Does it occur to any of you who are posting AI slop - AI art - that it's always a slap at the artists and photographers [View all]

Last edited Thu May 29, 2025, 12:21 PM - Edit history (1)

whose work was stolen to train the AI image generators that were used to create that AI slop?

It might be a slap at Trump, too, and at other people we love to hate.

But it still signals a lack of respect for the rights of the artists whose work was stolen so AI companies - and AI bros now backing Trump - could profit.

It signals a lack of concern that those artists and photographers are fighting for their livelihoods and artistic existence against AI bros who are fighting the lawsuits filed because of that theft, who are refusing to be transparent about exactly how much they stole, and who want either exceptions to intellectual property laws for training AI, or the complete elimination of those laws. The billionaire AI bros will still have the money and power to defend their property and rights, but they don't want the people they've exploited or plan to exploit to have that option.

The world needs artists. Real artists. It does not need AI slop. It does not need every twit with access to an AI image generator giving the AI some prompt based on whatever is in the news to vomit out endless variations on that prompt, most of them probably too grotesque to share, until they finally get one they can show off.

"Look what I did!" Except they didn't do it. They're not artists.

"Look what I thought up!" Except little or no thought went into it, and they might never have imagined anything at all close to whatever image option they finally chose to post.

It isn't really art. It isn't really commentary. It's an insult to art and artists. It's an insult to the real cartoonists and satirists using real talent and skill - and real intent instead of mindless generation of AI slop that has to be weeded through to find anything worth posting. With all that AI slop a waste of electricity and water to cool data centers.

It's a travesty. And a thumbs-up for the AI bros. Who might be letting people amuse themselves mocking Trump right now, but will be able to turn that option off if they gain the control they want.

And in the meantime, the people using AI image generators won't have learned one damn thing about creating art without their AI crutches. But they will have done a lot to clog the internet with garbage, make people more habituated to it, and lower standards for art and creativity.

EDITING to request that everyone please read EarlG's reply 5.