status

Also, elsewhere, talking large language models, image generation and everything related to that:

Miyazaki himself has called AI “an insult to life itself,” while fans of his work happily and unwittingly feed the hungry AI machinery with opportunities for iterative practice, helpful feedback, and subtle signals for improving the technology along the way. All while completely disregarding the crooked practices that went into sourcing content for the models, and totally disrespecting the opinions and wishes of the creators of the original art upon which these cheap derivative imitations are fabricated.

Watching this happen is really frustrating. Watching artists see the time and talent and passion that they put into their work being so casually devalued by an increasingly effective array of smoke and mirrors (while simultaneously witnessing the harmful ecological side-effects, as some kind of demented cherry on top) is even more frustrating. And then for me, personally, being asked to weigh in on this, to take a strong position and ban the use of this technology within the omg.lol community, well, that’s extra frustrating. But it’s happened a few times in the past 24 hours, and so here I am talking about it now.

I'm having quite mixed opinions on most of the AI and LLM topic going on out there for a bunch of reasons, somewhere in between the general attempt to be basically open in regards to benefits and hazards, advantages and negative side-effects of whichever tool comes up next - and bad gut feelings on many different levels, including distribution of power due to model control, hardware costs, energy consumption, infrastructure spent on such tools, and including effects like these. For this very aspect and in this situation however, once again I completely side with Adam and his rather well-written article, as well as the conclusions he is about to make here. Worth reading.

https://omglol.news/2025/04/02/we-have-to-talk-about-ai-art

8am and on. Still trying to come up with a better question to  make sense of the models answers. Still unsure. And once again feeling unsettling traces of mismatch between professional attitude and personal mindset. Breathing into the tea mug. And waiting for mental dust to settle.

(Too: Closing browser tabs the night left open. Unsure which random insights led into the murky world of old Unix derivatives and same as old VAX machines. The model doesn't know either. Maybe that odd nostalgia about technology being both advanced and still archaic, that roots in yesterday while increasingly overwhelmed by the new walls of todays tools and toys.)

Closing in on 4pm. Considering man/machine interaction. Talking to the model, processing responses, trying, failing, trying again. Clashing of erratic moods with deterministic systems. Soft blue gradients behind slightly stained windows, a fly in afternoon light, and the plethora of ringtones used by people in the buildings across the street. Too nervous too loud.

4pm and on. Not searching, still surprise findings. Afternoons derailed, slightly confused, pondering quantity and quality again and left a bit dissatisfied. Also: Documentation woes, as always. The challenge of knowing in advance what will be needed later on. The model has no idea either and remains quiet.