this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2026
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Fuck AI
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A place for all those who loathe AI to discuss things, post articles, and ridicule the AI hype. Proud supporter of working people. And proud booer of SXSW 2024.
AI, in this case, refers to LLMs, GPT technology, and anything listed as "AI" meant to increase market valuations.
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That's an interesting take. It does beg the question: What is "from scratch?"
Does a potter need to go to a river bank to dig the clay he will make into a beautiful tea pot? Or is it still "from scratch" if he buys prepared clay? The question can apply to a woodworker. Does the use of power tools to make a chest of drawers less of a creative endeavor than someone that uses all hand tools to make the same chest? Do you need to fell the tree and mill it in to boards yourself to fit your definition?
Where does "from scratch" begin, and where does it end?
I was wondering the same myself. I carve signature seals/chops. I didn't make my knives from ores I refined myself. I didn't cut the various stones into the traditional chop sizes and shapes. I didn't invent the calligraphic forms used to represent the characters in the various seal scripts.
Is this "from scratch"? Is anything really "from scratch" anywhere?
I don't know myself. I don't think anyone really has an answer.
What you do requires skills. And most people don't have hose skills. I perhaps view what you do as being a craftsman. You take things that others have shaped and then assemble them into something that is different and more desirable. And there can be craftsmanship and artistry involved by everyone along the way.
I was a toolmaker. I designed and built tools. I sat at my desk and designed the tool in a CAD program, generated tool paths in a CAM program. Then used CAM to create all the G-Code needed. I then sent the program to the machine. I loaded the code and fixtured the piece of steel. At the push of a button the machine did the work as I stood there and watched. Not much different than AI in some ways.
If one sets aside the ecological disaster that AI is for a moment, (and this is the biggest evil IMO). I start wonder if AI is in and of itself "evil" or is it just a tool we haven't mastered the use of yet. I honestly go back and forth in this. I don't like AI generated art that is passed off as "real", but I can understand and be impressed by the skills it took to manage the tool to make that art. I certainly don't have those skills. But I'm all for the AI currently looking at my MRI scans for signs of cancer cells that even the most skilled radiologist might easily miss at the early stages.
It's a fuzzy and hazy world. And the older I get, the less sure of the answers I thought I had.