Yeah and what is the first thing they teach you in art school? History. From day one you're studying the works of other artists and its implications. How they managed to make an impact on the viewers and how it inspires you. Then we produce output that's judged by our teachers on a scale and we use that as weighted training data.

Maybe other artists should do that too. Art isn't built from nothing but the sheer magical creativity of the artist. If that were true we'd have Sistine cave paintings instead of the finger painting we currently have in prehistoric caves. Inspiration, is in fact, a thing.

They should go ahead and be against Photoshop and, well, computers all together while they're at it. In fact spray paint is cheating too. You know how long it takes to make a proper brush stroke? No skill numpties just pressing a button; they don't know what real art is!

Lions, Tigers, and Bears, no man!

That's two continents depending on the geologist you talk to 😂

Oh, y'all wanna do cross continent! Ok

Yeah I was thinking... would a Fallout show be goofy and colorful, or dark and horrific? Amazon said, yes. And it's great.

I keep rereading this comment and as someone in R&D... I'm so astonished that people think that companies just spontaneously come up with everything they produce without looking around. Companies start off almost every venture by analyzing any work in the field that's been done and reverse engineering it. It's how basically anyone you've heard of works. It goes double for art. Inspiration is key for art. Composers will break down the sheet music of great compositions, graphic designers will have walls full of competitors designs, cinematographers will study movies frame by frame.

I think it's a pretty important question whether we're reaching the end of the distinction between human and machine. People will begin to use machine minds more and more as part of their work. Tying strings now to the works of machines is screwing the creators of tomorrow. The line between what a person creates and what a machine creates WILL evaporate. It's not a matter of if, but when.

Imagine we put a ton of regulations on people who use power tools to do carpentry. I'm sure the carpenters around the time power tools were created figured "That's not true craftsmanship. They shouldn't be able to make a living off that!" But the carpenters of today would be screwed by these regulations because of course they have to use the latest technology to stay competitive.

As for the argument that we're taking the food out of creative's mouths: I don't think anyone is not buying Stephen King novels now because they can just ask for a Stephen King style novel from ChatGPT. You can pirate Stephen King already. People aren't fascinated by LLMs because of how well they plagiarize. They're fascinated by them because they're capable of transformative works, not unlike humans. Nobody is typing "Write a Stephen King Novel" they're typing, "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle but it's Snoop Dogg and Betty White in the style of Stephen King." As much as I'm sure King would love to suck up all royalties for these stories, there's no universe where it makes sense that he should. You don't own what you inspire.

Some great responses that I can't beat here. But a little more perspective: For me, when I'm overwhelmed, and feeling existential, it always comes back to one thing. I'm trying too much. Many people solve this by giving up. But the real answer is to try harder with fewer things.

For example, "someday no one in the world will remember you". Is being remembered forever actually something you should try and achieve? How about just making an impact in your loved ones lives? How about contributing something to society (like your career) that will outlive you, even if no one remembers who did it.

Rather than trying to make your life what it "should be" , make goals to forge a life that's better for you. These should be realistic steps towards becoming content with what you have. Everything else is gravy. Maybe you will end up talked about forever.

Remember, goals can point you in the right direction, but don't sweat meeting them exactly. Life throws curve balls and you will adapt. Remember to appreciate the moment you're in. Then when you desire purpose, your goals will remind you which way to go.

Exactly, the reason LLMs are so fascinating to us is how close they get to sounding human. Thing is, it's not a trick. When people dismiss LLMs because, "Oh they mostly just echo their training data set". That's just culture in humans. Then it's the emergent behavior that makes us feel unique. I'm not saying LLMs are human equivalent. But they're fairly close in design to how a huge part of our psyche works.