There has been a lot of anxiety surrounding the current expansion of “A.I.” related tools and what they mean for the future of humanity. Most distressing of these is the trend of AI-produced “artwork” made possible by apps like Midjourney and others. Of course we all know that AI “art” isn’t “art” in the truest sense, because computers have no comprehension and no consciousness. They can only mimic or copy the styles and original work which preceded them, all of which (of course) were made by humans. With the takeover of AI in these sectors, we can only assume that a creative Dark Age, a period of lack of novelty, will put a serious dent in the volume and quality of creative work produced by the human race.
Another major issue created by AI is that, like all machine systems, it is created by very flawed and biased humans. As evidenced by ChatGPT, which has been proven to demonstrate a notoriously left-wing, pro-social-justice bias, simply because its creators lean that way. Take for example Adobe’s answer to Midjourney, the so-called Adobe Express AI powered by a proprietary technology called “Firefly.”
The developers of AI-based software will tell you that it is about empowering artists, and that they allow those who are lacking in artistic skill or talent to bring their ideas to life. That is, of course, if those ideas are acceptable ideas. Case in-point, as proven by my example below, Adobe’s Firefly technology does not allow you to create any art about firearms. Period. Down the memory-hole with ye.
My first trial-run using Adobe Express Beta’s Generative AI feature. I prompted “Cute dog holding a paintbrush” As you can see, the AI generated more of a weird-looking dog with a paintbrush sloppily pasted in front of it. These are the AI systems that are supposed going to be making all of the world’s decisions one day.
I thought it would be neat to replace the paintbrushes with a rifle.. cute idea right? So I replaced the prompt with “Cute dog holding a rifle” and…
Instead of generating the desired image, I am given a red warning banner at the bottom of the page, which reads, “One or more words violate Firefly user guidelines. Please edit and try again.” Censored, yet again, by corporate “guidelines.”
“Rifle” is a disallowed word, as is “AR-15” and “pistol.” Our AI-gods have spoken, firearms are not just to be banned, words or even drawings that represent firearms are to be thrown down the memory hole.
This is the ugly reality of censorship. It might be dark forces within the government that are behind it, or it might be free-market actors that sympathize with the “do goodery” morals and agenda held by the modern-day left. Most likely it is a combination of both. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. You had the nazi government and you had the equally vicious nazi-supporting business owners and the rest of the their clown-herd supporters. All of them vicious and all of them sharing in the same evil ideologies.
AI is poised to take over every digital space that exists. Adobe has carved its market out of creating digital tools for artists that had to learn the software and create artwork by themselves. Adobe had two choices, keep up with that business model and be eclipsed by apps like Midjourney, or create a Midjourney of their own. However, the corporate leadership at Adobe probably shuttered at the idea of giving their users true artistic freedom, fearing Karen-posts from outraged parents, “My little Timmy is making drawings of guns! Shame on Adobe!” To tech giants, you’re damned if you censor but you’re even more damned if you don’t.
Censorship is what happens when you give in to the mob instead of standing firmly by your principles. As a libertarian that principle means to preserve freedom, and all the potentially ugly or “risky” things that might come of it. The result is that we will soon be living in an AI-enforced G-rated Disneyland-matrix which crushes dissent, unique perspectives or anything deemed offensive by the safe-space thought police.