I hate to be the one to tell you this, but all creative work is already based on 'darwinism'. The idea of 'democratized' creative industry is not true now and nor has it ever been - few succeed and most fail.

Yeah ok, and how is AI going to help democratize this industry? Before, only a few could succeed, and now AI is a free alternative. Is that doing these guys any favours?

When big corpos find an alternative that is cheap and fast and doesn't rely on human talent, they are going to go for that. There is very little incentive for investors to care about maintaining what used to be the standard.

You also seem to be taking the bizarre stance that this will somehow replace major studios like Ghibli.

No, I said it is going to lead to enshittification. An example of this is CGI. Nausicaa was famous for the hand drawn scene of the God Warrior, but in Mononoke, a similar molten monster was done by computer. And Ghibli is one of the few studios that actually tries to make the CGI not look like visually jarring abominations. I'd love to watch a new movie that's hand drawn, but the free market ain't free and technology making art forms incredibly obscure is a pattern that has been going on for a long time. Read any illuminated manuscripts lately?

What other industry would you be this protectionist about?

This is the same line I've heard from the AI crowd. Art and other entertainment is a luxury. Unlike clothes and groceries I don't need it to survive in society. I can very easily afford to be picky about the art I want to see, and I am.

Do you exclusively go to tailors to lessen the damage that cheap industrialized factory-made clothing has had on their industry? Do you never go to supermarkets, to support butchers and greengrocers?

This is a really bad example because yeah fast fashion is absolutely a problem that more people should be aware of. Supporting your local butcher, fishmonger, and greengrocer and getting fresh food is absolutely a rewarding experience. These are all upgrades to your life, they benefit the environment and community.

So if now someone can access the art they can imagine but never had the technical skill to create themselves, without having to pay someone else to do it, then that is more democratized, not less.

Now we all know that drawing a picture does not cost a lot of money. Anyone can get a pencil, a crayon, an iPad, whatever, and make the art themselves. There was never any sort of gatekeeping. "Yeah but if I do it, it won't look good" Yeah, I'm saying that I'm not impressed by AI art either.

I really don't see how you can justify telling people not to see their ideas realized through the accessibility provided by AI tools and instead insisting they leave it to the professionals.

Ok let's break it down: I have a Ghibli movie imagined in my head and I can't draw it out. I take photos and put them through an AI filter. The pictures are inconsistent, they are generic and lack what I believe to be the cool parts of Ghibli. Ghibli movies are known for their detail and care, while it actually does take a lot of effort and a bit of know how to train an AI model to make a consistent character design. (ChatGPT is probably not gonna have that for a while)

If I see no problem and accept everything spat out to me, then my artistic vision was really weak. I mean, good for you if you want to entertain yourself? It's got nothing to do with me. But if I want consistent character design, or really more specificity in general, I need to start doing things manually. I gotta break out photoshop, i gotta start using the smudge tool. Guess what? You've officially joined the ranks of the "professionals".