in a fraction of the time or effort
This is replacing the writer because creativity is no longer considered “necessary” beyond feeding a money printer
I dedicated 15 years to mastering my art skills and I feel very scared that this time investment might bring me into a lack of a job, being replaced by AI... I will try to still not to give up and keep going, but I'm honestly very scared. The ending of this video made me cry. I really hope that creative jobs would still be present in future decades. there are certain types of ppl like myself who can not imagine themselves doing anything else but this.
I'm crying. That was beautiful dude. I'm currently in school to finish my studio art degree. I would be lying if I said that this whole AI art thing wasn't on my mind. The one saving grace, maybe a bit of copium, is what happened to painters whenever the camera was first invented.
People began to panic about the camera. They said it would make art obsolete. Why try to paint something when you could take a picture of it and it appear with less effort when compared to that of a painting. But as time went on, photographs and painting became adjacent to each other. One didn't replace the other. If anything, photographs could act as unique references for artists to use.
This is the trajectory I hope that we reach from this. That AI art doesn't replace the artist completely but rather is a tool to use in the process of things. I believe there were lawsuits that came up recently about protecting artists data from these tech bros arguing that its free if it's on the internet and we need more regulation on this altogether. But I hope AI art can simply be another facet of creativity that doesn't impede or replace the value of artists and their work in itself. Thanks for making this video dude, it was lovely and one of the best opinions of this without leaning hard into outrage. We must be cautious but not fully take the black pill and experience defeatism
I've been thinking a lot about how similar this is to when photography was invented too. I really hope that in time and with enough legal cases to set precedents and some common sense rules (like the one court case about who owns the copyright to a photo of a painting) AI art will find its place as another tool or medium in an artist's toolkit, but more ethical and accessible than it is right now
@Bo I hope so too. I think recent events make it seem like we're on the right path in that direction
I think the novelty of AI is what drives it's popularity for now. We found a new toy and want to see just how far we can push it. Just as with the printing press, typewriter, camera, word processors, the digital image editors and the music generators once-upon-a-time, we're all in the frontier with this but it wont last long. Soon enough we'll hear about artists taking AI generated compositions and using them as muses or materials for their analog or digital works. My buddies and I still farm thrift stores for old mass produced canvases to remix into our art. I can see myself using AI text to image as a way to start a palette or set up a composition. It'll be like the old college days in the art labs where we would riff off each other's work.
I wonder what the ancient cave painter thought the first time they saw someone use a brush.
I've said this, too, and I really think it's true.
During this video I remembered that people also said this when MIDI was becoming a widespread thing in the 80s and 90s. None of that made musicians or composers "obsolete" or "fade away"; it might have changed the business models and/or the amount of money going around in certain circles, but the art and the people who make it continue to exist.
It's all going to be okay. It's not right now, but it will be. Just hang on.
But the number of painters needed fell markedly.
This was unexpectedly sweet.
Excellent take, man. Keep on creating
Krugg encounter
A short creature fond of drink and industry.
This is a ☼video opinion☼. All craftdwarfship is of the highest quality. In the video Urist McZee expresses a balanced viewpoint alongside sketch. A glorious beard is present.
Gotta say, I love your animated spellbook videos but this was really something truly special. Would love to see content like this in the future and will happily spread it around the Greater Internet Region
I think you hit my feelings exactly, AI is just a tool, and rather than shaking our fist at it we should make it function in a way that benefits as many people as possible and becomes another tool in the arsenal, like a pencil or a drawing pad for a computer. Having a pool of art specially made for use as an AI dataset rather than scraping everything would solve a lot of problems, and give artists a potentially endless source of commission since an AI can never have too much data to draw from.
This was the goal of the Luddites. But they were misunderstood and could not articulate themselves well enough. And in the end, their skills were supplanted by machines...2-300 years ago. Now, the people who could do what they did are a very few number of small specialists, who exist in the niche of the hobby industry and movie making.
It's a perennial problem. Luckily, the internet which is providing the tools to kill art as an industry, are also giving us the tools to maybe preserve it? The 2000s and 2010s was nothing, if not a unique and wonderful explosion of creativity, content, and life among the art world, in a way that never existed before. The ability to fund artists through decentralized crowdfunding was a game changer for the art world.
