On Fedi, I saw this quote attributed to Gareth Watkins:
Talking about AI’s environmental impact or its implications for the workforce will not work - they like that, it makes them feel dangerous. Instead of talking about taking money from artists, talk about how it makes them look cheap.
Copyright was the enemy to the sharing-is-caring community not long ago and the “it’s cheap and bad” argument has a short shelf-life that will keep on diminishing the more capable and original AI becomes.
It is dangerous for the environment and for the workforce, and speaking plainly about that exposes fundamental flaws in market capitalism that it’s urgent to speak plainly about because those bugs, even before AI, were wrecking the climate and breaking the backs of workers. That’s a conversation humanity is long overdue to resolve and address.
And, if the environmental issues with AI could be resolved (for example by resource allocation less prone to runaway environmental externalities) and the wealth concentration issues could be resolved (for example by communal ownership), AI could usher in an era with less boring soul-sucking sameyness. Henry Ford could finally die. And if they can’t be addressed, that’s why AI needs to go. Not because it looks cheap.