I really do think this article is missing the point entirely. Well, I think it's partially right in that there is an over-reliance on process and humans acting more like bots. However, in regards to content creation, there are far more serious problems:
(a) ChatGPT is not just ChatGPT, it's an initial stage on a massive operation that will generate content on all levels and in much more advanced ways
(b) Content creation by AI does not have to be as good as human content creation. It does not have to be as good as human content creation to become more successful; instead it only has to vastly outpace it in volume.
(c) AI content will succeed not because it is better. Right now it's worse. But even if it stays worse and content creators change their modus operandi as in the article, AI will still be much better at optimizing revenue from content because ultimately, the reason why content creators get paid is because people buy shit they don't need, and AI will amplify this much more easily than humans
Ultimately, it is utterly useless to examine ChatGPT vs. content creators inside a bubble. One needs to understand ChatGPT as part of a larger iterative process, in which there is a mutual evolution of algorithms to deliver content and algorithms to make content. Humans currently are at the forefront of making content, but they will not be for long.
And before long, there will be more and more positions taken over by AI algorithms. Writing may have been one of the first because writing is so old and we understand it so well. But at some point, we will understand medicine so well that doctors will be replaced too. Finally, we will understand every task so well so that what we have done as humans to advance a body of knowledge will merely be used to bootstrap and even "better" system where AI does everything.
In once sense, it sounds like a utopia -- us not having to do anything. But I think it will be very far from that. It will be more like a dystopia where nobody knows the value of another person because they do not have to rely on each other any more. We are already part-way there.
I admonish anyone who contributes a line of code to OpenAI, ChatGPT, Bard, and other systems. Shame on you.
> the reason why content creators get paid is because people buy shit they don't need, and AI will amplify this much more easily than humans
Eh, I think this may be undervaluing the human part of content creation. People spend thousands of dollars for single seats at concerts because they've decided (or been told by taste-makers) that "this is what is good." I don't see that paradigm of consumption changing. I think it will vary by medium but some artistic mediums seem to really maintain a strong "creator connection." That is, a lot of the appreciation of the art seems to stem from some form of adoration for its creator. Sure, sure, "death of the artist" and all, but as you said, we need take into account the current form, not the "content creators inside a bubble."
Most of the musicians whose tickets go for thousands of dollars these days either were hugely successful by taking risks before the rise of algorithmic taste-making (and have older, wealthier audiences) or are basically meat puppets of the ad industry whose music, clothing style, branding, attitude, play frequency on streaming services, and even ticket prices are basically hydra heads of the same giant algorithmic psy-op that generates 40 songs per genre per year... pretty much the same as the latest machine-written sloppy ballad sung by the prole washerwoman in "1984". Pointing to the current hollow shell of creative void that is the music industry just shows how AI will use human faces to trick humans into feeling something and paying for the "experience". Yes, we still have Springsteen... but there's no new Springsteen. If e.g. Adam Levine were replaced by a humanoid robot or a deepfake, would any of his fans actually notice or care?
> If e.g. Adam Levine were replaced by a humanoid robot or a deepfake, would any of his fans actually notice or care?
As a Hatsune Miku fan... I can say... Yes?
People have been using AI generated vocals for well over a decade. The Hatsune Miku community differentiates songs and can tell who the composers or artists are even if they're all using the same voice.
There's a pretty big difference between say... "Karakuri Pierrot" and "Senbonzakura"
(a) ChatGPT is not just ChatGPT, it's an initial stage on a massive operation that will generate content on all levels and in much more advanced ways
(b) Content creation by AI does not have to be as good as human content creation. It does not have to be as good as human content creation to become more successful; instead it only has to vastly outpace it in volume.
(c) AI content will succeed not because it is better. Right now it's worse. But even if it stays worse and content creators change their modus operandi as in the article, AI will still be much better at optimizing revenue from content because ultimately, the reason why content creators get paid is because people buy shit they don't need, and AI will amplify this much more easily than humans
Ultimately, it is utterly useless to examine ChatGPT vs. content creators inside a bubble. One needs to understand ChatGPT as part of a larger iterative process, in which there is a mutual evolution of algorithms to deliver content and algorithms to make content. Humans currently are at the forefront of making content, but they will not be for long.
And before long, there will be more and more positions taken over by AI algorithms. Writing may have been one of the first because writing is so old and we understand it so well. But at some point, we will understand medicine so well that doctors will be replaced too. Finally, we will understand every task so well so that what we have done as humans to advance a body of knowledge will merely be used to bootstrap and even "better" system where AI does everything.
In once sense, it sounds like a utopia -- us not having to do anything. But I think it will be very far from that. It will be more like a dystopia where nobody knows the value of another person because they do not have to rely on each other any more. We are already part-way there.
I admonish anyone who contributes a line of code to OpenAI, ChatGPT, Bard, and other systems. Shame on you.