There are little AI Icons all over our hosting page at Wix.
We resisted using AI in our titles, we resisted using AI in our writing, but due to our tendency to skirt copyright issues, we tried using AI for art. (And we loved it.)
But after my sister read my article, she was displeased. Why? Because she's a nature photographer.
And she was very concise, "your writing is your art. The meat and potatoes of your site is free speech issues. You only use images to flavor your argument or to use them as reference points. My art is photography, how would you like it if I used AI to generate words for my image site?"
She had a great point...to an extent. Let's use that orchid above as an example. I used the AI Generator to create that orchid, and it is a beautiful orchid, but if I used something like Getty Images for an image of an orchid, I would have to pay. At the end of the day, I really don't care about orchids. Now our budget at Beacon of Speech is ZERO. We take some screen shots and cite them underneath the photo, but mostly grab images out of the public domain or heavily edit and alter existing photographs. In theory, if we had money, my sister could have taken the orchid photo in the past and then, after AI, we'd have to lay her off for a cheaper orchid option. But we couldn't pay her to begin with, so it's kind of a moot point.
Which moves us to the local newspaper example. Let's say nemesis Chris Quinn, editor of cleveland.com, wanted to lay off most of his remaining, already decimated, staff. AI could probably enable him to do it. Yet what he should do is keep the staff he has and use AI to supplement, and expand, his content. No reporter likes the drudgery of police reports, a newspaper could use AI to canvas all of Northeast Ohio regarding unreported police events. But, as you'll see below, you need a human to verify when AI is accurate and when it's inaccurate. If there are no human gatekeepers, inaccuracies become facts.
Let's be honest though, for now, AI is a fun new tool. This article is really just an excuse to play in the AI Sandbox some more:
Catastrophic Thunderstorm
"Nice."
Anthrax's Persistence of Time album re-imagined as Pop Music
"Now that's funny."
Field mice frantically hiding from owls
"Not sure about those owls."
Atomic explosion in a blizzard
"It was almost like AI read my mind."
If M.C. Escher did a big pile of drugs
"I am not really sure what I'm looking at."
Triangles became real, then felt despair
"Now I tried a few different filters on this one, but the SKETCH filter nailed it."
Marble racing
"Not exactly what I was looking for, but cool in an abstract way."
An animal marching band
"Interesting, I guess."
You know what would be interesting?
....
....
....
Now this is where we usually put the parental warning / explicit lyrics label. So we were going to create a new one, then something strange happened. We typed in the words: parental warning / explicit lyrics:
AI said "NO"
Now we are figuratively standing on the top of the slippery slope.
Half Asian / Half Caucasian 30 year old Woman
You know what? We try very hard to keep Beacon of Speech in the PG-13 range....
ARTICLE OVER