As I finished Fahrenheit 451, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between this story and what’s happening now with the rise of AI, generative AI in particular. In Fahrenheit 451, books were outlawed because the government wanted to keep society happy and to not be able to form opinions because they believed that books would cause more conflict and lead to an unhappy society. If you don’t know, generative AI is a form of artificial intelligence that generates images, text, videos, etc. These two may seem like they have nothing in common, but the characters living in Fahrenheit 451 are all obsessed with instant gratification and not thinking deeply about anything. This is identical to the anti-intellectual rhetoric that has been on the rise as of late. 

We enter a stage in society where when we put in any effort or more than just surface level thinking is thought of “doing too much” or “reading too much into something.” The notion that “The curtains are blue” has done irreparable damage to critical thinking as a whole because sometimes, the curtains AREN’T just blue. This negates any sort of deeper media analysis by saying that something is the way that it is because that’s just how it is. We live in a society where people don’t have a modicum of media literacy because they use ChatGPT (one of the leading generative AI websites) to form thoughts for themselves. They’re being told what to think and write because they’re taking the easy way out. This death of media literacy has caused an insurgence of misinterpretations and the need for black and white conclusions where nuance is crucial. The best example of this is the idolization of Patrick Bateman from the 2000 film, American Psycho. There was a wave of misunderstood young men wanting to be like the canonical murder-rapist loser because they saw him as “peak” masculinity. Patrick Bateman is a stoic dirtbag who has sex with women, which is something that a lot of the men idolizing Bateman want. They don’t see Bateman as a bad person because he’s the main character, so they automatically assume that he’s in the right because bad people CAN’T be main characters. This also goes for people who criticize others for engaging with problematic art. Just because a person likes the NBC show Hannibal, doesn’t mean they condone the act of cannibalism or condone the actions done by the characters. People like Hannibal because they find the story and relationships interesting. The viewers are aware that the relationship between Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter is abusive but they don’t agree with the abuse.

These programs might sound fun to play around with but the way they’re constructed is nothing short of theft. The way these AIs fill their databases is by stealing art from unsuspecting artists and learning from the stolen artwork. Not only do these gen AI companies steal from artists to train their AI, they pose a harm to our environment. Artificial intelligence servers churn out electronic waste like it’s nobody’s business. According to a study done by Nature Computational Science, “Our findings indicate that this e-waste stream could increase, potentially reaching a total accumulation of 1.2–5.0 million tons during 2020–2030, under different future GAI development settings.” Not only does it produce waste, it also consumes a number of the Earth’s natural resources that are scarce in some parts of the world. Artificial intelligence consumes water on a large scale and heavily rely on unsustainably sourced minerals such as aluminum and platinum. They, obviously, eat up a lot of electricity that exacerbate the emission of greenhouse gases that speed up the looming threat of global warming. AI is a net negative to artists and the world as a whole.

This brings me to the use of generative AI to create “art” and other forms of creative expressions. The idea of being a beginner is unappealing to many, that’s why they turn to these AI “art” programs where they can type a prompt and in turn receive a finished illustration, in some cases they can even dictate what style they want their image to be in. This removes the beauty of art, the sheer humanity of such an act cannot be understated. Someone being upset that they aren’t creating art at the level they want to is understandable but they have to understand that everyone starts somewhere. As an artist, the enjoyment comes from the process of making our art, it’s used to express ourselves and to create things we love. Looking back at where we started is part of the enjoyment of the process. If there are no humans behind art, then it’s not art. It’s a soulless mockery of  those who poured their blood, sweat, and tears into their craft. A complete sick and twisted mockery of what it means to be human. 

Would you care about your favorite movies, books, songs, etc if it was “written” by a robot? Would they have the same effect on you if they weren’t created by a human? These mediums are a peek into the soul of the creator, a peek into their minds at the time they created their art. These works have a piece of their creator in them. Remembering that another human being on this planet created something so impactful to another human being is the single most beautiful thing about art. Humans are passionate creatures and we express our passion through our art. To end off where we began, a quote from Fahrenheit 451, “Stuff your eyes with wonder… live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds.” The world is filled with incredible art made by humans, seize it and live.