I guess I'll take "not as bad" as a compliment. I think your characterisation is quite unfair though. For one thing, you'll find most people hold positions which "advantage them." But you seem to imply that those positions are cynically chosen to benefit me rather than that I developed certain values and now my actions are in line with those values. Do you also question whether gay people support gay marriage because they think it's right or just because they benefit from it? It also seems like you're cherry picking examples; one of my other major positions is vegetarianism which has many daily disadvantages, e.g. I have 1 option at the cafeteria instead of the 3 or 4 my colleagues get. At some restaurants I get nothing. My belief in free software and privacy means that I choose to run Linux and avoid many common programmes. I've got Steam games that don't run on my devices and sometimes have to go through hoops where other people use tools that are simply more convenient.
I agree that people often do stupid things because they don't know what they're doing (Although I didn't quite follow what the issue was in your hamburger example.) but art is subjective. I'm sure you know that. Your tastes in films are not the same as everyone else's and that's okay. I do think art can be technically bad but that doesn't necessarily make it bad art. It's not clear to me what you think about AI art will make it bad art. There are plenty of professional artists that are doing stupid stuff that I would say is bad art (most abstract painting, taping a banana to a wall). If people can use AI to generate the scenes that they want to see and they enjoy that, how is that bad art?
I fully agree AI can and, perhaps, should be used for boring jobs but it can also be used for art. I'm certainly not saying that we should use AI to do art so we can work and I don't think Lowd is saying that either. In fact, I don't think anyone is saying that.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~
I guess I'll take "not as bad" as a compliment. I think your characterisation is quite unfair though. For one thing, you'll find most people hold positions which "advantage them." But you seem to imply that those positions are cynically chosen to benefit me rather than that I developed certain values and now my actions are in line with those values. Do you also question whether gay people support gay marriage because they think it's right or just because they benefit from it? It also seems like you're cherry picking examples; one of my other major positions is vegetarianism which has many daily disadvantages, e.g. I have 1 option at the cafeteria instead of the 3 or 4 my colleagues get. At some restaurants I get nothing. My belief in free software and privacy means that I choose to run Linux and avoid many common programmes. I've got Steam games that don't run on my devices and sometimes have to go through hoops where other people use tools that are simply more convenient.
I agree that people often do stupid things because they don't know what they're doing (Although I didn't quite follow what the issue was in your hamburger example.) but art is subjective. I'm sure you know that. Your tastes in films are not the same as everyone else's and that's okay. I do think art can be technically bad but that doesn't necessarily make it bad art. It's not clear to me what you think about AI art will make it bad art. There are plenty of professional artists that are doing stupid stuff that I would say is bad art (most abstract painting, taping a banana to a wall). If people can use AI to generate the scenes that they want to see and they enjoy that, how is that bad art?
You say you haven't seen AI do anything more than "huh, that's funny" but AI-generated art has literally won art competitions! (See https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/03/tech/ai-art-fair-winner-controversy/index.html and https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2023/02/05/ai-art-accidentally-wins-desti... and https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/21265059/sunset-photograph-wins-contest-scary-twist/) Even a couple of years back, humans couldn't tell human art from AI art and even thought AI art was better! (https://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/36940/1/people-chose-ai-made...) In that last case, that's the sort of art that gets into shows but which I think is stupid and as much bad art as any other.
I fully agree AI can and, perhaps, should be used for boring jobs but it can also be used for art. I'm certainly not saying that we should use AI to do art so we can work and I don't think Lowd is saying that either. In fact, I don't think anyone is saying that.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~