Someone stop this man! He’s gonna start pissing off fans again!
Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat. This is not a defense of AI or the IP theft it regularly engages in. Nor is it particularly equivalent of the practice that I’m going to comment on further into this post. It is a commentary that there is a direct A to B correlation, however, and until consumers accept their own hypocrisy on this score, there’s going to continue to be people who will try to exploit that, whether it is “AI” or whatever next stupid idea passes down the tech grift pipeline.
Okay, so, anyway. I do find it mildly amusing (and mildly infuriating) the railing against AI coming from various online communities. “Why do AI companies think it is okay to steal intellectual property to train their shitty models?” the man with the obvious fanart Sonic avatar exclaims in rage, most likely purchased at far reduced cost (if not outright “borrowed” from some artist’s DeviantArt page with no compensation at all).
The online sphere’s anger at AI often reminds me of a very old commercial from around the time I was a child (that far flung time of ancient history called the 1980’s)…
Why do companies steal existing IPs to train their models? Because they know that’s what the consumer wants, and they are 100% correct in that assessment. The consumer doesn’t want new, original shit. They want cheap (or free) samples of shit that already exists and they already know they like.
For the same reason that studios all across all forms of media are cranking out remakes and sequels and prequels rather than fund new, experimental IPs, AI companies know the money is in creating slop of characters and IPs that people want more of.
And don’t tell me you give one tenth of one shit about artists. Ya’ll only care about artists to the extent that they provide you the cheap cover slop that you are gnashing your teeth over AI generating. I’ve seen all of you at conventions. I know the shit all you guys and gals buy. The artists know it too. That’s why their booths are slathered in fan art of Sonic or Naruto or [insert popular TV or movie or video game franchise here], and not the hundreds if not thousands of original works those artists have no doubt produced over the years.
Because the artists know what you want, and you have never even pretended to care about anything else… until now. Now you pretend to be all upset about IP theft. Now you suddenly care about the artists and what they do. Because, deep down, you know that AI can’t give you that original feel. You do realize that AI is a creative dead end. So I’ll give the masses credit for that much at least.
But until consumer behavior changes, dead ends are all that companies are going to offer you. And yes, I understand that often costs money (because artists have become wise to your shitty “exposure” claims that ya’ll have made for years). But stop pretending that what you want isn’t exactly what you’re getting.
Because it is. You just don’t like it now that you’re getting it.
TKO Creations 