Hopefully we can keep the good and soften the bad.
i've been trying to make a video game for a while, it's a media that independents as an individual have very little sway over, back in the day mario was made by 7 dudes in a garage, but, these days, the standards are much higher, if i want to even come close to competing or even come close to producing what i actually imagine and want, i need art tools like ai, the sheer quantity of stuff i have to do when it comes to these larger artforms like gaming, movies or tv shows, is insane, you need so much art, so much work, and even if you aren't good and you aren't making something "good" it's still such an insane amount of work that an individual cannot make much.
restricting tools, restricting things as they progress, it doesn't solve problems, maybe being able to sell art to people, monopolise it, monetize it in such a small way, was a problem, and we just didn't know it, but i feel it now especially, political campaigns are won by people with money because a low class person could not possibly make enough pictures, enough art, enough speeches to compete with a dude with 40 people behind him, the current age of art has created mega artforms in really everything, and the corporations own ALL OF IT, we need ai, because if it doesn't help bridge that gap, nothing will.
people that make small artpieces now, a drawing, a painting and a single album will be able to create still, they just might be able to move onto creating something bigger and bolder, if we restrict ai for the public, the only thing that will happens is the corporations with it's unlimited budget will once again tighten it's firm grasp on the world of art.
But you're shaking your fist at it making it work worse... it is now functioning worse so an job continues being a job.
Work for the sake of working. Rather then fix the broken society limit the machine and progress.
@@volthunter3 the profit incentive and needing money to survive are the actual problems. Human beings would create art even if it had no purpose
I suppose the thing that makes myself, and so many other artists I'm sure, angry is how this is all being treated by those at the forefront of the technology. My aunt works as an illustrator of kids books, where she transcribes a message she considers important for children to hear. Recently, an AI was used to create a children's book for the first time. Art is created with a message and reason behind it, the creative process, the uniqueness of every style, the thousands of little things that have influenced and inspired how you create, it makes the whole creative process of any art feel sacred. Being told that this is simply wishy-washy nonsense with no basis hurts because frankly it is. But it feels so cruel and cold to be told that the entire process is an unnecessary step.
As someone who likes to draw with good ol' pencil-and-paper, and as a programmer whose final college project was literally making an AI text generator to do the written portion of the project for me, I feel that if done right, (if the sources are credited and artists paid for their work or consent to have their art scraped, etc), AI art can be a good tool.
It wouldn't be too hard to encode a bibliography of sources into the image files generated, and if the developers of the AI tools have any ethics they should probably get on that soon.
It wouldn't just be more ethical-personally I think it would be REALLY FUCKING COOL!!!! God it would be so cool if you could see the specific DNA of exactly how a generated image was formed. Being able to directly trace back a whiff of something you liked in a generated image and discover new artists that way? That would rock so hard, are you kidding me
As a creator and as a creative I have never been so moved by words. I find the uprising in AI disturbing; both as an novice artist and as a professional musician. Your words found a way to really soothe me on this particular issue. I have never been so consoled yet so melancholy simultaneously. Thank you for your art Zee. Keep up the great work and hope to see more of what you create soon.
You know, this is crazy you made this. This hits home for something for me VERY recently. 20 years ago, I turned 21 and picked up a pencil for the first time and started drawing. Less than a year later, I quit due to pressure from family and going to school for art which destroyed my passion for it. Then, 2 months ago, I picked up the pencils for the first time in 20 years and started doing realistic portraits. A "better late than never" story I suppose. An attempt to become self employed with my art. Then I watch this and it just threw more fuel on my fire. Great video, appreciate it!
I find comfort in the fact that there will always be people who prefer man-made art in the same way some people like specially forged knives or hand crafted furniture. So even if AI brings artists to the sidelines, there will always be some place for them, and always a dream to chase. And besides that, sometimes the joy of creating something is just as rewarding. Many people don't ever think they'll strike it big, and they don't need to. I think it's nice to think of those kinds of things between the doom and gloom, the things we'll still have.
Nice perspective
This was genuine to the point of being incredible. Seriously, it was so well said. AI and technology will never stop evolving, tools will never stop improving, but there's still a certain wonder that comes from owning something hand made. When artists make art by hand, there's a soul to it that no machine can ever match.
Use the tools available, but don't give up on being a worldly person.
Love the video, man.
This gave me chills, it evoked a strong emotional response. And that is why we enjoy art, to fulfill the soul. Usually im here because of dnd, acctually im putting(procrastinating) off writing the campaign to watch this. And im glad i did, i agreed with your point before you helped put it into words. This resonated with me not because im a working artist but because the scene with your wife and friends making music. That scene almost seems to be a thing of the past, coming together to create art, in the warmth of the sun or by dim string lights in an newyork apartment. Using AI to make art is not simply a new process or tool. It seems now artists may be finding that community and comfort in technology in this age of isolation. Less and less is it listening to the syncopated melody as friends and family learn new songs and more and more sitting isolated in a dark room in front of a screen to roll the data driven dice to see what image you get. Is there a way that we can use AI art to build community? Can we generate images together with curated data pools? I hope, i hope that technology dosent drive community away and we can use it to bring us back together in this bleak and lonely era.
