Even though many of us are just now getting annoyed by artificial intelligence, it had its big boom in 2023. There are a lot of diverse opinions about AI; not only how it can affect people emotionally, but also vocationally, which is where my opinion and facts come in. I am a current journalism student, and the thought of artificial intelligence taking over our future jobs is also scary for graphic designers, illustrators, and honestly, anyone with a creative mind.
There have been multiple studies done on how AI has affected people versus real art, literature, and news. Children, older people, and people who didn’t grow up with the internet are the biggest groups to not detect AI when it comes across their social media feed. There have been multiple times where my mom will send me a reel on Instagram and I have to be the one to break the news that it isn’t real, and that it’s AI. Then, I have to go into what AI is and why it’s (in my opinion) bad for society and the environment.
AI also generally prioritizes the “general” public, which would exclude queer and disabled people. This is because they receive more engagement from things that are already popular or “mainstream,” which almost always excludes the queer community and the disabled community. According to an article by Dawn McAra-Hunter about how AI hype impacts the LGBTQ+ community, “One notable instance occurred in 2017 when a Stanford study claimed that facial images could be used by artificial intelligence to determine sexual orientation.”
Although this might be true, what you can do to stop the spread of AI is doing research on how to detect it, avoiding it as best you can, and supporting real artists and real people. Magazines, newspapers, going to the art museums, watching classic movies, and even creating your own art is a better alternative to using/supporting AI! AI has and can lead people to psychosis, meaning that they won’t know what is real and what is fake. Which, in my opinion, is what the government or the creators of specific AI tools are actively trying to do. I do not have a thought behind why they would want this, but I definitely believe that is the goal.
When you consume real art, it can be thought provoking, it can inspire your own art, and it could lead to better connections with other creatives. When you go to a museum and stare at art with people you love or by yourself, it can make you feel things and start thinking things that you would have never been able to do with AI. If you couldn’t tell already, I am anti-AI and will be for the foreseeable future. We should all go outside more, touch grass, and support (local) artists!
All in all, AI is not going to do us any good, and we have seen that come to life already, so I can only imagine what that will look like in the next few years. Although it is bad, I do not see it going away completely, but that is why, fellow reader, we must go against the grain by consuming real art and doing what makes us happy and fulfilled instead of using AI to generate our thoughts for us.
Cover Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
