Comradeship // Freechat

Interesting article, I had no idea my own opinions were functionally art-luddite in nature. I never really made that connection. I don't think the writer of this piece fully grasps the frustration a lot of artists (myself included) have with AI art though. It isn't simply a case of "they took our jerbs!" but a case of cheapening the entire creative field to yet another treat printer. This author seems to think that artists are being condescending when they say that there's more value in random scribbles rather than AI art. It isn't. It's an improvement of a skill, there's a sense of satisfaction that cannot be obtained by simply typing in a prompt, a real genuine sense of improvement is one of the best ways to survive in our increasingly isolated and alienated world. And for a lot of artists, myself included, being an artist under capitalism sucks sure, but making it into a profit generating endeavour is the only real way to devote a significant amount of time to something like this.

CW: Suicide

Before I was a professional artist, I would work shitty jobs same as everyone else and I had daily thoughts of just dying. It was agony wanting to do more, anything more, and not having the physical or emotional energy after work to do it. If I had to go back to that, or ended up unemployed and homeless, I don't think I'd survive. Maybe that makes me weak or a labour aristocrat or whatever this author wants to call me, but acting like people's very real fear for their livehoods is just petty bourgeois reaction strikes me as very callous.

I think this author mistakes desperation for some kind of exceptionalism, and treats artists as a monolith who are all in favour of IP laws, instead of actively trying to assess the complex issues artists have with this new technology. They rightfully assess that the main reaction is due to a potential loss of livelihood, but they act as if artists are all wealthy petty-bourgeoise tyrants losing their small businesses, or hollywood types just waiting for their chance to make it big. They are talking about two very different issues here: Art under capital and workers losing their livelihood and ability to survive using their skillset, but constantly conflate the two. It's frustrating, because I agree with their overall point with regards to art under capital, but I'm so sick of this vague gesturing in the direction of "we should make a future where this problem doesn't happen." Like yeah, that's why we're here, on this website for leftists, we want to fix the problems caused by capitalism. But imagining some future where people can just draw art freely for fun and don't need to tie any material value to it, well that doesn't help me keep a roof over my head.

Or maybe I just completely misunderstood the article because as an artist, I'm clearly incapable of having a correct opinion about this.