Ashley Ray posted a photo of a coffee shop placard advertising a "cardamom ginger chai." She went in to order it and they said huh? Oh that sign is just ChatGPT.
"had she taken them up on their offer, she likely would have gotten some really good press out of the deal."
Lots of good points in this article, but I decided to highlight this one. For realsies, tho - a post saying Hey, I didn't realize but thanks for letting me know how you feel. I've since teamed up with [Artist Name] and we've got a beautiful new sign going up this week! would have gotten her a *lot more clicks*.
And so, a 10% risk that we all may perish from AI is a risk for us all that she is prepared to take, and if we wish to exercise our perogative as consumers to chose to take our business elsewhere, to a place who supports 0% chance of extinction of the human race, we are being bullies. Old Adam Smith said that, under capitalism, “The consumer is king”. Guess now we have to shop where AI tells us we aren’t bullies. Looks like now, AI is King.
I used AI to dummy up a logo for my mining company and then handed it to a graphic artist as an example of what I proposed. They were then able to significantly improve on the design and provide a finished product. This is the only way in which I foresee me using AI for art in the future.
I still hand craft every single icon I use in our software in Photoshop. (Photoshop itself has a crap ton of AI tools that they keep begging me to use, but I'm doing pixel art intended to look good at 32x32 on a browser screen. I don't need their AI sloppifiers.)
Look, there are many ways to piss me off. But one of the absolute fastest ways to turn me against you is to make your excuse, "I didn't do this intentionally to hurt anyone." NO ONE IS EVER ALLEGING THAT. We're fully aware that the effect of your actions on others was not a consideration at all, and THAT IS THE PROBLEM.
Like how crazy would we have to be to think this coffee shop owner *set out* to hurt people with her menu design?
It's worse than that. Folks who pardon themselves by saying, "I didn't hurt anyone on purpose," are portraying themselves as the victim of a terrible accusation, turning the one they hurt, who is calling them out, as the offender. It's the last three words of DARVO: reverse victim and offender.
(NB: This is how pointing out racism became the new racism.)
Folks who do this are almost always acting in bad faith, and usually do not intend to improve their behavior.
Oh yeah, very good point. I doubt her usual staff member got a bonus for producing the artwork. It was part of "other duties as assigned" and the barista probably just enjoyed getting to futz around for an hour in Adobe Express instead of making coffee.
She shoulda used clip art. Or printed her menu in Comic Sans and used duck tape to put it on the sandwich board. Use one of the templates that comes with Excel.
Coffeeshops. Ugghh. I used to work in them, decades ago. Nowadays I don't even want to go in them to get, you know, coffee. The idea of being part of the culture gives me hives.
In Minneapolis in the early '90s, there was the noted spot near the University, "Riverside Cafe." It was an early vegetarian collectively worker-owned spot in the just-off-campus hippie neighborhood. They cobbled together a shaky truce between the vegans and the mere vegetarians, somehow.
Until in a collective meeting the idea came up to ban indoor smoking. Oh, man. That fractured the detente, with vegan and veg smokers uniting to...you can probably guess. The place went out of business pretty quickly, after decades of holding it together.
Interesting! Back in 2019 the counter culture bar / burger joint The Vortex in Atlanta banned indoor smoking.
This was done after a survey from patrons past and present over what they wanted. 69% of the patrons said "ban it!" and another 25% said "don't care either way." Democracy won, and The Vortex banned indoor smoking.
Minneapolis banned indoor smoking altogether in the mid-'90s. That was going to be the end of bars and restaurants within city limits. Everybody was going to go to the suburban bars and restaurants because the crazy purity ponies had it in for smoking. That's it, it's all over, time to move back to Russia.
And of course nothing happened. Bar and restaurant traffic actually increased, because some people avoided them because of the smoke. Smokers could go outside for a heater and then come back, it was all just fine. Better, actually.
Just for a fun fact; Napoleon crossed the Red Sea. It was low tide during the the French invasion of Egypt and Syria. He almost lost his army when the tide came back in....
So the story of "Parting the Red Sea" isn't so much of miracle as it was lucky timing for Moses. It's a good story though.
Alito dissents on allowing mail-in voting because:
‘It’s important that the government be able to “better detect election fraud,” Alito wrote in his dissent’
Well, shall we assume that Alito is at least a fairly intelligent person? Or not? Because he’s not smart enough to make up a decent lie. Election fraud is *such* a big problem.
Beyond the AI-generated art, this menu is clearly also AI generated. And like... is it right for her business? Does she offer cold brew? Is there a way to add maple syrup into the foam? I don't think cold brew usually comes with foam at all? What are the prices? What are the margins on these extra ingredients? Trump is being real stupid about Canadian tariffs right now, so maple syrup could be getting pricy. That's kind of the problem with AI. You tell it to make you a fall coffee shop menu, it will do its stupid robot best without asking you for more information about your business.
