Mastodon.art just banned AI art

[highplainsdem]

28. AI is not like a camera. AI produces writing, images and

music by ripping off human work.

And at this point I haven't seen anything to suggest that telling AI to write something for you in any way teaches someone to write.

I imagine your feelings about calculators would have been different, too, if schools had decided they didn't need nearly as many math teachers because people would just use calculators.

FWIW, I do know some people who can't do even very basic math without a calculator. They just didn't see a need for it. Just as people who think it's okay to have AI write or create music or images aren't likely to see any need to learn and ideally master skills like those of the writers, musicians and artists AI rips off. They'll become spectators and consumers of what AI produces for them. No more truly creative than people watching football games are truly athletes. But unlike football fans, who at least usually know which teams and players they're watching, they won't likely know who originally created the works AI ripped off. It doesn't supply that information and may never be able to.

I posted a thread a while back - another DUer tried to kick it the other day but it was too old - about a novelist who's been able to sell her work but recently decided she'd just have AI do much of the work for her. She's even played around with having AI copy the style of much more successful writers. Do you really think she's improving as a writer, learning anything about writing, by doing that?