AI has made its way to my college
Alright, I'm about to lose my mind. So I go to a very well known (private?) college (which I don't really wanna name), and they are apparently partnering with an AI company/ using AI. I'm an illustration major at this college. And they're telling us that we can use AI (limited use) to assist in making our work if we want to. This feels very unprofessional. Like, this is a well known college, and a college with a pretty decent art program, and they're telling us that they're using/ and allowing US to use AI??
Even in non art classes they're having us/ allowing us to use AI for writing assignments... For some it's required... It makes the college look really bad. Like, this shows that you're not willing to put in any effort. This sounds like corporate greed, and it's only gonna get worse.
My teachers are telling us we should be open to AI and should learn to work with it so we can make it in the future, but I don't see a good future coming out of this. I've already seen crappy AI art on shirts, mugs, and carnival fun house art. I've seen it on stickers, even some prints. I've heard there are AI art and animation festivals. I've seen AI movies and music. I've even seen AI being used by actual art companies like Wacom and such to promote their products when they could've paid a real artist to create work using their product. I've seen AI used for all these things just so people could spend less money, spend less time, and try to make more money for themselves in the process.
All I see are grown children claiming they made something when all they did was type a few words into a generator. These people don't have empathy for those in creative fields who have lost work or are going to lose work because of this. AI will eventually take all of our jobs if we keep going down this path. Not just artists. We shouldn't be digging our own grave like this.
This is wrong, and I can't accept it. "AI makes art accessible" shut up with that crap, you lazy f*ck. Pick up a pencil, or ask your artist friends to help you make something. It doesn't even have to be a drawing, it can be sculpting. It can be crafting, it can be a collage. If you want to create something so bad, you can do it with your own hands. And if you don't have hands, use your mouth. If you can't use your mouth use your shoulder. If you can't use your shoulder, use your legs. If you can't use any part of your body, be an art director. This is about what is morally right.
I keep letting fear control me... I just want to make my imagination come to life.. So I'll draw what I want, even if it's cringe. I'll apply to the art jobs I want, even if I'm scared they'll reject me. I'll apply to those internships even if they won't give me the experience I want right away. I'll apply to those small art businesses so I can start making my mark, one step at a time. If I can't find any work experience, I'll make my own game, I'll make my own show, I'll make my own comic series. As far as I can tell, indie is the way to go right now (shout out to Glitch Productions allowing artists to create what they want).
I have no idea what the future holds, but I'm not gonna let stupid humans using AI in malicious ways take my future from me. I know human art holds an incredible amount of value. If people who would rather use AI art can't see that, they only care about money. They don't care about friendships, connections, or collaboration. They want things to be easy, and they don't care who gets hurt.
I'm talking about big corporations and companies by the way, not the average human. Like, obviously respect creatives and pay them to make beautiful work, or make it yourself. After all, Artists, engineers, architects, product designers, graphic designers, construction workers and many other creatives make your houses, your appliances, your cars- all the items you own, use, and see.
Respect the effort they put into our world.