As trivial on the surface as some posters have said this coffee house kerfuffle is, the deeper implications, and of AI taken as a whole that this conflict has brought up, are certainly anything but trivial and so are well worth many discussions from multiple angles. Here are some imperfect observations and questions I am pondering:
When you have people working inside the system warning that AI may be able to eliminate humans within a few years that seems like a concern that needs addressing. Even by the gungho techbros who downplay the danger while furiously marketing AI, if for no other reason than their profit margin shrinks if all their customers get unalived by their product. Of course, if they achieve their bizarre fever dreams of merging human with machine- transhumanism- they may be leading the charge. Does partnering with even the most insignificant -seeming aspect of AI further our own demise?
AI may initially seem like a neutral tool, certainly a powerful tool (that requires a lot of power but that's another issue), just like a gun is potentially just a neutral, powerful object. But how they get constructed and applied with intention ends their neutrality. If applying AI isn't neutral then how can it be used without creating more harm than good? What guidelines exist that demonstrate its ethicalness?
I believe that certain AI applications seem to have their useful place- in medical settings and some technological aspects- as long as human oversight and control can be maintained.
The use of AI in the creative arts (writing, art, music, etc.) gives me doubts, however.
To begin with: hoovering up art or anything originally made by humans to teach your computer how to mimic a human's creative output without the permission of and without compensating the original artist/creator is not only thievery it diminishes and disappears the creator. You now have a tool that can give the users of this type of AI the illusion that the "art" they are making is independently unique and harmless, while ignoring and erasing the foundational human artist and their work, and while also potentially minimizing or even severing the AI user from several very important and necessary processes in the act of creating art itself. How does using AI elevate the arts and if it does, is it worth it?
I have no doubt that interesting and even in some category (I may or may not appreciate) possibly amazing artistic and creative things can be made while partnering with AI. But if the process is tainted from the beginning before a person even chooses to use AI as a creative tool, then what value does it have? What gifts does it share with us? How does it inspire our healthy, creative life?
Ashley Ray posted a photo of a coffee shop placard advertising a "cardamom ginger chai." She went in to order it and they said huh? Oh that sign is just ChatGPT.
My question is: How did anyone know that the Coffee shop sign was AI created? It looks like a pretty run of the mill sign to me.
"Did ___ go too far?" is such a bullshit question.
Did AI haters go to far? No, the easiest solution is to stop using AI.
Did the #MeToo movement go too far? No, the easiest solution is to stop being a sex pest.
Did the COVID shutdowns go to far? No, the easiest solution is to wear a motherfucking mask and keep your goddamn distance.
These fucking whiny babies need to grow the fuck up.
"had she taken them up on their offer, she likely would have gotten some really good press out of the deal."
Lots of good points in this article, but I decided to highlight this one. For realsies, tho - a post saying Hey, I didn't realize but thanks for letting me know how you feel. I've since teamed up with [Artist Name] and we've got a beautiful new sign going up this week! would have gotten her a *lot more clicks*.
And so, a 10% risk that we all may perish from AI is a risk for us all that she is prepared to take, and if we wish to exercise our perogative as consumers to chose to take our business elsewhere, to a place who supports 0% chance of extinction of the human race, we are being bullies. Old Adam Smith said that, under capitalism, “The consumer is king”. Guess now we have to shop where AI tells us we aren’t bullies. Looks like now, AI is King.
I used AI to dummy up a logo for my mining company and then handed it to a graphic artist as an example of what I proposed. They were then able to significantly improve on the design and provide a finished product. This is the only way in which I foresee me using AI for art in the future.
I still hand craft every single icon I use in our software in Photoshop. (Photoshop itself has a crap ton of AI tools that they keep begging me to use, but I'm doing pixel art intended to look good at 32x32 on a browser screen. I don't need their AI sloppifiers.)
Look, there are many ways to piss me off. But one of the absolute fastest ways to turn me against you is to make your excuse, "I didn't do this intentionally to hurt anyone." NO ONE IS EVER ALLEGING THAT. We're fully aware that the effect of your actions on others was not a consideration at all, and THAT IS THE PROBLEM.
Like how crazy would we have to be to think this coffee shop owner *set out* to hurt people with her menu design?
It's worse than that. Folks who pardon themselves by saying, "I didn't hurt anyone on purpose," are portraying themselves as the victim of a terrible accusation, turning the one they hurt, who is calling them out, as the offender. It's the last three words of DARVO: reverse victim and offender.
(NB: This is how pointing out racism became the new racism.)
Folks who do this are almost always acting in bad faith, and usually do not intend to improve their behavior.
It is not mentioned whether she paid the barrista who usually did the art. Free art may be her MO. AI has just made it easier.
Oh yeah, very good point. I doubt her usual staff member got a bonus for producing the artwork. It was part of "other duties as assigned" and the barista probably just enjoyed getting to futz around for an hour in Adobe Express instead of making coffee.
She shoulda used clip art. Or printed her menu in Comic Sans and used duck tape to put it on the sandwich board. Use one of the templates that comes with Excel.
Put up a cute little notice: "Tiffany is out on a well deserved vacation! Here's the no fuss menu for the week while she's out."
