AI art, automation and the future:

I've been browsing Reddit (through front-ends of course, no soyware allowed!) lately, and there is a trend of calling AI art stolen art. And of course, my opinion diverges from the majority. I don't think AI art is stolen art at all! This comes from the assumption that AI art is generated using pieces of other arts to make something new. Like a collage. Anyone who understands how AI or Neural Networks work knows this is nonsense.

Neural Networks work by analyzing the patterns in files (in this case images) and reproducing them according to the prompt. This is why it's called artificial intelligence. From a philosophical perspective, is there anything that differentiates how they learn and how we learn? Both of us seek patterns and learn from it, of course, I don't mean to simplify the learning process and say that it's the same, but there is clearly a similarity here.

One could argue that even if that is true, it is still stolen since the files (images) were downloaded and used in a project without consent of the authors, but then I must ask, if instead of downloading the image, they were web scraped and fed directly into a running Neural Network model, would it be better? Because then it would essentially be the same of a human artist browsing an arts website and learning from other artists work.

I see the similarities between when GitHub used the code from millions of programmers to feed the Copilot model, and I didn't see as much outrage when that happened. I wonder why? While they probably didn't break licenses like the GPL, it is nonetheless scummy, and I condemn what they did. Why I condemn GitHub but not all AI art models? Because some AI art models weren't hypocritical like GitHub and released their source code to the public. Example: OpenJourney.

GitHub not only used people's work and didn't release the source code, they are also making people pay for something that wouldn't be possible without random programmers who trusted GitHub with their hosting. Such a scummy move. No wonder why services like Notabug, Codeberg and Source Hut are growing like they are. That being said, Pandora's box is now open and will remain open. Honestly, if you think AI will be stopped, you are just huffing copium.

I've seen other arguments like what about the jobs that will be lost?, honestly, this is not a problem due to the technology, but because of our economic system that prioritizes profit over human life. Any automation will suffer resistance from those who will lose their jobs. I say this while being a programmer! My occupation will probably be automated as well, but I don't want to stop the technology, I want to embrace it.

Other arguments such as sure, automation is cool, but we should only automate boring jobs! are just exceptionalism and should be avoided. What makes your job more important than a factory job? Why does a factory job deserve to get it's workers replaced? Whether you agree with me or not, AI is here to stay and I can see two futures. One where everyone have their needs met and another where the one percent lives a luxurious life and the rest suffer. The choice is ours.