This was truly beautiful. I personally believe that, at least in art, the human element will always be desired. When I was 18 I was lucky enough to go to the Smithsonian museums in Washington D.C. and along one of the art museums wings dedicated to paintings I saw a small out of place room dedicated to photos. I was awe struck to realize after admiring these photos for several minutes weren't photos at all. They were paintings. So meticulously and masterfully crafted that the only a small, most likely intentional, build up of paint in the corner that raised off one of the paintings gave it away. It would have been trivial to create the same pictures with a camera, but that's part of what makes it beautiful.
And you would be wrong.
People don't want your art. What they want is their art. They want to see their ideas in their own heads made by your hands, because their hands aren't skilled enough to do it.
In the past there was no way to get this, so people settled. They let people draw their ideas and hoped they might find someone else who's vision was close enough to their own that they could pretend it was their idea, or they hired an artist themselves and hoped they could communicate what they were seeing in their own minds well enough for someone else to make it for them.
It's the same reason people like fan fiction. They don't care about the story the writer wanted to tell. They don't care about the characters the writer wanted to convey. What they want is to share their own story, and they don't know how to do that so they can do is steal someone else's story and reshape it to be what they wanted, regardless of, and often in active malicious defiance of, the real creator's vision.
And that's what AI art does. You don't have to learn an art style. You don't have to practice. You can just tell a machine what you want and the machine will steal the art techniques, the decades of practice, the heart, the soul, and the very creative identity of a real artist away and use it to make what you wanted.
And it doesn't matter that there's no human element, or that an artist was wronged when their creative essence was stolen from them and condensed into something a machine could repeat. Because it gives you what you wanted. It does so immediately. And if it does it wrong it won't complain when you throw it away and ask again.
And that's what people want. The only human element they want in their art is their own, and AI lets them have that without the pesky process of having to actually learn a skill.
@Gregory Blood takes like these are the reason people dislike talking to a lot of artists lmao. Kindly chillax my dude, and try not to be offended about your "stolen creative essence" ya numbskull.
@@timjones5953 So sorry the theft of people's livelihoods and their right to creative expression is so upsetting to you.
In the future I'll try to be more understanding when people talk about using technology to steal both my job and my talent.
@@TheGregamonster You weren't the first. You won't be the last.
You can rage all you want but it doesn't matter at all and won't change a thing.
This short opinion piece really resonated with me, having graduated from a performing arts high school where you could be awestruck at the myriad of processes and works put on display from the students there. Even down to myself, lying on my stomach in a pitch black room, making tiny adjustments to lights to find the perfect angle for my photography. Was awesome to hear another artist's perspective on these emergent technologies.
Dude. Just…dude. I’m used to your goofy and insightful takes on D&D. This was…art. Deep and meaningful. If no one has said it yet: Thank you.
I am in college as an Interactive Media & Game Major (IMGD for short) and AI as a concept has been exciting and cool but also daunting. As truly we are in an age where an original idea is almost impossible to come by and AI can do the remakes.
I truly hope that data unions become a thing and that the love for art by artists and creators never dies. My upcoming livelihood and a lot people’s livelihoods are dependent on those who appreciate the work of an artist.
The last words of this video struck me harder than I could have imagined. As I want my time to make a mistake, go back and reset. I don’t want one falter make me left behind in the endless algorithms and minuscule attention spans.
Sorry for the dump, just this really called to attention all of the underlying feelings I’ve had towards the subject and I don’t have a lot of close friends who would understand my perspective as well as you artists.
You breathe life into your work. All of your animations contain a little piece of you and we love you for it. Thank you for your time and passion.
I'm an art student learning animation currently. I'm taking classes to strengthen my skills and learn new ones. I hope the art and animation industry hasn't crumbled when I make it at out, this video gives me the smallest gimps of hope that maybe something will change for the better by then. Thank you Zee.
It will not crumble, do not worry about that. I know people bring up the camera and its own artistic revolution back in the 19th century a lot, but it really is a good analogue. It did not kill art as it was practiced, though it did have an impact on some industries, like portrait miniatures. People who refused to adapt DID lose their livelihoods as the photograph overtook to the miniature portrait. Still, many artists in those industries learned to work with the camera: some former portrait miniaturists became photo colorists, some realized that they could produce many more portrait paintings at larger sizes since subjects only needed to sit for a photo that they could then use as a reference, et cetera.
Even today, some people animate entirely from hand, some use the camera for rotoscoping, some use 3D modeling software to render 2D animations (despite people back in the day thinking that 3D animation would eliminate hand drawn 2D animation), et cetera.
