I have truly noticed a change in how I am engaging with content nowadays, I have become more reluctant on clicking on links to articles or videos that have been made in these last few years, and when I do I started by looking for clues if it has been generated by ai. if the voice is human or generated, if the pictures are of real events or slop. I mistrust everything. and it’s exhausting. earlier slop was easier to detect nowadays it’s becoming impossible.
It’s so tiring, I agree.
For stuff relating the monetization, I can see the financial motivation to cut corners or just pass off others work as your own. Tale as old as time.
But for creative little indie things that you just share for no clout? Admittedly it’s rare, but I still see it here and there, like book covers for fanfic etc—that shit fuckin boggles me.
Like if you aren’t doing this for money or clout, why aren’t you just sharing 100% your own creativity? Isn’t that the reason to share creative stuff, to share a part of your “soul” with others and hope to genuinely touch someone, across time and space?
I can even understand someone who just likes ai generating stuff and thinks it’s fun and cool (I disagree, but I understand it). But then why not just say you made it with an LLM, and point out which parts are yours and which parts are generated? Why try to “trick” people into thinking they’ve made a genuine connection?
Because fanfic authors are not visual artists, so they lack the skill. But probably still want the visual appeal and associations that come with having a (non-stock) book cover.
I think that’s getting a bit metaphysical. I think for a lot of people it’s just the impulse to share something neat. The mere fact that you think it’s neat means you’re sharing something of yourself, just not on this soul-bearing level that you’re talking about. It’s like the difference between sharing a cute cat pic and sharing your true thoughts on your own cat whom you love and cherish.
What really boggles me is when I open a game and the ui buttons are ai. Why? It must have taken you longer to have your engine generate those graphics than it would’ve to just grabbed some royalty free ones. I really don’t understand it. I’ve even seen what are clearly ai generated emojis as buttons.
Things always become worse because there are incentives to make them worse. Probably a series of management decisions that demanded or encourages ai usage and that was the result so far.