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hmmm
(media.piefed.world)
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this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2026
502 points (100.0% liked)
hmmm
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For things that are "hmmm".
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Yes, but look what joy its bringing people. If that identical image had been made by a human, we'd praise its creativity and composition.
AI has many problems, the way it is used is often evil. But I think it's not too unfathomable to say that it should not be condemned in 100% of all cases. An image like that one could be generated on my own computer, for less power than it takes to play a video game for 5 minutes. The image is clearly unique enough so as not to be stealing from an established artist or doing harm to them. And the result is that it brings inspiration and joy to many people.
Like I said, I know AI is doing a lot of harm to the world right now, but it also has a lot of potential to be used in a positive way. If we condemn it even in positive cases, all we do is equalize positive outcomes and negative ones, creating no room for eventual improvement. We ostracize the people who might use AI in pro-social ways, eventually leading to a dynamic where the only AI users are people who don't care about it's social impact. If that happens, we will have wasted our opportunity to get something good out of the technology by allowing it to be used only by careless people.
I hope anyone reading this will at least consider the idea I'm putting forth and not see me as some "AI bro" or villain. It is wise and healthy not to see the world in black and white even when we find comfort in doing so.
It didn’t bring me joy tho. I found out it was ai and went ‘ugh’
But saying AI art is bad because it doesn't bring you joy, and it doesn't bring you joy because it's AI art which is bad, is plainly circular reasoning.
Edit: Ah, downvotes with no counterargument, always a sure sign that the people on the other side from me have reasoned and defensible positions
The reason is that art made by a human has human creative reasoning behind it and therefore when I take the time to look for meaning in it I can find it. The art can say something to me that means something about the human experience. AI art has no human creative reasoning and so when I look for meaning there is none. It is only a surface impression and so the time I spend looking at it is wasted because there is nothing but illusion.
We don't care about art for the shapes and colors, we care because a human did something with meaning and intention and by studying it we can learn about the human condition. AI slop brings no joy. It looks like a cake but when you cut into it it's nothing but sawdust.
Thanks for taking the time to express your reasoning without being pointlessly sassy with me. It really sucks that just because I'm trying to express a sliver of devil's advocacy here, I get people dogpiling on me and imagining me to be something I'm not. Frustrating and disappointing. Anyways I really appreciate your comment in light of all that.
I am an artist myself, I spend a ton of time making art and thinking about how to make more successful art, analyzing art, philosophizing about art, etc. Please believe me when I say that I understand the approach you describe as a value of art and a way of valuing art. I definitely think that one of the great joys of art is in thinking about the human reasoning behind it. I have cried tears of joy from doing theoretical analysis of baroque music, because I felt as if the composer was alive again by my side, so much did I understand the thought process behind the composition.
That said, I don't think the approach you describe is the only way to value art, and I think we do art a great disservice to treat that as the only way. I believe in "the death of the author" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_the_Author), and I believe that a work can have an intrinsic meaning that is possibly entirely different from the author's intent. The essence of a work is the work itself. For example, imagine if you learned that The Bee Movie was intended to be a heart-wrenching metaphor for drug addiction. Would you now think that this is indeed what the movie is about? Or would you think "the movie is what it is, it means what its always meant, and the creator just failed to create what they intended"?
It can be fun to connect with the artist and look for meaning in their work through the lens of the artist, but the work has an intrinsic meaning in itself. Let me ask you this one question:
You've likely heard of the famous "shortest story" that goes like this: "For sale: Baby shoes, never worn." Let us suppose that the author of this story had never written it. Instead, I've created a machine that randomly selects 6 words and punctuation written on pieces of paper from a jar, and lays them out to form gimmicky short 6-word stories. Most of these stories are gibberish nonsense, but eventually the machine just so happens to lay out exactly the text of that baby shoes story. In this case, does the story somehow no longer have meaning to you? To me, it seems as though the story must have the same meaning. The entire content of the work is the same. And to me this demonstrates that it is the work itself which gives the work meaning, not the intent of its creator.
No one needs to argue against your slop.
No, you can't argue against my reasoning, but just keep repeating your magic word if it helps you feel better lil buddy. Slop slop slop slop slop! Maybe if I say it enough everything I don't want to face will disappear!
Idk I didn’t read your reasoning because it was probably slop generated.
Even though I explicitly said AI is often bad, that I dislike lots of AI generated content, etc. etc. Sure. But just because I say it's not 100% always in every situation ever across all time and space pure evil and filth, it's "slop". Real intelligent.
I've made more art with my own two hands in the last year than you have in your whole life, no AI used at any point. But I'm sure that breaks your simplistic worldview so that's probably just slop too.
Slopaganda 🙄
At least I'm trying to express my reasoning in a logical way, rather than just falling back on thought-terminating clichés with no argument behind them.
tl;dr
~~Here's a summary:
Your simplistic and idiotic worldview, and your unwillingness to consider being wrong, is not the clever own you think it is
Maybe if you need simpler thoughts you can ask an AI to boil it down for you~~
You know what, I'm sorry, I'm getting overly defensive from all the crappy treatment getting heaped on me for merely trying to have some nuanced discussion. It occurs to me that you may not mean to be dismissive or condescending to the extent that warrants such a rude response from me. I won't delete my rudeness for posterity, but I do regret posting it.
That said, yes, my post is long, but truth is rarely simple. I am trying to stand up for what I believe is true, and I think that in my initial comment at least, I came at it in a very measured and polite way. When this is repaid with quips and one-liners and dismissive unthinkingness, it harms discourse for everyone. Sorry for contributing to that.