I fine-tuned a model for my first AI web app back in 2019. It created plausible reviews of artwork from prompts. They were totally hallucinated though and had nothing to do with actual images. It was interesting for language and bias analysis above all else. But, it was enough of a novelty that I got thousands of users. I have considered going through the whole process from scratch with Mistral to make a bespoke model and correlate it with a modern vision model. But, I don't want to spend any more money on this project. Hosting an unmonetized public facing AI app for 7 years was not cheap.
No. None of the coders are overwhelmingly pro-ai. But, all are learning it and ramping up. The GenX money people are 100% into AI now. They are the same people who always had "an great idea for an app you should make." We have seen multiple waves of technology appear and then get exploited and collapse. Personally, I think coding is the least interesting use of these things. If I was independently weathly I would point AI at pesticide reduction in farming, water management and distribution, and drug addiction mitigation through chemistry.
I don't think they are in denial. I think they just don't care about public sentiment. American capitalism has proven over and over that people who hate you will still buy your product, at a premium.
You haven't seen NIMBY until you've seen what happens when there's even a hint of a new AI data center coming to town. Take the normal complaints about change, and bump them up approximately 3 orders of magnitude, and you'll be in the ballpark.
The resistance to abstraction in the early 1900s came from a failed art student named Adolf Hitler (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degenerate_Art_exhibition). It was amplified by post-war Soviet propaganda and that is what the CIA was poking at during late modernism. Hitler and the Soviets wanted social realism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_realism) to offer idealized citizens, not individual expression or any kind of doubt really. They are not the only ones. Post-George Floyd exhibitions pivoted heavily to representation and social realism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Sherald). That is still happening. The latest is none other than Trump and Pete Hegseth, who post classic German propaganda style AI images of young white people in working class contexts.
Abstract Expressionism was the pinnacle of modern art and was much more than a style or aesthetic. It was a total embrace of pure individuality. That's why it has been resisted by every social movement since. It is the essence of non-conformity. Political groups require conformity.
When I tell friends or family I just got a job in AI, they look at me with sympathy and disgust, as if I had told them I have gonorrhea. Nobody says "congratulations."
One of the most compelling takes on Lascaux is that it isn't art. It's not about idealization, worship, beauty, or being human. It was made by hunters to get closer to their prey. They wanted to become the deer and the buffalo to know them better, so they could ultimately become better hunters of them. Herzog made that point in "Cave of Forgotten Dreams".
We were told the quality of paper mattered and that the envelope should have the same high-end watermark that the resume sheet had. Inkjet printed resumes were discouraged because the quality back then was low and the resolution made anti-aliasing on the type come out weird. Laser printed only, please.
Laser printers were expensive AF for poor guys just out of college looking for a job.
My BJ200 ca. 1993 had awesome print quality, comparable to a Laserjet II, if you used slightly glossy paper (so the ink wouldn’t bleed) and you waited a bit for the ink to dry on each sheet.
And that is how you handle things like this. He ponied up and took the hit. More importantly, he gave the back story. After years of reading so many circular psuedo-responsibility posts (by others) trying to squirm out of awkward situations, it's refreshing to see his thoroughness.
I know a lot of good people that got thrown away by mission focussed companies. They were loyal and put with all kinds of BS for those companies. I was laid off from jobs I went way above and beyond for. They didn't hesitate. They are the ones that turned us all into disposable mercenaries. Why wouldn't we go for the money? What else are they offering, thumbs up emojis?
This could be dealt with in the U.S. with simple enforcement, but would also limit political parties soliciting by phone and that is my conspiracy theory for why it isn't enforced. It is trivial to find the VoIP providers that are providing the numbers to these telemarketing companies. NANPA (North American Numbering
Plan Administrator) has a tool for finding them. https://nanpa.com/sites/default/files/2025-03/InstructionsFo...
https://artreviewgenerator.com/
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