AI is a coup by the tasteless
It is well documented that the AI crowd loves "taste". Paul Graham's tweet on the subject is now Silicon Valley canon:
Prediction: In the AI age, taste will become even more important. When anyone can make anything, the big differentiator is what you choose to make.
Taste is all that's left, they say. AI will empower the truly tasteful to create great things, they say. Oh and by the way it just so happens that tech CEOs, venture capitalists, and the rest of the AI ownership class have good taste. They made such impressive companies, of course they have it! To them, this is self-evident.
Do not accept this premise. Yes good taste exists. The tech bros never had it. They think they do, because love to simplify all of life's pursuits to fit their worldview. They will look at your life's work and ask, with a straight face, "why don't you just [...]?". They believe because they're good at their jobs that they are good at your job. How hard could it be?
They can't hear the difference between Suno trash and real music. They can't see the difference between real art and AI style transfer slop. They love to show off shiny demos with no depth. They pay their assistants to buy something impressive to hang on the wall. They will never understand what drives someone to make art without a profit motive. They don't believe that is worth understanding.
So why are they pushing the taste narrative? Because they want to manufacture the one kind of status they couldn't buy. They have wealth but nobody likes them. They're not cool at parties. They can't understand why she dates that weird guy with no money. They don't get why your work is art so they want to pretend that their work is art.
So they stole it. They made a big machine to eat all the art. Not because they wanted to own it, but because they wanted to commoditize it. Just drown the world in so much bad art that we'd throw our hands up. And then they can claim they have taste, because they're skilled at aiming the art slop cannon. Don't worry, you're invited too! Feel free to demonstrate your taste on their platforms, it's an open door.
To be clear: you can use AI and still be an artist. But using it can't make you one.
Don't fall for the coup of the tasteless.