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by betwixthewires 1340 days ago
Replace pencil and paper with a camera then if it makes you happy, although I don't think the quality of the images make a single bit of difference.

Why should only the few have access to such a technology? Because some people will use it for naughty things? And that's what we are talking about here, about whether a minority should have permissioned access to a new technology, and particularly one that cannot directly actually cause physical harm. I can glean motivations surrounding all this from that observation alone.
2 comments
NateEag 1340 days ago
The digital camera is still several orders of magnitude slower and more expensive to operate than DALL-E or SD.

Side note: if you're a materialist, you should believe that psychological harm is physical harm. It's obvious that being able to publish images of someone doing things they themselves find reprehensible could cause lots of trauma.

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betwixthewires 1340 days ago
Well thankfully I'm not, but even if I were I think that's a bit of a stretch. A materialist acknowledging an effect he cannot quantify or directly observe is not much of a materialist.
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NateEag 1339 days ago
I suppose that's fair.

My point was that if there's only matter, then mental / psychological harm must be in some sense physical harm.

(FWIW I lean not-materialist myself, but it's a common perspective around here so I thought it was worth pointing out)

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jmfldn 1340 days ago
I didn't say they shouldn't have access, re-read what I wrote. I was responding to the specific claim that AI-driven art generation is essentially the same as pencil drawing.

Your point about photography is also comparing apples and oranges. There are fundamental differences here down to scale and accessibility of techniques that means anyone will soon be able to deep fake anything instantly.

Fwiw, do I think this technology should be controlled by big tech? No way. Do I think this is Pandaora's box? Yes. If we don't reconcile the tricky tradeoffs between radical democratisation of this technology on the one hand vs heavy handed control on the other, we are in hot water. Tldr... it's complicated and it is not zero sum.

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