I deleted my Reddit account. I'm not sure why I signed up in the first place. I hate the voting system, as it only breeds echo chambers. You can't expect to have a constructive conversation with someone without being downvoted to hell. Even the subreddits I was subscribed to had their fair share of doomers, reactionaries, and concern trolls. Just some of the most vile people you could ever meet.

And such people wonder why some would rather talk to AI than other humans.

I can't count how many times I've seen people (mostly online) try to pressure, bully, and even suicide-bait others into not using AI.

Imagine someone calling artists who use AI tools "bandwagoners," claiming CEOs are pressuring everyone to use AI while acting like the CEO of Anti-AI themselves, pressuring everyone to not use AI. You see, the unwashed masses are infants and can't be trusted to make their own decisions, so you should listen to this 20something-year-old digital artist who understands the true meaning of art and humanity. If you use AI, surely it's because the Big Bad CEO told you to, right? Not because certain applications proved useful or improved your well-being?

Imagine another person saying that people who use AI obviously hate living since art is part of life, so they should kill themselves. If we want to be consistent, then the people who want AI to do their dishes and laundry should kill themselves too, no? Are washing dishes and folding laundry not also part of life?

There are problems with AI. I'm not denying that. Spam, deepfakes, misinformation, corporate greed, and data centers (all data centers, not only those serving AI companies) are real concerns. You just aren't going to combat them by trying to banish AI from existence. Even if you could and it was banished, we'd still have the same problems, and you'd have to think of another magic spell to banish them before they worsen (because, without real systemic changes, they will).

AI is not inherently inevitable. What makes it inevitable is the fact that the masses find it useful for a variety of purposes: images, music, memes, videos, game elements, role-play, etc. Anyone would support more ethical sourcing of AI models, but as it stands, the masses (especially in the West) care about ethics so long as they are not too inconvenienced. The masses eat meat, drink coffee, stream in 4K, go on cruises, fly to Disney, and buy products made in sweatshops. And a decent chunk of the masses will have biological children in rich, exploitative countries and further expand their carbon footprint.

The AI bubble will pop, no doubt, just like the dot com bubble did, and what remains will be the big players and the big tools that become incorporated in different workflows to varying degrees. You cannot rid the world of AI because the world wants AI to stay. The anti-AI are outnumbered by average Joes and non-artists alike, if we don't count artists who willingly use AI in some form.

Rather than trying to mold the world to their ways of art-making, the anti-AI would do well to create their own AI-free communities and foster them with tips, tricks, and techniques that make creating art from scratch more interesting and fulfilling. Yet quite a number of anti-AI can be found spending more time hating on AI than making art.

You are not going to persuade anyone (who isn't obsessed with the Protestant work ethic) that suffering is necessary to make a pretty picture. Your chances of persuading someone to make handcrafted art increase if you show how the process can be fun. Art does not have to be excruciatingly challenging, and art is more than illustration. The anti-AI should remember this and prioritize other recognized (and less common) mediums.

And if some people just don't like making art the old-fashioned way? Let them go. Let them be. You will find your people and you will have your community of like-minded folks, maintaining the heart and soul of pure, sacred, 100% human art that will make all the Greek statues blush.

As I write this, my mind wanders to thoughts of my very normal family. It's not perfect and we have our occasional drama, but my family is the definition of "normie." My family is a proud part of the masses. My family eats meat, drinks coffee, streams in 4k, goes on cruises, flies to Disney, and buys products made in sweatshops. And my family thinks AI is neat and interesting. Do they use AI to do everything for them? No. Actually, I'm not sure whether they use it at all, but they have shared those Judge Judy baby videos, and I admit to having laughed along with them.

My family is ignorant of my digital presence, and I intend to keep it that way. In fact, my family is ignorant regarding a lot of online matters, and it reminds me to not take the Internet so seriously. Here I am, writing about a controversial subject so online it's almost on par with fandom discourse, while my family focuses on jobs, kids, sports, wining and dining, future vacations, and the next social gathering. (I don't mean to brag, but one of my cousins does throw the best Fourth of July parties. It's like being at a mini town fair, complete with a 20-foot waterslide.)

It really puts everything into perspective.

And that's why I'm tired.

I'm so tired that I've become brutally honest with myself.

Yes, I am selfish. I like my coffee and chocolate too much to give them up, ethics be damned. Yes, I am lazy. I'm inclined to preserve energy and spend it wisely since I don't have enough (being my type of disabled). Yes, I take shortcuts. Why do you think I enjoy collaging? It's a fun and faster way to make art. I like fun and fast. That's how my extremely ADHD brain works. (Not TikTok-fast, mind you.)

I'm tired. And I just want to enjoy the depressingly small amount of time I have on this planet.

Apologies for the harm that my existence might cause. It isn't intended.