The animation industry will still exist after you graduate. You may at times (both now and in the distant future) be called upon to learn new skills or tools to keep up with the changes. AI might become one of those tools and, even now, many artists have figured out how to bend AI art technology to do things like quickly make small corrections to their own work while they draw digitally, and so on. But the fundamentals you are learning now as an art student?
That is what is going to allow you to stay current, to stay fresh, to stay productive as an artist.
Art studies is quite objectively a horrible choice, unless you are actively looking to impoverish yourself by taking on loads of debt for a field where you probably will not make it back faster than if you just worked in McDonalds the entire time. Even if you do actually find a spot in the field.
I'd focus on getting a job - maybe even an internship - in your desired field of animation. Even use RUclips tutorials. Get in that way. It's much more valuable, gets you that experience immediately, doesn't saddle you with irreparable debt and shows to companies that might want to hire you that you are willing to put in the work. You didn't just cruise by on government-fueled debt. (Indeed, as college degrees are getting more and more watered down...they are becoming an actively negative aspect to an application.)
Lucky for you: many universities have active deals with corporations to enable internships at extremely high rates. So, you still have plenty of opportunities to right your course. The school councilor will probably even be paid for good internship referrals.
By God, I hope you learn from my mistakes.
@@SangoProductions213 I mean, there are multiple countries in the world where art study colleges and targeted lower education for example are free, such as multiple locations in Europe. I live in one such country.
@@TheHazelnoot Alright. Fair enough. Although it is still a largely meaningless expenditure of time, when you can instead just start out in the industry.
It is a luxury - something to frivolously spend time on for your enjoyment - and not one that will largely help you in finding a job.
@@SangoProductions213 you can't just dive into a field if you aren't fully competent in the practice of it, sure you can learn from experience but you'd be lucky to be picked up if your still at an amateur level while others are still perfecting their craft. ':7
In the hypothetical future where art is perfectly automated, the worst case scenario is that it goes the way of manual math. Important to understand if you want to make it a career, and always appreciated, even if only be niche groups.
As you illustrated here, the experience of your friends and family *creating* art in front of you will never go away. A robot can't recreate the playful but concentrated expressions of your loved ones.
I love this take. This is definitely the most level headed thoughts I've seen of this.
As an artist myself, zee... From the depths of my heart, thank you. With everything I love around me seemingly being swallowed by greed in an ever accelerating race for quarterly earnings.
I needed that reminder, that despite it all. I'm in a class of human that CAN craft wonderful stories with dice and friends, with amazing characters that I can bring to life on a page with my art. And that I do it just because there is joy in creating.
And nothing in the world can take that away.
So from one artist to another... Again.... Thanks
this is the problem. you see yourself as being in a different "class" from other people. everyone would choose to make art if they were given the opportunity. im not saying they would choose it as a career. but everyone has a desire to be creative and express themselves.
@@catboyedgeworth2469 a fair point, I perhaps worded that poorly, I suppose my intention was to say that there are people who do try to create and there are those who don't. I'm a firm believer that everyone has the capacity to create, be it art, music, or some other form of expression. It's just some people find that easy and for others it might be difficult, but we owe it to each other as humans to encourage each other to express ourselves in what ways we can
Wow, this is fantastic.
There are some things I think automation will take quite a while to perfectly replicate. For example, I recently finished The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, and it is written as though things are added only when the author thinks of them, or like she was actually sitting there with a catalog of existing scraps of information and trying to create a narrative by cutting up 6 books and stitching them into one. It perfectly tickled the ADHD side of my brain, because every time I started to get tired of the narrative, a poem gets thrown in, or a chapter comes from an entirely different book that then gets referenced in the story. The thing about computers is that they can't forget naturally. They can simulate forgetting, but if a computer tells a story, it will remember everything, from the beginning to the end. No tangents, no forgetting their place, no misremembering details. No personality.
I mean, current AI writing tech literally does not remember everything, just anything in its context size, which is fairly limited.
@@MaakaSakuranbo ChatGPT can actually look back at the entire conversation. Not sure how but I think it might be RETRO-style retrieval using only your current convo as a database. If only OpenAI were more open about their AI.
It’s funny how you are wrong about that.
The first human flight at kitty hawk and the first human on the moon happened within 50-60 years of each other. Technology and innovation have only become faster.
Approximately none of the current text generation AI have perfect recall. They have either fixed-length memories that fit a specific amount of past text or entirely fuzzy memories just as prone to forgetfulness as any organic. "Things being added as the author thinks of them" has been the exact style of older text generation AI, because of even stricter memory limits.
