The Backlash Grows Against Generative AI

More and more people are getting tired of generative AI. While “tech bros” and technologists are pursuing an ‘ends justify the means’ approach to developing artificial intelligence and solutions at any cost, opponents are becoming increasingly vocal about their dislike for the impact these solutions have on human lives.

This week, James Cuda, the CEO of Procreate, the design app for the iPad with over 2.5 million downloads, made clear his distaste for the technology.

“I really f****** hate generative AI,” Cuda said in a video released on X.

“I don’t like what’s happening in the industry, and I don’t like what it’s doing to artists. We’re not going to be introducing any generative AI into our products.”

What’s interesting about Cuda’s comments is that they are miles away from most of the pro-AI stance we’ve seen across the tech industry, which has been all-in on automating whatever jobs and workflows they can — or at least talking up their game.

Are Cuda’s comments about a potential generative AI backlash in the making? I think the answer is yes. Here’s why.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. Generative AI Fatigue: Why More People are Tired of LLMs
3. How AI is Impacting Creatives
4. The Bottom Line
5. References

Show Full Guide

Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. Generative AI Fatigue: Why More People are Tired of LLMs
3. How AI is Impacting Creatives
Show Full Guide
4. The Bottom Line
5. References

Generative AI Fatigue: Why More People are Tired of LLMs

The release of ChatGPT in November 2022 started a hype train around AI and large language models (LLMs) that hasn’t come to a stop yet. However, while these LLMs have brought lots of new capabilities to the table, they have also been extremely disruptive, even so young in their existence.

Most notably, LLMs can automate processes that can lead to the loss of human jobs. For instance, Goldman Sachs economists estimate that as many as 300 million full-time jobs could be automated in some way by AI, while up to a quarter of all work could be done by AI completely.

It is difficult to believe that all of these jobs could easily be replaced or that Universal Basic Income could put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Likewise, dismissing these concerns with soundbites like “AI won’t replace humans — but humans with AI will replace humans without AI” just isn’t convincing many people, especially in creative industries.

Ronny Young, president and founder of Polymath Motion, a motion design studio for major consumer brands like Visa and Dunkin’, told Techopedia:

“Artists are certainly being more vocal about it [generative AI] as legal tensions seem to flare. Originally, no one wanted to hate on it for fear of being left out in the cold. But as legal decisions may or may not loom, I think artists are emboldened to speak out.

 

“Enough time has also passed for us to review AI quality with more scrutiny. Real clients, like the major brands of the world, simply cannot accept errors made by AI. At the very least, a human needs to finish things in Photoshop.

 

“The more we learn how the AI was trained, the more fuel we have to dislike it.”

How AI is Impacting Creatives

The impact of AI on creative professionals has been devastating. Artists, writers, and designers have not only had to put up with having their work scraped and used to train LLMs without consent, but they’ve also had to start competing against AI-generated content and even have to prove their own content hasn’t been synthetically produced.

After all, if you’re a profit-motivated company, why would you pay for a human artist or to create content if an AI image generator like DALL-E 3 could deliver one at the “same standard” at a lower cost?

The answer is you probably wouldn’t unless you wanted to support human artists.

Champions of AI innovation, like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, have been vocal about AI’s potential to automate industries (although he leaves out the human cost of this automation).

Altman said in his book, Our AI Journey:

“95% of what marketers use agencies, strategists, and creative professionals for today will easily, nearly instantly, and at almost no cost be handled by the AI — and the AI will likely be able to test the creative against real or synthetic customer focus groups for predicting results and optimizing. Again, all free, instant, and nearly perfect.”

Of course, artists haven’t taken kindly to having their work scraped and their livelihoods threatened.

Alleged scraping practices have led to a number of lawsuits, including The New York Times vs. OpenAI, which argued that the world’s largest AI startup had scraped its content and regurgitated it word for word, and cases against image generators, such as Anderson v Stability and Zhang v Google, alleging copyrighted images were used to train LLMs.

Earlier this year, we also had an open letter signed by Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj, Jon Bon Jovi, Stevie Wonder, and over 200 other artists called for protection against the “predatory use of AI” in the music industry. The open letter voiced concerns that human artists’ music could be used to train AI models that replace them.

At a lower level, artists have also mobilized against AI on social media. For example, a Facebook group, Artists Against Generative AI, has acquired 161,000+ followers.

It’s worth noting that some artists also have mixed emotions surrounding AI.

Dillon Forte, a tattoo artist at FORTE Tattoo, who specializes in sacred geometry art who’s worked with clients including Chris Hemsworth, Usher, Kat Von D, and Kehlani, told Techopedia:

“I feel like there is a time and place for generative AI, especially when it can speed things up. The technology, overall, is pretty young, so a log of what comes out of it can be low quality or not meet the mark.

 

“I think it runs the risk of making a lot of artists lazy, and many who aren’t very good at art may latch on to this tech and call themselves professionals. That’s only a problem because it crowds the creative space and hurts the chances for true artists to be discovered and hired.”

The Bottom Line

Not everyone is a fan of generative AI. While it may have helped unlock new capabilities, it’s also disadvantaged and destabilized creative industries. This is good for no one, as if artists and creative professionals can’t make a living, then we’re going to have less human art to appreciate.