Like, this highly tailored aesthetic is really interesting. The cohesive nature of the places being created, and the visuals that feel of the past but also unachievable by the era. Like, yeah, this guy typed a bunch of words into a text prompt, but its a highly curated visual style. Could this have been created without AI? Yeah totally. I think the weirdness of AI adds to the surrealist nature of it all. IDK.
I'm very conflicted about AI. Our neoliberal capitalist system is highly incompatible with it. Its potential is squandered by capitalism's constraints. Its built on other peoples labor, it runs in conflict with intellectual property rights. Its requirements for massive datasets ensures the infringement on those rights. The grievances are real and valid. The contradictions are leading to the collapse of companies like OpenAI, and yet it thrives in the open source community. Its environmental impacts are likely worse then the crypo industry.
Yet I can't help but see stuff like this and think its cool.
I feel like we need to take everyone who actually enjoys AI art, saw off the tops of their craniums and apply stimulation notes directly to the novelty and pleasure centres of their brains for the rest of their happy lives. I don’t see a functional difference between that and the enjoyment of art that’s bereft of any human involvement.