Please Comment: The rise of AI bites ever deeper across the world of creative arts

[Jonny]

We've discussed the the rise of the use of AI in the book world many times - and as it's not going anywhere fast, no doubt we'll continue to do so.

But this is another level. This time music is the target of wholesale theft.

So you wanna be a songwriter? Here you go. No musical skill or creativity required. What price, writers, artists, musicians and composers? Looks like around 100,000 a penny. Or even cheaper.

The Velvet Sundown Rick mentions at the end is a group that is all over Spotify. But thing is, it's not a group. It has been created in the same way as he demonstrates in the video.

An AI-generated band got 1m plays on Spotify. Now music insiders say listeners should be warned

The Velvet Sundown released two albums before admitting their music, images and backstory were created by AI

www.theguardian.com

 

[Sedayne]

This is truly depressing. I'd like to think listeners were more discerning but clearly not. I just hope people who really love music - and there are a lot of us - won't stand for it.

The manufactured band thing started with The Monkees (or perhaps earlier; that's as far back as my memory goes). But it turned out that Mike Nesmith was a genius anyway. There've been all kinds of money-making set-ups since then, but this is a whole other level of horror.

 

[MattScho]

First, AI came for the coders. But I didn't care, becasue I wasn't a coder and if it saves me a couple bucks...
Then they came for the administrators, but I didn't care, because I wasn't in admin, and if it saves me a couple bucks...
Then they came for the drivers, but I didn't care, because I wasn't a driver, and if it saves me a couple bucks.
And on, and on. Or, as I am in this state of mind right now, so it goes.

 

[Aethalope]

First, AI came for the coders. But I didn't care, becasue I wasn't a coder and if it saves me a couple bucks...
Then they came for the administrators, but I didn't care, because I wasn't in admin, and if it saves me a couple bucks...
Then they came for the drivers, but I didn't care, because I wasn't a driver, and if it saves me a couple bucks.
And on, and on. Or, as I am in this state of mind right now, so it goes.

They came for the translators in 2017. DeepL, one of the most accurate translation tools, used Linguee, which had been developed using human-translated snippets.

Everyone who didn't translate for a living was like cool, we don’t need to learn a language anymore.

 

[MattScho]

My wife was a long time translator, but only for 7 languages and I worked in close to 50. I remember the first time one of those hand-held translators came out, she grabbed it from me and played with it for an hour, then tossed it onto my desk and said, with a laugh, "good, my job is safe for now."
To be fair, for professional needs, it still is, and academics still get in touch with her for dissertation translations. But around the edges, it has taken a huge bite.

 

[Jonny]

On the same theme, and not AI as such. My day job involved selling stuff in the construction industry.

I would visit architects and draughtspeople to give technical advice on aspects of projects they were working on. It was not untypical to visit a large practice and see rows and rows and rows of drawing boards were techs worked draughting fine details.

Then in the early 80s a programme called Autocad was released. It was a computer-aided draughting programme which took a lot of the day-to-day donkey work out of aspects of the job. Templates could be created removing the need for initial spadework etc. All marvelled at its genius. A new dawn...

BUT:

In a few short years those boards and techs were replaced by just a couple of people with desktop computers.

Depressing stuff.

 

[Aethalope]

Yeah, the uncertified translation of technical documents (i.e. dull and predictable) is essentially dead for freelancers. Machine translation does it better, faster and cheaper. There's no point pretending otherwise.

 

[Aethalope]

On the same theme, and not AI as such. My day job involved selling stuff in the construction industry.

I would visit architects and draughtspeople to give technical advice on aspects of projects they were working on. It was not untypical to visit a large practice and see rows and rows and rows of drawing boards were techs worked draughting fine details.

Then in the early 80s a programme called Autocad was released. It was a computer-aided draughting programme which took a lot of the day-to-day donkey work out of aspects of the job. Templates could be created that took away the need for initial spadework etc. All marvelled at its genius. A new dawn...

BUT:

In a few short years those boards and techs were replaced by just a couple of people with desktop computers.

Depressing stuff.

When we were building a public aquarium, my boss used Autocad to design it himself. Didn't work out in the end. The problem wasn't the software but a lack of competent management and planning.

 

[Jonny]

When we were building a public aquarium, my boss used Autocad to design it himself. Didn't work out in the end. The problem wasn't the software but a lack of competent management and planning.

Yeah, it ended up everywhere. I'm long since out of the loop, but I'm sure whatever iteration it's at now it can more than likely explain the meaning of life.

Refreshing to see it can be thwarted by human incompetence. This just might be the answer to the world's fightback.

 

[Aethalope]

Yeah, it ended up everywhere. I'm long since out of the loop, but I'm sure whatever iteration it's at now it can more than likely explain the meaning of life.

Refreshing to see it can be thwarted by human incompetence. This just might be the answer to the world's fightback.

Indeed! Perhaps it is a case of being given tools one hasn't the good sense to use. All the better for those who have.

 

[MattScho]

Yeah, my sister and brother in law are both architects. They are trained on how to use autocad, but without the training, it's essentially Minecraft.