In defence of bad art

Every so often some dipshit writes an essay about how artists need to embrace AI. I'm not linking to this week's, I'm not linking to any of them, because they're all trash for losers, but I am going to respond to one of the common arguments that has always made me furious.

The first time I heard it was actually from a human friend – he's a coder, he was into ChatGPT, this was when it first appeared, I do not know if he still is because I don't bring it up with him. I generally like to have a nice time when I see my friends, instead of getting mad.

The argument is this: a vast amount of human created art and entertainment is terrible, so why shouldn't we be ok with AI generated slop?

Look, I am extremely judgemental about art and entertainment. I hate it when things are bad, man. Books, films, tv shows, plays, music, painting and sculpture (to the extent that I know anything about painting and sculpture).

I think it's good to be discerning, actually, and I think audiences do deserve better than a lot of the stuff they're expected to accept. I am frequently annoyed by shit movies being raved about – I realise taste is subjective but honestly sometimes everyone is just wrong! The thing is bad!