This the problem. The need to make money in order to justify your right to survive is the problem.
Painters shouldn’t be mad at AI, they should be mad at the system.
Painters shouldn’t be mad at AI, they should be mad at the system.
AI helps enable the system. It makes it easier for the haves to justify a lack of sharing—or need to share—with the have-nots.
"There are more tools available for you to do more work faster than ever! I'm not a greedy hoarder partying while others suffer because of my choices, you're just not dedicated enough to learning and using those new tools! The tools take away your excuses for not being economically valuable to me!"
Capitalism is dog eat dog, the system is dog eat dog. In the jungle you have to adapt or die.
If we want to change that, we must change the system, because nobody is going to stop using these tools.
AI is just another tool that’s being applied to it. But you have to think beyond the old transactional nature to get passed that. Capitalist realism is extremely hard to overcome, but it doesn’t have to be like this.
You do not need to believe what you do is valuable. That’s capitalism talking, infesting your head.
For the vast majority of us, we are imminently replaceable at the drop of a hat. We aren’t the special unique and individually “important” people we imagined ourselves to be.
There are 8.5b of us! How could we be? We aren’t special, we will be replaced when we’re gone. That’s OK!
If we can be replaced when we are gone, we can replace “work” while we are still here too.
Here I'm deliberately conflating (1) monetary value and self-worth, (2) social status and emotional importance. I do this to annoy you, but also because I think it's somewhat correct. Cash is hard-earned, so persuading somebody to give you some cash for your art does indeed signify that they care about it, just the same as if they had run a mile in order to collect it: and social status, if it means genuinely mattering to other people for good reasons, is likely to be part of what matters to you in your heart.
So in summary, oh yes you do.