(Originally Posted July 25th 2023)
There is a lot of discussion happening concerning the use of ‘art generative A.I.’ and whether the ‘prompter’ deserves respect for their effort, work, and contributions to the profession. It all seems daunting! But one thing I realize is that A.I. is meant to be used as a tool as opposed to how many are using it for just creation. While there are specific pieces of equipment for their designed specific purposes, generative A.I. is akin to a multi-tool, useful for almost any situation, and can be used in many scenarios, but it isn’t going to compete with the actual equipment meant for the job.
Professionals in their trade know what piece of equipment is used in each step of the process of creation. They understand all the techniques, methods, styles, history, and foundation of why it is done in a certain way. These bits of knowledge actually help achieve a better result with Generative A.I. creation as the more specific a prompt is the better the generated results will be.
A.I. should be seen as a tool that can fast-track to almost any step of a process that can be time-consuming and sometimes mundane to reach before the creator can start filling out the details of the finished creation. Yeah, there will be some who just use A.I. to generate an image in a style similar to a famous artist and say they created it but it doesn’t squat in the long run. The tools of ‘Generative A.I.’ are still in their early days and what is happening currently is that there are practically no restrictions or limits on how an A.I. and its generated content should be used, Though those restrictions are slowly coming out, and the situation is vaugely similar to the wild west.
There have always been technological shifts in almost every profession along with the updated tools required to work and there has always been push-back on the new additions. It’s better to learn the new tools, even if there are no plans to use them than to be blindsided IF it appears in the professional work/creation space. Ask an associate or look up others in a similar profession to see and understand how they use A.I. for their work or creations.
Helpful Links:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a-history-of-complaints_b_5400459 – An article that talks about the technological shifts and the people who opposed them.
https://www.leewayhertz.com/generative-ai-use-cases-and-applications/ – General overview and a brief explanation of all the types and ways to use generative A.I.
https://www.techtarget.com/searchenterpriseai/definition/generative-AI – Another overview and some good descriptions of how generative AI works,