#72: We should talk about AI art more

I’ve not written this newsletter in a few weeks due to personal reasons but I’m back, resuming my weeklyish publishing. In these few weeks AI art has seemingly exploded online. Stable diffusion and GPT are everywhere and the White House released an AI Bill of Rights (which is entirely voluntary and not at all backed by law).

There’s two conversations around AI happening in parallel - people eager to make stuff with it, and people talking about the ethical implications - and neither of these groups acknowledge each other.

A provocative research paper, The uselessness of AI ethics (Luke Mann), touches on this “gulf between high-minded ideals and technological development on the ground” and outlines the plethora of ethics frameworks (more than 22!) with no substantive accountability. I’d put the White House AI Bill of Rights in that category too.

We’re all going to be using AI models more. We need to have both conversations simultaneously in a way that’s measurable, accountable and enforceable.

💎 Word gems

AI Art Is Here and the World Is Already Different (NYMag / John Herrman)

One of the better articles I read on the sudden growth of AI art and what it means.

This flood of machine-generated media has already altered the discourse around AI for the better, probably, though it couldn’t have been much worse. In contrast with the glib intra-VC debate about avoiding human enslavement by a future superintelligence, discussions about image-generation technology have been driven by users and artists and focus on labor, intellectual property, AI bias, and the ethics of artistic borrowing and reproduction. Early controversies have cut to the chase: Is the guy who entered generated art into a fine-art contest in Colorado (and won!) an asshole? Artists and designers who already feel underappreciated or exploited in their industries — from concept artists in gaming and film and TV to freelance logo designers — are understandably concerned about automation. Some art communities and marketplaces have banned AI-generated images entirely.

Why Are American Chips So Boring? (Eater / Jaya Saxena)

I’ve always wondered this. The answer surprised me and is a fascinating look into how research methodologies can have a trickle down effect.

[T]he way research is done usually won’t catch those people who want more unusual flavors. When choosing people to taste-test new products, major snack companies look for “heavy users,” or people who eat chips around four times a week. That volume likely has to do with how a lot of people eat chips — as a side with a lunch sandwich or soup, requiring a flavor that doesn’t overpower whatever it’s being paired with. But even if you’re buying chips to eat independently, that’s a lot. “The average consumer doesn’t eat chips four times a week. So they’re choosing people who are already dedicated potato chip eaters,” which holds back making more targeted products.

The GIF Is on Its Deathbed (The Atlantic / Kaitlyn Tiffany)

This take feels premature but it does identify two intersecting web trends; culturally GIFs are falling out of favor with younger internet users and the actual file format is less practical than it once was. Perhaps GIFs will one day go the way of Flash.

GIFs are old and arguably outdated. They’ve been around since the days of CompuServe’s bulletin-board system, and they first thrived during the garish heyday of GeoCities, a moment in history that is preserved by the Internet Archive on a page called, appropriately, GifCities.

💩 Cool shit

Stable diffusion animation - This is a wonderful and accessible model to play with. Generate an animation interpolating between two prompts.

Have I Been Trained? - See if an image is used in machine learning training models. With the pace AI art is growing this hopefully becomes a staple resource.

Cool Things People Do With Their Blogs - Exactly what the title says. It’s a great list of web creativity.

Open Access Research Papers - A search engine for all open access research.

Walky Space - I’m not sure how to describe this other than an open editable collage.

Bloomingdale’s Immersive Shopping - I don’t typically share branded “immersive experiences” (no, this is not a metaverse) because they all follow the same format. But will they become more common? Who knows.

Breath of the Wild Street View - Exactly what the title says. It’s pretty bare in terms of street view spots but fun nonetheless.

America Road Trip Simulator - This is both incredible and baffling. Take a virtual trip across the US listening to the radio, mapping your route, looking up local restaurants, and more. Plus, it’s designed in a series of Windows 95-style applications.

Martin Gauer Profile - One of the most fun profile sites I’ve ever found. Play with an interactive GameBoy. Nostalgia level: 100.

Text to Pokémon - Use stable diffusion to turn your prompts into Pokémon.

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