When is AI image slop ok?

There is no escaping the galloping rise that AI is seeing across the tech world. It’s spreading out everywhere, not quite like a virus — although I’m sure they are already prowling about out there — more like the exploring tentacles of an inquisitive octopus.

I have used, and will continue to use, AI for some things. It’s helped me figure out some logic building Apple Shortcuts — I am not a developer and occasionally get tripped up by my own lack of knowledge, not that AI is flawless in this regard but even used as a sounding board I have found it useful — and I’ve used it for some fun things too.

I enjoy building playlists and for a while I was “creating” my own by finding images on the internet and doctoring them to my needs. Recently, I’ve been turning to ChatGPT to create them for me and — bar one playlist I have shared that is followed by two people, both of which are close friends — given that what I have asked it to create is for a sole audience of one/me then I’m quite comfortable with that usage.

All AI isn’t slop

I am very aware of AI being used more and more where it shouldn’t. Aware of the impact it (amongst other things) is having on literacy, aware of its flaws and foibles. I am not an AI evangelist but I do believe it is, and can be, a useful tool.

I am also aware that the quality of output is less than ideal when it’s being weighed against art of any kind. AI may copy Monet, but will not produce something as good as Monet, it may copy Shakespear but it won’t write a new story as well as he, it may create an art installation but it won’t have the insight of Tracey Emin.

Sidenote: The word ‘slop’ is being used a lot when describing AI output, and whilst I understand the sentiment it just doesn’t sit right with me. Slop is waste or leftover food. AI is being used to produce something other than that. Ugh, I just think slop is a cheap word but as ever I am in the minority (which is ok, I like it here!).

Featured images

I have also been using AI to create the featured image for many of my posts here. I like having a featured image, I think from a purely visual point of view it helps make the blog post look better. But perhaps that is something I need to reconsider.

Rhys Wynne recently posted Your crap is more memorable than your slop writing:

I’ve even begun to switch off reading some prolific bloggers that use AI for the feature images. Even if they wrote every word, I think the images show a lack of creativity. So if you can’t guarantee that the featured image is slop, why should I trust your text?

Which gave me pause. Was I offended by this? Perhaps a little, but in hindsight I think that’s because he has a very valid point.

I’ve always tried to imagine my site from the point of view of someone new. I even used to have a specific little sentence at the top of the homepage — First time? — it was there for many years, until I removed it for no good reason that I can recall, although it has made a return in the current design (as I have a homepage again, and not just a list of blog posts).

But as Rhys points out, every part of what I publish online conveys something about who I am and what I stand for, it either says ‘yeah come spend some time here’ or ‘don’t bother this isn’t worth it’. The featured image is usually there to reflect the words I write — and yes I write all the words, I LIKE writing the words, that’s the fun bit for me — but I hadn’t thought about it from a visitors point of view.

So, what DOES the use of imagery, that is obviously AI generated, represent on my blog?

And yes, I deliberately used AI to create the featured image for this post, I gave it this prompt:

I need an image for my blog – it is for a post discussing AI slop and whether or not I should use AI to generate images. What can you offer me?

Honestly I’m not sure. I may opt to drop the featured images unless I think it adds value and I can find/create something myself (it’s not like I’m short of photos I could use) but on the flip side, I don’t think they do THAT much harm. So I guess this is where I’ll ask for comments. What do you think about my use of them, dear reader? Do they detract? Answers on a postcard, or better still, in the comments below.

Blogging to converse and learn

One thing I will say is that the I enjoy being challenged in my thinking — the site is called what it’s called for a reason — and whilst Rhys wasn’t having a go at me it did make me stop and think and for that I say, thank you.

One other change I have made, that some of you may already have spotted, is I’ve now added a note about AI usage on my front page. Namely “The words and prose published here are created by hand, not AI, unless otherwise stated”. It feels very corporate to have such a thing but I want to be clear on this.

The reason I started a blog was because I write my thoughts down. The reasons I am still doing writing and publishing here I’ve discussed before (and they haven’t really changed since 2019 either). These are my thoughts, in my own words, and that won’t ever change.

But maybe the images I choose will.