Avoiding the Slop

What’s the easiest way to steer clear of nonsense spewed out by so-called “generative AI”? Pick a date and avoid anything made after it. It’s an extreme approach to this problem, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Even if we pick a date from many decades ago, there was already so much stuff made by real people that no one will ever see, read, or experience it all in a single lifetime. For instance, webcomic artist Randall Monroe estimated that “by sometime in the late 1500s” it was impossible to read every work published in English. That’s not counting all of the fantastic work written in other languages.

I’m still considering what year to use as a cut-off point for myself. It needs to include Elden Ring at least (haha), so that would make it at least early 2022.

Another approach is to be far more cautious about new media. Put those critical thinking skills to work and ask questions like:

• “Does this sound like a load of shit generated by some stupid LLM?”
• “Does this art look like a soupy mess that was cobbled together by other artists’ work?”

Major studios and companies are likely to embrace this insulting technology on a bigger scale than small groups of artists and entertainers. One of the easiest ways to avoid the slop is to stay far away from triple-A studios.

We can make a small difference by voting with our wallets and attention. Artists who take a firm stance against generative AI deserve to be supported.

2024-12-13

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