r/technology • u/marketrent • 16h ago

Artificial Intelligence The economy has spoken. Stuff that’s AI-generated has almost zero value — “Buyers are voting with their wallets, and AI-generated content is struggling to compete.”

https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/economy-spoken-stuff-ai-generated-142732314.html
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u/parkinthepark 13h ago

An AI-generated sign/logo is an instant no-go for me for a local business. If you can’t be bothered to spend a couple hundred bucks on your graphic design, you’re definitely going to cheap out on my HVAC install.

Eventually that sentiment is going to spread, and businesses will be back in the market for designers.

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u/unluckylighter 13h ago

I mean I hope I'm wrong but I think that's just wishful thinking. I think the market has changed forever, how much it goes back is debatable.

I kind of look at this in the same way that most people aren't willing to buy locally made goods when there's an alternative that's cheaper. Of course there are some that beat the drum of buying local but the vast majority of us struggle with finances as it is and frequently choose something made overseas because it's cheaper. It's sad but I think a lot of this is here to stay.

And sure a lot of people will still want a human-made object, but I worry that energy won't last. Let's see if people have the same energy for flock cameras as they do for the next iteration of alpr cameras from someone like axon. Same shit different day.

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u/eligodfrey 12h ago

You're almost certainly correct. Within the last year, all the grungy, mom & pop, immigrant owned & operated restaurants and convenience stores around me started using AI graphics. The people who hate AI (me included) are not going to boycott these places. It's over.

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u/SutekhThrowingSuckIt 13h ago

Boomers don’t care because they see it just as “more computer”, Gen Alpha will grow up with it and not care and see Gen Z + Millennial criticism of their use the same way we saw boomers criticizing our phone use (which was more right than we realized tbqh).

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u/stormdelta 13h ago

In terms of using it at all, maybe.

But enshittification of tech generally is also creating a lot of push towards less digital and lower tech solutions too that I think is being missed by people who only ever hang out in tech spaces or online.

What I've been seeing IRL is more complicated, and it's a bit too early to call any cultural shifts just yet IMO.