Following yesterday's question about the use of AI on this site, most responses agreed with me:
Better off without.
One response went the other way, and it was interesting:
Even if your content had been entirely AI-generated (or perceived as such), what would that really change? Nothing for the reader, I think: it would remain just as relevant and interesting...
– neijul_
Fair enough.
From the reader's or visitor's perspective, the only thing that matters is the quality of what they read or see.
Why should it matter how it was made — or by whom?
It's almost a legacy from the world of theater and cinema: you're not supposed to know what goes on backstage.
Does the magician really kill the bird for his trick? Did the actor really do the stunt himself? Did they actually destroy a building, or was it a model?
When I was young, none of that mattered to me. I only cared about the result.
For that matter, my four-year-old couldn't care less who draws Bluey or who wrote his favorite book. It's the story that gets him. The characters.
So are we discriminating against AI?
Should we accept that it's just another tool creators use?
Something still bothers me.
But maybe because I'm an old fart. The kind who wouldn't have appreciated the end of silent films or the rise of the internet. ("Back in my day...")
I feel like human involvement in creation matters, even when I can't see it.
For example: if I found out that "Friends" — the show I grew up with — had been entirely AI-generated, that the characters never existed, that it was all done inside a computer... I'd be devastated.
Same thing: if I read a compelling article and then found out it had been generated by an LLM...
Part of me identifies with the creators I love. I imagine meeting the actor from the show, or the writer of the article, someday.
When someone makes something that speaks to me, I tell myself there's someone out there in the world who understands my problems and found a way to do something with them.
I'm no longer alone.
But if I find out it was made by a computer...
I'm alone again.
This wasn't planned, but it's exactly the subject of the episode "1000 Years of Solitude" from my web series Panique dans l'Espace (out May 1st!).
A guy realizes his best friend online is... you can guess.
And it changes everything.