I'm not an artist, but I'm an artist in the way that I talk to people. I do psychotherapy and many of my colleagues take different perspectives on how and why they do things the way they do. I'm early on in my career, but for the first time in my life I feel like an artist, because for me it's an art to think about and choose how I relate to others. And this story made me very sad, not just because a psychotherapist is replaced by an AI here, but because the story has so much feeling, I wish I could see more, hear more, of that feeling. There's something just beyond the view, and I wish I could see it all.
This was actually pretty amazing.
You told a story that made me feel nostalgic and hope that art, real art, no matter how much it changes will still be alright
i didn’t expect to be this sad or appreciative today. thank you for a thought provoking video :)
This is one of the most thought provoking vlogs I have ever seen. Beautiful, sorrowful, and up lifting all at once. Thank you.
This is a great take on the current step we are in. Gives me joy to see all the small works of art from music, poems paintings. I find joy in the wholesome little views. Zee I have been enjoying your art for a few years. Love it and thank you
This is so heartwarming and breaking at the same time.
Thinking the same thing.
This is genuinely so beautiful and so hopeful. I needed to hear it. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
This video may be the best take on AI generated art I have seen, also as a working artist. I hope more people adopt this mindset, great video Zee.
I’m not sure how this makes me feel. I’m 19, working on my first book. Seeing AI write actual circles around anything I could do makes me feel, well, it makes me feel useless. It makes me feel sad, depressed, like I don’t have a role in this world. Because when it’s only humans, I can at least say “This is me. This is my own writing style, and while people can try, they won’t ever get exactly what makes me, me.”
I can’t say that anymore.
Computers and AI can masterfully make art in the style of other artists, can write short stories that sound like they come from a particular author, and they can do it all seemingly effortlessly. It’s not that it hurts my pride. It’s that it makes me feel unwanted in comparison.
I know what you mean. It's an entirely different threshold to just a manual process being automated. It's automating expression; our very "personality" per se. That's why it feels so egregious to most. Like, sure - you can't copyright an art style, but no one could do it in this way before, one, two people at most at less of the speed or just as fast as you. Now you'll be smothered with works like yours, like you. And if big money have their way everyone will be carte blanche.
i unno, i think there will always be a use for someones voice in art. you could see the ai as a tool to learn how to write better too; not just as a tool to output better things. i've been using it to learn about complicated mechanical stuff, im sure it can do stuff to help with writing engaging stories as well.
As an aspiring novelist in college myself, I feel exactly the same way my friend. I don’t know for certain where we are going, but all I know is this is the role we want to fill. This is who we want to be, and that alone makes it worth actualizing. And who knows, if enough of us feel the same, then we’ll get rights eventually. After all, no technology can fight nature forever and this is our nature as writers
@@stinkypete9070 It isn't just "big money" that's pushing it. It's the many, many random individuals who can now create endless art to enjoy using their own computers for effectively zero cost.
Wow. This was some really powerful writing. I love the sketch-like quality of your animation playing off of your profound, heartfelt words. You demonstrated in 3 minutes, such a deep understanding of the creative process and used that to make the message hit home. A.I. can never do what you just did.
Truth
Fucking agreed man, this is gorgeous
Zee, this is one of your best. Thank you for your honesty, and from one artist to another, keep the faith!
Man. I love all your d&d content. This though. This was something else. It was an incredibly well rounded take with a lot of nuance and acceptance.
I really think the idea of data unions is genius as well. I sadly don't have the skills to be an artist but i certainly would stand in solidarity with any artists in a data union.
Iba a escribir en ingles, pero la verdad no me alcanzan las palabras para transmitir lo hermoso que me pareció el video y su mensaje, espero que el traductor haga bien su trabajo, este es, realmente, el final de una era
Lo siento mi español es mínimo, pero quiero practicarlo. Tu palabras son muy excelente. Traduje antes de usar el traductor. El traductor de RUclips también trabajó.
Translation of above: "I was going to write this in English, but the truth is I don't have the words to explain how beautiful this video and it's message is to me, I hope that the translator does a good job, this is, truly, the end of an era."
This is such a different take and view on AI art. You portrayed a version that may not be all so bad but at the same time showed concern over what could be. I love all of your content but this is one of the most interesting things I've seen you make.
I love your channel so much, I've enjoyed the years of subscription and thank you for quality entertainment and brief distractions from the craziness of the world.
So poetic and so inspirational. Truly a gem in the sand Zee.
This is a really beautiful video. My dad grew up in the punk rock scene and doing audio work for a lot of his life. He talks to me often in the way older people with insight do about how people just getting into this field don't seem to understand exactly why they do the things they do. They don't understand the process and how it came to be, so they don’t understand the fundamentals of why things work they way they do. In a way people are so limited by new technology. As it makes things easier, we LOSE so much of that fundamental knowledge. So when someone encounters an issue, (like in his current job of coding) they don't have the skillset built up to be able to break it down to its basics and solve it. Knoweldge about the process needs to be a real focus in education on trades NOW not just the future. Too much knowledge has been lost to history like this already. (Like roman concrete!) Hope more people see his video!
