this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2023
539 points (95.4% liked)
Memes
45680 readers
1159 users here now
Rules:
- Be civil and nice.
- Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
At least I've made some observation about the world and expressed it in a creative way (using an established template). That's five times as much creative effort than AI image posters.
I wont question the creative value of your meme but it would be a misconception to assume its more effort then an ai image just because its an ai image.
Shitposts exists, both with ai an without Thoughtfull artistic expression exists, both with ai and without.
I understand the misconception, you could most certainly enter some vague crap and get a popping result and as long as it gets upvote it will be common.
When I personally make ai art i spend hours on end just tweaking the parameters and prompt to get them to stay in context of my idea. Then let it run a few hours. Analyse those output to “harvest” seeds, then use those seeds and varying amount of tools (including photoshop with drawing tablet) to in a few iterations generate a final image or set.
I wouldn’t compare it to painting or drawing, (most i do with tablet is draw guidelines) but its absolutely a creative process. Like all art, value depends more on the person then the tools used.
I don't want to claim that creating the right image is no effort.
I want to focus on the creative part of the process where the message is expressed. Internet memes are almost by definition low effort to create, since anyone can use a meme-generator or use an image creation tool to use a well established template. That means you can focus on the message/observation that the image should convey.
I can't paint that well, but I can make jokes about observations I make. That is what I consider to be the creative process that matters in meme communities, since the actual images are ripped from stock images or pop culture.
AI art makes it possible to create images that most people wouldn't be able to create by hand (or more traditional image creation software). But that part isn't really important in meme communities, where the form is less important that the message.
It's kind of the problem with AIs in a nutshell: All form, no context or meaning.
Thats a fair point. “Ai art” might be a meme but ai art on itself a meme does not make!
It makes sense its posted so much because of the low barrier for entry to make something looks good in a glance. Its excellent for generating fake internet points. But a meme is much more like that, its an evolution of fluid speech and expressive communication.
That making memes is easy isn’t important towards its value but mandatory of we don’t want to go back to the times where written language was exclusive to the upper classes.
Lemmy has in many ways an anti-ai bias against the shortcomings of last years demos, For space supposedly with so many tech oriented progressives that annoys me quite a bit, but i fully agree with you on your stance.
Ai art could be a meme if made into one, but if its not then it should not be in a place for memes.
I'm glad that you get my point. Yet, I don't want to be too gatekeep-y with the status of a "meme" (I really like the original concept, since it is a very useful... meme).
I really want to focus on the message to be brought across. And in most AI generated images I perceive a very lazy thought process behind the idea.