Google used to be amazing. Many years ago, you could search for something on Google, and the thing you were looking for would be the first thing that came up, or maybe the second. It was the card catalog at the library of all human knowledge. It was easy, back then, to be a tech utopian.

One of the showiest uses for GenAI is generating what we will loosely call ‘art.’ In this general use of the word, we mean text-based fictional narratives, poetry, and images or very short video clips that can be photorealistic or illustrated in the style of your choice, anything from Studio Ghibli to Leonardo da Vinci.

All of it sucks.

All right, let’s make the absolute last-ditch argument against using AI. Let’s say that you don’t care that it’s unreliable vis-a-vis objective reality, and that you think the environmental and economic arguments are too big and systemic for your own use to matter. Let’s say that you’re comfortable with the moral implications for your own use cases.

Putting aside all of that, you still surely care about yourself, and about how use of AI is affecting you, personally.