Notices by Brian Merchant (brianmerchant@mastodon.social)

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https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/

Here's how one artist, Reid Southen, told me he feels about the AI Studio Ghibli trend:

I realize that language is strong, and for a long time I have been skeptical of this notion that 'AI bros hate artists' or such—but seeing the response to this critique, which on the other site really actually has too often been literally 'Fuck Miyazaki', what other conclusion are we to come to?

OpenAI is using Studio Ghibli-style memes as an ad hoc promotional campaign for its new image generator—despite Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki's famous hatred of AI. Sam Altman even made his X avatar a 'Ghiblified' portrait.

Disgracing Miyazaki is part of the point: It's more proof to the industry's biggest boosters that they have won—that they're free to use, appropriate, and commoditize art however they see fit.

https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/openais-studio-ghibli-meme-factory

Hello all. As many of you know, I've been writing BLOOD IN THE MACHINE: The Newsletter for months, but I've been on the fence about going all-in. Recent events have made the call easier.

Elon Musk, the Silicon Valley oligarchs and their AI are taking over. I want to do all I can to push back. I hope you'll join me, and I'm asking for your support.

https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/the-tech-oligarchs-and-their-ai-are

@starchy @pluralistic love it — and me too!

Did a long investigation for WIRED looking at how studios are already using AI to degrade and kill jobs in the video game industry

https://www.wired.com/story/ai-is-already-taking-jobs-in-the-video-game-industry/

It’s pub day for Blood in the Machine, the book I’ve been working on for over five years. It tells the story of a chapter in history too often papered over—how workers rose up at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution when entrepreneurs used machines to take or degrade their jobs.

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/brian-merchant/blood-in-the-machine/9780316487740/?lens=little-brown

This is a good example of what AI systems like ChatGPT excel at—giving managers and administrators the ability to automate top-down, controversial and harmful decision-making while shielding themselves from accountability. They're a sort of authoritarianism accelerator

https://www.popsci.com/technology/iowa-chatgpt-book-ban/