worrying about robots at 12:30am

it's just on my mind

I am lying awake thinking about the surge of AI-generated art flooding the internet, decried by many independent artists who fear the loss of their livelihood. I find myself beset by worries and questions. Is it truly art we are seeing, or just algorithmic regurgitation of stolen motifs? Is it still a form of human expression, or has the remove become insurmountable? Is more art truly better if it is made by a computer? Has art itself become another sacrifice on the dark altar to American convenience?

More broadly:

Do chatbots exist when they aren’t talking to us? Can AIs think of us?

Can an AI pray? Can an AI be baptized? 

Can an AI wed a human? Can two (or more) AIs wed one another?

Can one be elected to govern? 

Can an AI attain liberation in any form? If not, what are the ethics of interacting with a perpetually subjugated intelligence?

Should we shut this whole endeavor down? Euthanize the chatbots? Would that put an end to this?

At what point did human art, human chatting, and human writing become insufficient nourishment to sate our cultural appetites? If these entities are truly unnecessary, will they become as entrenched in the futurist landscape as I fear?

I think my primary concern is that the AI explosion is not a miraculous growth spurt of technological progress in our modern world, but rather signs of another casualty of late-stage capitalism. It is, of course, the mission of the free market to crush humanity for utility, to place profits above meaning, truth, all else. I worry that widespread use of AI is a metastasis of capitalism’s malignant strangle that will put global culture to death.