Sarah McLaughlinMar 30, 2023

Boy do I have some thoughts about this CEO's quote in @drewharwell's great reporting on Midjourney.

1) THIS IS HOW YOU END UP WITH TOOLS THAT APPLY ONE COUNTRY'S AUTHORITARIAN RULES TO A GLOBAL AUDIENCE

2) He doesn't at all consider that Chinese people might also want to satirize Xi Jinping. Do they not matter?

3) "Minimize drama" is condescending nonsense. Being able to criticize one of the most authoritarian leaders in emerging tech is not a question of "drama."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/03/30/midjourney-ai-image-generation-rules/

How a tiny company with few rules is making fake images go mainstream

Midjourney, the year-old firm behind recent fake visuals of Trump and the pope, illustrates the lack of oversight accompanying spectacular strides in AI.

The Washington Post
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@sarahemclaugh @drewharwell It's not a public service, and it's not an oligopoly thing like Google or Microsoft where your alternatives are limited and inferior. It's cutting edge experimental tech provided under a subscription: there are terms and conditions you have to agree to, and is it out of line for for the founder to keep his future business opportunities open by not allowing this tool to be used in a way that would blacklist him?

I get the frustration that everything at our disposal can't be used to do whatever we want with it, but that is the nature of things--few rights are completely unrestricted. And this isn't a right but a frivolous service used to make fake photos.

Mar 30, 2023 at 5:32pmWeb