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Hi Pior,
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I just read that the CEO of Midjourney has publically stated that his company has not asked
one of the creators of the 100.000.000 images they fed to their servers for a licensing au-
thorization.
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A published artwork image is NOT open source and as they sell the product which is based
on this gigantic image-pool this indeed seems to be greatest copyright infringment of all
times. Only becaus of being that colossal does not mean they own the right to commit
this monumental copyright violation.
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Of course one could argue that the artwork which is produced ian basis of the imagery
swallowed up by the servers of MJ is original by its own - but they have not payed a cent
for their raw material
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But we live in a world were justice has been turned upside down - just think about the
shameful acts of biopiratery of the huge seed companies ....
Indeed, this stuff is incredibly cynical and exploitative. As mentioned earlier I absolutely understand (and agree) that the tech is fascinating, and that the "slot machine" aspect of it is highly addicting. But as soon as one reads deeper into the way it works, the darker aspects of the tech reveal themselves.
Perhaps this will get regulated fast (starting with Europe first, probably) but I am still worried about what an ethically-trained version of the tech could still do. After all, one of the most enjoyable aspect of appreciating art is to be able to research the influences and background of an artist, what they have to say, and so on. AI-generated art skips all of that since everything is regurgitated by a trained ML model without anything to share. So not only does it devaluate art, it also fully erases the humanity behind it.
And then some people even add to these ML models and feed other artists' work ontop of it, to generate targeted facsimiles specifically imitating a person.
Very sad times ahead IMHO, as some are already planning to shove this stuff onto kids, to allow them to "visualize their imagination". This is so cynical and evil that it makes my blood boil. Nothing about this is altruistic, this is just the current year tech gold rush taking the place of 2021's "NFTs" and 2022s "tHe mEtaVeRsE".
But, the silver lining is that I am happy that perhaps my posts here in this thread led you to research the topic further. So that's that :)
The stuff generated by this superbrain is so hellish good - they must have signed
a pact with the devil ;-) See above ...
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The quality which is achieved is pretty unbelievable and I am in sheer awe when
I visit the daily updated showcase of midjourney. But I agree with you that the
implications of what is offered by this technology are VERY dramatic on all levels.
Just pointing here towords the openly stated goals of highly influential and mighty
organisations and NGOs to establish an "Internet of Bodies" where each and
every human being is to be connected with the AI via injectables and implants -
an Orwellian dystopy which is rolled out right before our eyes ...
.
The most prescious human gift - his divine creative inspiration, his individual
and god given freedoms are on the fringe of being dramatically altered or even
erased. Maybe forever - if we consider the gene editing potential of what has
been administered to billions ...
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So I agree with you that we have to be very conscious and attentive with each any
of our actions as each of our individual decisions do influence the greater good of
the collective.
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Nevertheless is is utterly fascinating what an articificial intelligence is capable to
pour out as incredibly beautiful and creative imagery based on the work of millions
of great artists.
Screenshot 2023-01-07 at 23-10-26 Midjourney Showcase.png