Honestly one of the best takes I've seen on the subject
This is beautiful. Poetry (in all it's forms) at it's finest. Thank you.
I will always love your art. Please keep posting. 😊
Beautiful
This is very bittersweet. We are at the end of an era, but what that says to me is that all that's left beyond this point is dystopia.
How so?
This video was a reminder that what happens with AI art right now is nothing new at its core.
There have always been skills that ultimately became largely obsolete _as a profession_ because technology found a way to automate the process.
But _as an art form_ - for the sake of the process itself, not the monetary aspects - it will always live on.
The individual can still get the product from either source, but it will become more easily available to the masses.
@@LinkEX At least for me, it feels like all that's left is a dystopia because, while art as a profession is gonna die out and people that draw as a hobby will live on, the number of artists in general is just gonna plummet: why try to learn art at all when an AI can do what I want in a matter of minutes instead of the years of constant practice? A lot of young artists will dip their toes and then quit in frustration, the ones that tough it out will be left in a sea of much superior and inferior AI art, reaching no one but people they actually show it to, while having to have a different job to sustain themselves; art as a passion job is done.
I personally feel it's naïve to think that the techbros that are pushing AI so hard lately will ever let any sort of ethics mess with whatever revenue they might get from stealing people's art to feed their AIs, people in the comments here in youtube and other sites just want a tool and care little for the artists losing their livelihood in the next couple of years, and while I hope that Data Union idea might ever happen, I doubt it, at least in the US, people are so against any sort of union, the push back for one will be such that I doubt any will gain traction.
Beautiful. Truly makes me deeply reflect on life, mine and in general, and art, mine and in general.
I would absolutely love to hear more stories like the ones in this video. You are a wonderful storyteller, that is true regardless of content or world - real or fantastic.
Wow, this is a really good, nuanced take on the issue. This was really cool to watch too, the scribbly lines are fun, and i especially liked how soft the smile was on the drawing of your wife it was very sweet
So used to your goofball videos. This is eloquent, comforting and beautiful. Nice to see this side of your art
This touched me. I don’t have words to describe it, but this video got me. ❤
This was a beautiful summary, beautifully written and beautifully animated, as always.
This just may be my favorite video of yours. Love the diversion from your usual stuff. Love unexpectedly feeling something
I am going to cry. I was never good at art, but my mom is. And all this made me realize just how close to the edge we are. They removed art and music from my schools since 2nd grade and never got to hang out with my mom enough to absorb that wisdom. As a result, to my dismay, my head fills with ideas that will never see the light of day and I have not the time to change it. Take the time to create with your kids. Pass that joy down the line. I know I'd have loved it.
Art and artists arent going anywhere, they are so intrinsically part of us and our lives. tools may change, but its nothing more than a tool in a tool box.
Artists will become irrelevant like all other people as AI begin to generate entire experiences for us that simply isn't possible for humans to compete with. The future is AI generated content, that's movies, games, pornography, conversations. Mark my fucking words, AI art is not the destination but the beginning of the end for human made content.
@FluffyPants nah, they won't. Some people will always want to create, some people will always want something human-made, and some art is inherently irreplaceable. Synths and DAWs didn't make live musicians extinct, photos didn't make portrait makers exist, 3D printers didn't make dollmakers exist, etc. Art is a language of human expression after all, people create and share works because they want to.
I mean, the only people that even *want* to replace all human art with AI are tech bros obsessed over art as a product - they also fail to understand that art doesn't come down to end product alone, and things like authenticity, skill and creator's personality are also common selling points of an art piece.
Same was said about blacksmiths and clothing makers. Look at all the metal tools we use, look at all the clothes we wear, who would replace our love for our passion with something that's made by a robot fast and easy?
@@retarded1651 The market for those shrunk, but they do still exist.
@@retarded1651 that's the thing - art is not a metal tool, and art is not a piece of clothing. It's a language expression that people enjoy, and human involvement is often an essential part of appeal.
It's almost like saying that people will stop watching sports because cars are faster than athletes, or that they'll stop attending concerts because sound recordings are more convenient and accurate - as in, these are technically facts, but it goes beside the point of sports or concerts in the first place. Same goes for a lot of art mediums.
What a beautiful and truly heartfelt video this is! I really like all your stuff on RUclips, but I think this one is far and away the best yet! Keep up the good work sir!
