What purpose could Generative AI genuinely serve?
So recently [May 20] Google came out with its new audio-visual generative AI technology called Google Veo 3 which has produced undoubtedly impressive results:
If you are curious as to the results yourself, you may watch their demo here.
But as I was watching this video, I felt no appreciation for the complexity of the program itself or the artistic value of the videos generated. Instead, I found myself confused about one thing. In my mind, I could only think of two possible categories this technology could be used for.
1. Being Lazy?
One of the demos showcased in this little video of Google’s is an AI-generated standup comedy scene of a completely dry AI joke. For whom is this content even supposed to be appealing to? Do people want to watch unoriginal jokes told by a fake person and laugh along with an entirely fake audience?
Do people want to watch a movie with fake stories written by an AI? Do people want to watch street interviews of fake people giving fake answers to made up questions? Do people want to watch a fake interview with a fake captain with his fake 20 years of seafaring experience?
2. Spreading Misinformation
Largely because of AI, the idea of ‘reliable sources’ on the internet is going to become more and more of a joke as years goes by. Up until no one believes in anything anymore and we all collectively decide that the internet has become unusable.
In fact, AI has already become a burden on creative anything with constant slop like the AI “artist” discourse and people polluting the internet with clearly generated articles, videos and bots in bascially every social media comment section.
Do people want more internet slop?
What is the purpose of any of this?
Obviously all the questions I’ve asked in this post are rhetorical. In my opinion, this sort of technology is developed by out-of-touch big tech companies that don’t stop to consider if their ‘innovations’ are actually useful for anyone but scammers, lazy artists, deep-fake porn creeps and big tech companies looking to lay off more of their workers.
But it is a genuine curiosity I have, so feel free to educate me. For anyone who really sees the utility in audio-visual generative AI, I’ll ask again: What purpose could Generative AI genuinely serve?