i absolutely agree that noAI tagging effectively functions as an anti-shovelware filter nowadays. to me it’s kinda like asset flipping, in that undoubtedly there are devs making good work that’s only possible through pre-made and stock assets, even though the overwhelming majority isn’t. how do you separate chaff from wheat? i don’t think it’s possible in a large platform: passing judgement on each individual work is unfeasible. maybe with smaller collectives, webrings and the like.
ultimately i think the way to not be lumped with the lame mainstream right-wing crowd is to just make work that’s obviously ideologically different. it’s not really a matter of Reclaiming AI into a leftist technology through putting together the greatest talent show this town has ever seen, but just like: i’m so deeply uninterested in the themes and aesthetics of right-wing creative production that i just have to put faith in my audience to understand what i’m doing, to see the existence of an artistic vision, the use of the medium as a deliberate choice. from the reception of my work, i believe i’ve been successful, even if i do still feel nervous at times.
i think it’s reductive to say the medium is unsalvageable because of the ideology of the corporations / startups in the space. in fact i believe openai and the like benefit from the perception that they are synonymous with AI and that it is and can only be a service provided by big corporations. when in reality people have been running open source models themselves and training their own stuff etc. perception has never really been about truth, though, which is why it’s complicated.