In a complex world, is today's tech helping or hurting society?
This week OpenAI launched a new image generator offering effortless plagiarism of Studio Ghibli's style and Apple launches Indigenous names across Maps. Guess which one makes the world a better place?
I've spent a lot of time thinking about tech's impact on society this week.
In the 20 years I've been writing about consumer technology, I've seen massive changes to how tech integrates into our lives.
I am confident that, on the whole, it has made our lives worse.
Social media, despite its name, has done a fantastic job of destroying the fabric that connects us. The internet, despite its promise of unlimited knowledge sharing, has been corrupted to become a sea of hostility and misinformation.
These platforms will never be redeemed. There's just no way we can ever go back. The narrative of today's world is controlled by a wealthy minority, who created the system we have and are never going to give that power up willingly.
I admit it's not all bad. Apple's inclusion of Indigenous place names around Australia and New Zealand this week gave me hope that there are still people trying to leverage tech for the betterment of society.
But that optimism is a small drop in an ocean of despair. This past week OpenAI rolled out a new image generator that allowed people to generate images in the style of iconic Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli.
Despite Studio Ghibli's co-founder Hayao Miyazaki once describing an early demonstartion of AI-generated art as "an insult to life itself,” millions of Ghibli "fans" have flooded the Internet with AI-generated pictures that looked like scenes from Spirited Away or My Neighbor Totoro.
Where Ghibli's iconic style was the work of passionate artists who spent years developing and defining their craft and style, these AI images required nothing more than a poorly written text prompt. And it's depressing, because the people who use it clearly hold no value for the art of creation.
Much like Warner Bros removing Looney Tunes from its streaming service, tech companies don't care that people have dedicated years of their life learning a skill to share it with the world. They see an opportunity to make more money, then steal the creativity of others to achieve it.
It can feel overwhelmingly inescapable. But the good news is that there are things you can do.
Don't use AI do generate images. And if someone shares something that is clearly AI slop, don't share it.
Support actual artists and creators. Give money to the people who spend time learning and developing the skills required to create.
And most importantly of all, spend time trying to create yourself. It doesn't matter if it's a short blog post or a social media video or a painting or knitting. Make things.
Because when you actually make things, you realise just how much is required to create something good. And no matter how easy AI makes creation seem, it isn't as rewarding, for you or society when you don't do the work.
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This week on BTTR
Nick Broughall
Nick Broughall
Nick Broughall
Nick Broughall
Nick Broughall
Nick Broughall
(Re)-Introducing the BTTR Store price comparison
The first version of BTTR was built it in a way that it not only showcased the latest reviews, but had a database of products wheret I could show the best price from partner sites.
When I moved to Ghost, I lost that functionality. But a few weeks ago I decided to resurrect it on a new website.
It's still in Beta - there are a lot of kinks to work out! But if you're interested, I'd love for you to check it out and start playing around with it and offer any feedback!
Check out these epic deals this week
(I'm going to start sharing some pretty epic deals each week to celebrate the launch of the BTTR Store.)
- Samsung Galaxy Fit3: Was $149, now $71.99 (Read my review)
- Ring stick up cam Battery 4 pack: Was $499, now $$199
- SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Wireless USB-C: Was $399, now $226.80
- Arlo Video Doorbell 2K (2nd Generation): Was $229, now $99
- Uniden HD 2k Pan and Tilt Smart Baby Camera: Was $149.95, now $49.95
- JBL Tune 520 Headphones: Was $79.95, now $$49.95
- Samsung 512GB Micro SDXC Pro Plus Memory Card: Was $144.06, now $95.55
- Sandisk Ultra 512GB SDXC Memory Card: Was $212, now $85
- Thin Lizzy UCurl Auto Curler Black and Rose Gold: Was $169.99, now $98.65
- Philips All-In-One Cooker: Was $249, now $169
- Audio Technica Standard belt drive turntable: Was $289, now $199
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Until next week,
– Nick @ BTTR