Coffeeshops. Ugghh. I used to work in them, decades ago. Nowadays I don't even want to go in them to get, you know, coffee. The idea of being part of the culture gives me hives.
In Minneapolis in the early '90s, there was the noted spot near the University, "Riverside Cafe." It was an early vegetarian collectively worker-owned spot in the just-off-campus hippie neighborhood. They cobbled together a shaky truce between the vegans and the mere vegetarians, somehow.
Until in a collective meeting the idea came up to ban indoor smoking. Oh, man. That fractured the detente, with vegan and veg smokers uniting to...you can probably guess. The place went out of business pretty quickly, after decades of holding it together.
Coffee shop culture is its own thing I am over.
Interesting! Back in 2019 the counter culture bar / burger joint The Vortex in Atlanta banned indoor smoking.
This was done after a survey from patrons past and present over what they wanted. 69% of the patrons said "ban it!" and another 25% said "don't care either way." Democracy won, and The Vortex banned indoor smoking.
https://atlanta.eater.com/2019/2/1/18206828/the-vortex-smoke-free-midtown-little-five-points-atlanta
Minneapolis banned indoor smoking altogether in the mid-'90s. That was going to be the end of bars and restaurants within city limits. Everybody was going to go to the suburban bars and restaurants because the crazy purity ponies had it in for smoking. That's it, it's all over, time to move back to Russia.
And of course nothing happened. Bar and restaurant traffic actually increased, because some people avoided them because of the smoke. Smokers could go outside for a heater and then come back, it was all just fine. Better, actually.
The sloppiest of AI slop:
https://www.reddit.com/r/FacebookAIslop/comments/1wg19xe/ai_explains_female_anatomy/#lightbox
I've commented on ugly AI slop ads.
I just write "AI slop."
They need to know that people recognize shit and don't think well of the business that uses it.
The alien shrimp are one of the biggest giveaways.
As I said before ask the most bizarre subjects on AI.
"Happy Birthday on the Hindenburg"
"Squirrels Ben-Hur chariot scene"
"George Bush moon walk"
"Baconz finding a gal"
Just for a fun fact; Napoleon crossed the Red Sea. It was low tide during the the French invasion of Egypt and Syria. He almost lost his army when the tide came back in....
So the story of "Parting the Red Sea" isn't so much of miracle as it was lucky timing for Moses. It's a good story though.
Alito dissents on allowing mail-in voting because:
‘It’s important that the government be able to “better detect election fraud,” Alito wrote in his dissent’
Well, shall we assume that Alito is at least a fairly intelligent person? Or not? Because he’s not smart enough to make up a decent lie. Election fraud is *such* a big problem.
Beyond the AI-generated art, this menu is clearly also AI generated. And like... is it right for her business? Does she offer cold brew? Is there a way to add maple syrup into the foam? I don't think cold brew usually comes with foam at all? What are the prices? What are the margins on these extra ingredients? Trump is being real stupid about Canadian tariffs right now, so maple syrup could be getting pricy. That's kind of the problem with AI. You tell it to make you a fall coffee shop menu, it will do its stupid robot best without asking you for more information about your business.
As trivial on the surface as some posters have said this coffee house kerfuffle is, the deeper implications, and of AI taken as a whole that this conflict has brought up, are certainly anything but trivial and so are well worth many discussions from multiple angles. Here are some imperfect observations and questions I am pondering:
When you have people working inside the system warning that AI may be able to eliminate humans within a few years that seems like a concern that needs addressing. Even by the gungho techbros who downplay the danger while furiously marketing AI, if for no other reason than their profit margin shrinks if all their customers get unalived by their product. Of course, if they achieve their bizarre fever dreams of merging human with machine- transhumanism- they may be leading the charge. Does partnering with even the most insignificant -seeming aspect of AI further our own demise?
AI may initially seem like a neutral tool, certainly a powerful tool (that requires a lot of power but that's another issue), just like a gun is potentially just a neutral, powerful object. But how they get constructed and applied with intention ends their neutrality. If applying AI isn't neutral then how can it be used without creating more harm than good? What guidelines exist that demonstrate its ethicalness?
I believe that certain AI applications seem to have their useful place- in medical settings and some technological aspects- as long as human oversight and control can be maintained.
The use of AI in the creative arts (writing, art, music, etc.) gives me doubts, however.
To begin with: hoovering up art or anything originally made by humans to teach your computer how to mimic a human's creative output without the permission of and without compensating the original artist/creator is not only thievery it diminishes and disappears the creator. You now have a tool that can give the users of this type of AI the illusion that the "art" they are making is independently unique and harmless, while ignoring and erasing the foundational human artist and their work, and while also potentially minimizing or even severing the AI user from several very important and necessary processes in the act of creating art itself. How does using AI elevate the arts and if it does, is it worth it?
I have no doubt that interesting and even in some category (I may or may not appreciate) possibly amazing artistic and creative things can be made while partnering with AI. But if the process is tainted from the beginning before a person even chooses to use AI as a creative tool, then what value does it have? What gifts does it share with us? How does it inspire our healthy, creative life?