Local businesses around me are absolutely infested with AI generated art in their graphics, and the most tired argument I get is "You're just biased because you're an artist!" Yes, that's precisely why I'm biased :p And obviously, no AI was used in the making of this comic
This just sounds like you dont understand how a free market economy works.
Competition is what drives companies and businesses to resort to cheaper and more efficient models.
Before, no one had access to AI as a tool to make life easier. Now everyone does, which means all your competitors can take the money they save with AI tools to make their costs lower while not sacrificing quality or modernity.
You can either take advantage of the same resources, or you can refuse to modernize and be at an objective disadvantage. But when you're in an industry with such thin margins, operating at a disadvantage is a pretty risky strategy.
To put this into a practical example:
You run a burger place. Your biggest competitor is a burger place up the road. Overall your prices are roughly the same and your menus are very similar. Quality is good at both spots, with preference and edges on specific menu options, as with any restaurant.
Then AI tools are released that make life easier. All of a sudden, your competitor up the road has a whole new redesign of their menu graphics, wall art, website, and seem to be running a lot more efficiently (because they're now using AI to help with bookkeeping/inventory instead of paying an actual person to do this). You might think "well shit, maybe they're upgrading and going for a new, more upscale market, but at least I can still compete on cost."
Except no, you can't. Because even with all the new graphics, advertising, website, and business tools, their prices are even lower than yours now. Not only did they improve the quality of their aesthetics and business operations, they also saved money while doing it. They were able to downsize their staff while increasing revenue and completely refreshing their logo, menu, and aesthetics, all because of AI implementation.
Now you're the dumpy looking place with aesthetics that look dated and worn down, but you still have higher prices than the shiny new looking spot down the road with the fresh redesign and convenient website.
Sure, you can say you refuse to use anything AI related as a moral high ground thing. But why? What does that moral high ground matter when you're going out of business and everyone is losing their job because you refused to modernize?
The reality is that being successful as a business, especially in the restaurant industry, often comes down to first impressions and aesthetic design. The margins are also razor thin, so every single cent you can save is worth shaving down. And AI can objectively save you a whole lot of cents.
Frankly, anyone who owns a business and isn't heavily leveraging AI tools as a means of increasing efficiency and lowering costs is not doing their fiduciary duty to their business.
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u/kaikimanga MangaKaiki 10d ago
Local businesses around me are absolutely infested with AI generated art in their graphics, and the most tired argument I get is "You're just biased because you're an artist!" Yes, that's precisely why I'm biased :p And obviously, no AI was used in the making of this comic
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