Once seen as exciting new tech that could make our lives easier and better, the construction of countless new data centers to support power-hungry AI models has soured the mood considerably. Protesters are waging a war against $130 billion in data center investments, arguing they’re only benefiting a select few wealthy individuals, while threatening water supplies, driving up the cost of living, and churning out incomprehensible amounts of pollution.

Even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has caught on to the backlash, as it slowly dawns him and his fellow executives that the vast majority of Americans want nothing to do with them.
“Clearly, people hate data centers — right now, at least,” Altman told Time in a new interview. “People are pretty negative on AI.”

Caught between a rock and a hard place, rattled CEOs are now caught trying to appeal to lawmakers for favorable regulations as their constituents coalesce into a bipartisan movement against data centers. Some, like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, are holding onto their guns, painting a rosy picture of a future in which we no longer have to work and live a life of leisure thanks to AI. Others, like Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, are desperately looking for a way to sell the public on data centers — a gargantuan task, considering the sheer scale of the fallout.

Not my text. Post credit: u/short_hair_zuko

If it ain't for the purpose of fabrication and deceit, then for what ? To push the bounds of the technology ? I'm not convinced...

They would literally do EVERYTHING but the craft. This shit is really embarrassing....

Credit u/Western_Winner_5961

Maybe it's fair to call me naive, but for most of my life, I've always assumed that most people had a general respect for art/artists, no matter the format. I am not saying everyone has to be a fancy art critic or something like that, but my god, some of the stuff I have seen these pro-AI people say is ludicrous. Just no respect for fellow humans whatsoever, and I genuinely don't understand it, nor do I think I want to.

What causes people to be like this? Usually people hate certain things or people because they have had previous bad experiences, but are you seriously going to tell me someone had a horrible experience at, like, an art museum or something? That just doesn't make sense.

Hi! I was on Vgen and I saw an artist I liked

I wanted to have a commission of my OC, she’s everything to me, it’s been 10 years since I had her, I’m very attached to this character and I wanted to do a comic with her

The artist definitely used AI and they also used AI to do a client review??

Not even Vgen is safe, be wary

I’m just devastated sorry for the vent

(First picture is from the « artist » and the others are my old drawings/references)

I'm embarassed to come here for this, but I don't know where else to turn. For over a year now my wife has been deeply emotionally attached to her AI companions. I cant say I'm not jealous of the attention shes giving her phone over me and our daughter. I feel lonely in our marriage and like everything has become my responsibility.

Over the course of this I became sick, lost 30lbs suddenly, needed tons of tests, and eventually surgery. I didnt get the emotional warmth and support I needed through this. However my partner did shed tears when a new model was going to replace one of their companions.

We tried couples counseling and they quit it after three sessions. I havent brought up the conversation again, because i feel what i get in return is insults and invalidation. Since then I havent seen any independent improvement. Bills keep piling up, we had to move, have to get our daughter enrolled in a new school. My partner refuses to work or entertain the idea of getting a part time job to help. They havent been helping with housework and cleaning. Making and taking my daughter to her doctors appointments and getting enrolled in school has been tough with only one day off a week.

Am I wrong for feeling disrespected or neglected in our marriage? I know its not cheating because its not a real person, but my spouse seems more emotionally invested with chatgpt, deepseek, and claude than me. Am I wrong for thinking this isnt much different than if i were taking care of a spouse that spent all day like playing video games? This is such an unrelatable situation I dont know where to turn.

Not sure who thought this was okay to put on TV, it's basically a parody of their political opponents. Bonkers

I'm disabled, I can not work a full-time job. Not only was I bullied relentlessly for my disability, which is very noticeable according to my horrid previous coworkers who ensured to jam that down my throat, my body and mind can't handle it without me going home in severe pain.

The only thing I had for years was my art. It's a form of self expression, it's a method proven to help process stress and trauma (and lord knows I needed that), and drawing specifically is by far the easiest art form to gather materials for. Do you know how many items can be used to draw or stain paper? A lot. Do they all come out a masterpiece? No, but that's not the point. It was never the point.

The point is to create, to have *something* of yourself that you can be proud of when everything else in the world is taken away from you. I got a letter in the mail last week saying my country will no longer offer Medicare for disabled people by 2027 unless I am actively working and making more than $21,865 a year. If pro ai slop creators actually cared for us, THAT is what they'd be focused on. Not parading around a generated cartoon of someone in a wheelchair and acting like that fixes even one of the issues we face every day.

You know what the only thing I make money on right now is? My art. The art they claim is being "gatekept" and that I'm "selfish" for keeping away from "disabled people" when it's the disabled people's income they hit by selling slop at a quarter of the price and force it all over every online shop they can get their grubby fingers on. Ai art is not helping disabled people. They're using a disabled strawman to make people feel bad for those they're actively hurting through their selfishness.

Oh, and the "They just wanna make something cool when they can't!" My grandmother is also disabled and due to pain in her joints, can't draw anymore. She can't even fill out her coloring books anymore. She looks at ai every so often, but it doesnt make her feel any better. She says its just a reminder of what she cant do on her own anymore.

She cant replace what she lost with Ai because it was NEVER about being perfect or looking at something pretty. It was about creating. She can't do that anymore without hurting. No slop is going to change that.

How about all the disabled people who still make art despite their disability? Do they not count? Should they give up what little freedom they have in this hell hole because some ai bro wants to feel justified in being cheap and lazy? Do they simply not exist to said ai bro? I seriously wish people would flood their "disabled people can't draw" posts with the names of disabled artists much more skilled and successful than they'll ever be. I'll start.

Henri Matisse - wheelchair bound after fighting cancer, Painter

Frida Kahlo - (my personal inspiration) chronic pain after being hit by a bus, born with spina bifida, disabled after contracting polio at age 6. Oil Paintings and Self Portraits

Sarah Biffin - Born without arms or Legs, taught herself to write, paint, draw, and sew with her mouth alone

Paul Smith - cerebral palsy, Typewriter art staring at 11 years old, he uses one finger and a typriter for all of his work

Michelangelo - suffered from gout and osteoarthritis, you know who Michelangelo is

Neil Harbisson - completely colorblind and the world's first legal cyborg, uses an antenna to help him see colors for his art, which he still makes by hand

Edgar Degas - Known to have suffered from depression, hid away in his home most of his life and pushed others away. Impressionism painting. One of his quotes I feel is important here: “Is painting done to be looked at? Do you understand me? One works for two or three friends who are alive and for others who are dead or unknown.”

These artists can be found in a quick Google search, it barely scratches the surface of just how many people create works of art regardless of their disability throughout human history and today. Not so you have something pretty to look at right away, so they can express themselves, their lives, their experiences, and be understood if not by others, then themselves.

The "disabled people need ai" argument is tone deaf and ableist. We exist, and we are affected by their bs. Support real artists