I’m being cranky about AI again.

Stuff like this just bugs me, though.

The longer I look at the AI picture, the more subtly horrifying it gets as I see how it casually distorts and enervates the scene. This isn't art: it's a mockery of it, made all the worse because no actual malice is involved. And it will mess up your head if you don't take care. https://t.co/SpGYmIsUHK pic.twitter.com/n2Q7Vo3WHC

— Ogiel (Moe Lane) (@Ogiel23) February 14, 2025

I like Frank a lot, but I just can’t groove to the suggestion that the output on the right has anything meaningful to say when compared to the artwork on the left. It’s not just that the AI version is meaning-neutral. It’s like it deliberately tried to ignore everything meaningful in the original, solely to produce the optical illusion of art.

So it’s horrible, and I loathe it, and I am deeply suspicious of any argument that says this is the future. People make art to tell stories, and the story didn’t make the transition from Rockwell to whatever video game made the other output. And all the manifestos and proclamations in the world will do nothing to get AI past that gap.

Okay. Shaking-fist-at-cloud time done.