Annie D

I would describe ChatGPT as a "generator." It generates content. Have you tried to look up a recipe on contemporary search engines at any point in the last several years? If so, you probably had to scroll through a longform essay's worth of filler text in order to reach the information you actually wanted. Traditional recipes are too short and useful to generate much ad revenue, so it's actually the filler text that makes money whenever anyone visits the page. That's content. Long before generators are ever used to make "art," they will be used to make digital obstacle courses that exist for no other purpose than to trap you in a vulnerable position where your time can be converted into income for digital landlords.

emphasis mine. Great piece on the frustrating, awful landscape that ML tools are now creating for us, and something that I truly believe should be resisted at all costs.

There's no real way for ML material to truly "replace" original material -- it'd be like saying you could replace all your meals with gray sludge (yes, I know this is somewhat the goal of products like Huel (no hate to the Huelers)) -- but there is a genuine danger of those with power who see this as, essentially, free labor to create "good enough" material.

That is the true danger, the siren song of free labor, the ultimate goal of a capitalist entity at the end of the day. It'll have diminishing returns, as does anything that is not original, and probably eventually collapse for one reason or another (my bet: something about licensing, something about server costs), but I can say that right now there is nothing more vile to me than the casual appreciation of these tools as """artistic""" """breakthroughs""". They're linguistic models that can generate fuzzy jpegs.

Something I found out recently is that Jade Cocoon's art was molded by Katsuya Kondō of Studio Ghibli. That would explain why the art in that game is some of the best on Playstation 1. It looks absolutely incredible.

They should bring this franchise back.

I initially was like "wait I never heard of this" and then realized that yes, I had seen the ads and even the cover in a rental shop I think, but had no idea what it was because the covers were this unevocative CG noise of Y2K design.

So I don't and won't usually get political on here, but this is important enough that I think it should be put out there.

Washington State Legislature is currently considering a bill that would hold federal and private detention centers (read ICE) accountable for the health of those detained. The bill currently would force ICE Detention centers to provide those detained with clean bathrooms, living space, clean clothing, safe food, education, radios, visitation rights, and much more. It would also give the Washington State Department of Health legal power to do routine inspections. If you believe that people should be treated as people then please help in any way you can.

Here are links to the bill in question and the grassroots movement that got the bill submitted:

Bill 1470

La Resistencia NW

This is a big thing. Washington State does not like that the federal government has detention centers there, but previous attempts to shut down the facilities and house these refugees and immigrants have been deemed unconstitutional. The legislature is now trying to do the next best thing: making sure that these centers are safe and that those in it have the legal resources to get out.

Please rechost this, speak out, and donate if you can. This might be just one state but if this gets through, it sets a precedent for other states and movements to rely on to combat other centers.