Damn man... by the end of this I was crying. this is such a wonderful piece. thank you.
Man I super appreciate how zen you are about AI art. Trying to punch the ocean is a pretty good metaphor. Even if it is in a nihilistically calm sort of way.
You put into words what i was thinking. A very mature take
Wow, Zee. This was incredible. Thank you for breaking from your normal content for this. I’m a writer and English teacher, and I’ve just seen ChatGPT release. The process of writing has meant so much to me, but my students care so little. Fewer and fewer of them will experience the joy of writing, or painting, or composing. For the sake of our beautiful, creative world, I hope your words about the end of an age are wrong, but I think they’re probably right. Stay strong, all creatives.
This is beautiful zee i love your art. Im thankful i got to live in a time to be able to enjoy it. Thankyou for what you do.
Thank you for your stories your art and your time its been a great light on very dark days
The Idea that you could get compensated for the work you did because an AI used it as a reference is a fantastic Idea! It could be hard coded into the ai to notify the agency to generate what percentage of the art had been utilized and compensate accordingly. That way anyone, and I mean anyone could submit what they wish and potentially get some profits rather than showting out into the void hopeing and praying someone notices their talent.
Yes but... that will never happen
But the value of "how much of art was used" is hard to measure. AI determines the values it takes from learning material on its own. Some of those we can't even describe but they were recognized by AI as some consistency in the learned dataset. It will be like trying to measure which movies, games, and books were inspiring GM to write a new campaign. Of course - you can determine a list of major inspirations, but not all inspirations that were used. Same for AI. We can't say how much of each artwork AI actually used.
Try as you might to make the capitalism machine steal from laborers less, you can't stop it. Theft is in its nature, all the way down to the "primitive acquisition" that makes it possible in the first place.
Don't be the frog that gives the scorpion a ride across the river
Sadly, "what percentage of the art" would be impossible to compute economically. It'd be computationally equivalent to re-training the whole network from scratch, which is the most expensive part of its operation.
the people making the ai dont even exactly know how the ai generates images and from what, it'd be a gigantic challenge to determine even just from what the generated art comes from and even harder to determine the percentage to compensate the artist.
(Warning: LONG):
My story and the context that's shaped my perspective: I've been worldbuilding a setting. I have a novel in progress. Ideas for a couple short stories, a timeline of different eras of the setting that could be fertile ground for more stories and games. But above all, I'm focused on building the worldbuilding. I plan to go the creative commons route and do my best to foster other creatives to play in this sandbox I've constructed.
Along the way, I've commissioned a few artists. Not all of it has gone as I would have liked. It's a high concept, and hard to explain. I took a break from commissioning art and just kept writing and worldbuilding.
AI art came along. I started using prompts with the same key words I'd fed artists. I liked some of what I saw. I saved it to a mood board. I returned to using style transfers in DDG, then fed that output back into a text-based prompt. It's getting better. I started finding a psychedelic vibe that had been missing without me being able to put my finger on it.
I grew my mood board to like 200 images. I went back to commissioning human artists, better able to explain what I'm after. I fed some of their drafts into the AI with a low weight prompt to generate variants. I annotated the sketch and the variants to highlight what worked and didn't, and to illustrate the tweaks I wanted but was struggling to explain. And the past month and a half? I've found several artists excited to help build up the sandbox, and now I'm a routine patron to them.
AI is phenomenal for rapid prototyping but can really struggle with capturing, or at least interpreting, unique concepts and ideas because both data sets and the language we use is limited. You're an early adopter of what will become the norm, I suspect.
This is not at all what I expected this to be about. But it honestly is one of the most beautiful things I've had the pleasure of watching in a good long time.
Absolutely beautiful…I, I’m at a loss for words…I always thought my art itself was obsolete, that there was always better and brighter artists out there…and for a while it stopped me from doing what I loved…and thankfully im slowly coming back to it. And seeing this is…heart touching…it leaves me speechless and…Thank you! You’re amazing and you should know you’re well appreciated!
You made me cry.
Not because of AI, not because of the potential loss of big "A" Art in the world, but because of what's left in the box after all the harms have been let out.
Hope... always gets me.
As a material artist myself, I don't think AI will ever be able to replicate the unique imperfections and tiny details that mark our art as human . As much as AI can amalgamate different pieces of art and music and literature from real people, when you look at all the fine details, they will be fuzzy, little JPEG artifacts revealing the nature of the artist. Zee, your art is beautiful and always makes me laugh, but this really hit me in a new way, and at a very fitting time. I really appreciate the work you put into illustrating this perspective.
