Look, I’ve seen enough shit in my life to know when the suits are trying to pull a fast one. Last night at O’Malley’s, nursing my fourth bourbon, I read about how AI is about to wipe out 200,000 entertainment jobs. Reminded me of when they “optimized” the post office night shift, replacing half my coworkers with sorting machines that couldn’t tell their ass from their elbow.
Now they’re coming for the artists. Not content with making fake photos of the Pope looking like a hypebeast, these AI companies are going full terminator on the creative industry. And guess who’s leading the charge? James fucking Cameron himself. The same guy who warned us about Skynet is now sitting on the board of Stability AI. The irony’s thicker than my hangover.
Let me tell you about this conference I read about in Portugal - THU they call it. Bunch of young artists gathered there, probably drinking better wine than the rotgut I’m stuck with. These kids are watching their entry-level jobs evaporate faster than spilled whiskey on a hot sidewalk. One of them lost two jobs in three years to AI. Christ, at least when I got canned from the post office, it was for showing up drunk, not because some algorithm learned to lick stamps better than me.
There’s this artist, Karla Ortiz - she helped design Doctor Strange’s whole look, including that fancy-ass hair. Now she’s suing these AI companies for stealing her work. “My paintings aren’t just copyrighted - they’re my life,” she says. I like her style. She’s got more balls than most of the tech bros who are busy feeding art into their digital meat grinders.
The AI companies? They’re spinning it like they’re the saviors of creativity. Some guy named Valenzuela from Runway AI says they’re making content cheaper to produce. Sure, and my local dive bar waters down the drinks to make them more “cost-efficient.” Same difference.
Here’s the truth, straight up like my bourbon: This isn’t about innovation or progress. It’s about suits finding new ways to squeeze blood from stones. They did it to factory workers, they did it to postal workers, and now they’re doing it to artists. They talk about “democratizing creativity” the same way management used to talk about “optimizing workflow” - right before they’d fire half the night shift.
But here’s the kicker: you can’t automate soul. That’s what these AI pushers don’t get. Every piece of real art comes with a side of human suffering, just like every decent hangover comes with a story. AI can copy brushstrokes all day long, but it can’t replicate the trembling hand of an artist who’s poured their guts onto a canvas.
The young artists at THU get it. They’re not buying the corporate bullshit. They know the difference between fast food and a home-cooked meal, between rotgut and single malt, between real art and whatever digital slop these algorithms are cooking up.
So here’s to the artists fighting back. To Karla Ortiz and her lawsuit. To every creative soul refusing to let their work become training data for some silicon-brained impostor. And here’s to human creativity - messy, drunk, imperfect, and irreplaceable.
Time for another drink. The robots might be coming for our jobs, but they’ll never know how to properly appreciate a bourbon at closing time.
-Henry Chinaski