Should EA avoid using AI art for non-research purposes?
In addition to reasons already given, I’ve recently starting coming round to the idea that we should straight up be boycotting AI that can potentially replace existing humans.
If we take, for instance, the ideas of PauseAI seriously, we should be slowing down AGI development in whatever way we reasonably can. A widespread boycott of certain forms of AI could help with this by reducing the market incentives that companies currently have to accelerate AI development.
Now, I don’t think we should boycott all AI. AlphaFold for instance is a good example of a form of narrow AI that doesn’t replace any humans because it does something complementary to what humans can do. Conversely, AI art models compete directly with human artists, much in the way future AGI would compete with all humans eventually.
It does seem to me that there is a lot of support already among artists and creatives in particular to boycott AI, so I think there’s a better chance for this to gain traction, and is more tractable a method than trying to pause or ban AI development outright. Whereas pauses or bans would require government coordination, a boycott movement could come from individual acts, making it much easier for anyone to participate.
Edit:
Just wanted to add, in some sense an AI boycott resembles going vegan, except with regards to AI issues instead of animal ones. Maybe that framing helps a bit?
Also, another thought is that if it becomes sufficiently successful, an AI boycott could allow for part of the future economy to maintain a “human made” component, i.e. “organic art” in the way organic food is more expensive than regular food, but there’s still a market for them. This could slow down job losses and help smooth out the disruption a bit as we transition to post-scarcity, and possibly even give humans who want purpose some meaningful work even after AGI.
In addition to reasons already given, I’ve recently starting coming round to the idea that we should straight up be boycotting AI that can potentially replace existing humans.
If we take, for instance, the ideas of PauseAI seriously, we should be slowing down AGI development in whatever way we reasonably can. A widespread boycott of certain forms of AI could help with this by reducing the market incentives that companies currently have to accelerate AI development.
Now, I don’t think we should boycott all AI. AlphaFold for instance is a good example of a form of narrow AI that doesn’t replace any humans because it does something complementary to what humans can do. Conversely, AI art models compete directly with human artists, much in the way future AGI would compete with all humans eventually.
It does seem to me that there is a lot of support already among artists and creatives in particular to boycott AI, so I think there’s a better chance for this to gain traction, and is more tractable a method than trying to pause or ban AI development outright. Whereas pauses or bans would require government coordination, a boycott movement could come from individual acts, making it much easier for anyone to participate.
Edit:
Just wanted to add, in some sense an AI boycott resembles going vegan, except with regards to AI issues instead of animal ones. Maybe that framing helps a bit?
Also, another thought is that if it becomes sufficiently successful, an AI boycott could allow for part of the future economy to maintain a “human made” component, i.e. “organic art” in the way organic food is more expensive than regular food, but there’s still a market for them. This could slow down job losses and help smooth out the disruption a bit as we transition to post-scarcity, and possibly even give humans who want purpose some meaningful work even after AGI.