It might not be able, but that will hardly matter. It will replace a lot of the everyday art. The mass consumed or process art (think story boards and what not), pp lus it will be cheaper. Most people just want a cute story to read to their kids, ai books will be fine enough. AI will be good enough, and it will be cheap. That will kill most artists.
Working a full-time job and having a family makes doing art very hard.
Oh it will. Just not anytime soon. Eventually though an AI will be made that can replicate anything a human can do perfectly. It just takes more effort to reach those fuzzy bits. Many people will never see it but AI will no doubt be able to do it in time.
I agree. Sure it will get better at it, but A: its been two decades and my phone still dosn't understand my voice commands, but B: even when cheaper alternatives exist, they never actually replace earlier art forms. People still go see plays despite movies existing. People still go to concerts and live shows when they could just listen to an MP3. People pay to go see the Mona Lisa in person when you could just buy a print for your home. The fact that AI Art is controversial at all is proof of how much stock people put in the actual process of making art. It'll change the landscape for sure, but there's always going to be a demand. I think the tech bros that argue otherwise are being overly cocky, and people echoing those points out of fear for the death of artistic integrity are being too pessimistic.
It's not even the details and imperfections that show the fault of AI art, it's the intentionality. A human artist makes conscious decisions about how to present small details in order to elevate the impact of the work. The AI just regurgitates what's in its database. There's no "there" there.
I think that we now have a number of claims of the nature of “AI will never be able to…” which turned out to be less representative of reality than imagined.
a beautiful story and an idea that I, for one, had not at all thought about soo...
thanks for the work you put into your videos
and the days that you have brightened with this video
it brightened mine.
Thank you for making this. I've never had any of my lottery tickets be winners but I am an artist, and the kind of grief that comes with the continual onslaught of AI art has been hard to wrap my mind around. Your video explained it and captured it perfectly. It still hurts, but at least now I can mourn.
I will share this with my other art peers and friends so they can see with clarity too. You're a good egg Mr. Bashew. Thank you.
This was amazing. Thanks for the great content
Art is by far the greatest things humans can do, I hope AI doesn't replace it, and this video gave me a lot of hope in favor of it not getting replaced
AI is never going to replace art, its going to replace commercial art. the concept artists and illustrators. people that appreciate art for the human element will still appreciate it. the problem is that its the commercial art that pay the bills, not the art that you make to hang in a gallery.
@@danilooliveira6580 unless you’re laundering money lol
@@danilooliveira6580 that's for sure, got my dead dad's paintings all sitting on the floor in the hall for months. He didn't die poor all those years back cause of AI, people have always had a funny relationship with art and money, and he was always the first to tell me it's all bullshit 😉
This video and it’s ideas are painfully beautiful. Bravo.
Ive spread it to my friends but i keep coming back to this video ive watched it a couple times everyday since it came out. The best word i can think of for is im drawn to how honest it is.
15 years ago the first Vocaloid software was mass marketed as "the future of idols". There were concerts where a hologram of Hatsune Miku would walk up and down the stage singing her melodies.
Here's the thing, There are real people composing these songs. Real people creating the art and tech needed to achieve all of this AND right there on the stage behind the hologram were real musicians playing and that was the image that stuck. A cute anime girl as the front and hard working, passionate artist behind her smiling at the crowd.
The tools, the medium and even the style changes. But art will always be made by real people, one way or another.
this case is a bit different though, Vocaloid was just an instrument. just like a synthesizer people use to compose entire songs by themselves. the future we will see is AI replacing ALL those people, even the artist and animator that made Miku. and instead of a lot of musicians and artists working hard to make something unique, we will have a CEO writing a prompt, pressing a button, and watching the money shower, all without paying a single artist.
@@danilooliveira6580 You still need artists with the vision, but the technique has changed.
Now it's not directly painting anymore, but actually crafting prompts and this becomes a new instrument.
I'm not sure if you are aware how much finely tuned prompts for the generators have to be if you really want to get an image like you have imagined it.
@@Renesis For real, it ain't ever gonna be as easy as smacking a button. You gotta collaborate with the AI like a director to express your vision in a way they understand, they aren't psychic. And if they were smart enough to get it right every time... they'd probably be able to tell that CEO, "No."
@@thegaspatthegateway that sounds like an artist conceptualizing and making drafts before moving onto the final concept.
If even our own minds aren't fully satisfied by the thing we ourselves created then it is no different than telling an AI who never gets tired to make another iteration of that piece.
AI and automation is not the problem. The idea that you must work to survive and "be a part of economy" is. Only through changing our economic model to something that values people other efficiency can we hope to build better society, in which technology serves interests of all.
This is great and the best work you've done on this channel! Right in the feels
I have been recommending this video all around. I think it has a lot of value coming from an artist and has created a lot of interesting discussion