Entry 2: My thoughts on AI, how I got fooled and my retribution

Artificial Intelligence, this used to be something you would see in sci fi movies and in technology in video games or early robotics. Now AI is seen everywhere, specifically the generative kind. Chat GPT, Gemini, these are on so many devices for us to use at will. Half of it is great but half of it is... not good.

AI is a tool, that's how I view it and that's all I believe it should be. If I have a very niche question, Gemini is a good tool to get the answer I need. At my work, where AI is pushed heavily, I occasionally use it to summarise data for me to put into a report. This wasn't always my view, at one point I was fully onboard the AI band wagon, generating random images my mind would conjure and songs for a laugh. Then I realised something, actual artists spend hours and hours weaving sound and paint together to create art and I just sat there without any experience, told the machine what I wanted and it made it in less in a minute. That didn't sit right in my brain, how can I have the audacity to “create” something in this way? With this my stance changed, I no longer generated and I actively avoid AI art. This proves hard as the world are still on this band wagon. People, businesses, they all use AI for their purposes. Whether to save money and time or to make a quick buck, The world is getting polluted with this.

So my stance is what it is, AI won't disappear so I use it how I see fit, as a tool to support me, not to replace me and to not make me lazy. Now let me tell you a story of how I got fooled and my retribution. I listen to a lot of music and at the moment vaporwave is a big part of that. I discovered an artist called PHASERA, under the formstate label. They created liquid drum and bass instrumentals invoking the style of PS1 era sounds. This sounded amazing to me and I quickly bought multiple of their albums on their website cause I believe in supporting artists directly. Now I enjoy these albums for about 2 weeks and then my brain twigged something and I researched, is this artist AI? I was looking at the cover and something about made me think. The answer I got was yes, this person was an AI artist, with the multiple full albums in months and also people explaining about artefacts in the music. I was shocked, upset and disgusted. I had paid money on music that wasn't even created by a person, I had supported AI with my money. This wasn't explained anywhere on the site, so I felt lied and cheated. I wasn't going to let that slide, so I contacted my bank and explained the situation. A dispute was opened and within hours I had received my money back. The feeling I felt knowing I had taken action against this person felt liberating, I wasn't caught in this trap any more. So take it from me, research the music and art you consume. You shouldn't be subjected to arts that were made with no soul and frankly, are just not good. With the internet being saturated heavily with content farms using AI, we have to actively choose what we are consuming, go to concerts and support real artists. Show the corporate world we don't care for the AI slop, we care for real art from real people.bit is I am not opposed to new or modern tech, some of it is really great. I think I'm adopting the lifestyle of choosing what technologies I introduce and what role it will take. For example I switched Spotify for collecting CDs and ripping them to an old Ipod I had. Being intentional with the music I picked rather than having infinite choice and algorithms shoving things in my face has helped me develop a good relationship with music and I've actually discovered music I would not have found otherwise!

With that I'll close off now. I hope you enjoyed reading, Feel free to use the chatroom to offer your opinions. I am more than happy to chat Jack – Sapphire Magpie