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My Ethics Won
I debated a lot with myself over the last few days: Should I continue with "Peach Lover"? And now, shortly before the second episode will air, I decided I cannot let my curiosity win over my ethics.
My dilemma was that on the one hand, the first episode has several minutes of genAI slop, ugly slop at that. But on the other hand, I was curious to know how the story would unfold.
I find generative AI highly unethical. Not only uses it stolen artwork for its generated "art", it also consumes high amounts of energy and clean water by doing so and pushes real human artists out of their jobs -- and for what? That a handful of rich billionaires get richer. That CEOs think they save money. That we get cheaply made slop sold as "art".
(And it's even worse that Po is a cover artist for novels -- one of the jobs that are endangered by genAI already.)
The thing that made me hesitate was that I was -- still am -- extremely curious to see how the story would develop. I liked the hints of a deeper backstory (even if the way the screenplay told us about the main characters' reasons for going into online sex work was *very* heavy-handed). I was intrigued by the possibility of a story that explores how sex can feel liberating, how we can use our bodies to express ourselves -- by the possibility of a story about hiding in plain sight, about being presented vs. being seen, about identity and being able to be who we are. There is a lot of potential for it to be something very, very good.
And Poom was excellent in this first episode -- maybe his partner too, we didn't see enough of him yet to be sure.
But no.
I cannot in good conscience give my eyes, my attention, and my money to greedy producers who think it's okay to cut corners ("save money") by using genAI slop instead of paying an actual artist.
This also taints everything in this production -- what else, apart from the minutes-long slide-shows in the beginning and in the end of the first episode was done with genAI? The screenplay? The set design? The background score?
I don't understand how iQiYi, Copy A Bangkok or Cheewin Thanamin can condone it and willingly put their name on something like this. And I admit it, I also don't understand viewers who support it -- if we don't make it very clear *now* that the media we consume should be ethically made and *not* use genAI, then we will see a lot more of it in the future, because producers *will* (rightly) think they can get away with it.
I don't want a future like that.
Do you?
My dilemma was that on the one hand, the first episode has several minutes of genAI slop, ugly slop at that. But on the other hand, I was curious to know how the story would unfold.
I find generative AI highly unethical. Not only uses it stolen artwork for its generated "art", it also consumes high amounts of energy and clean water by doing so and pushes real human artists out of their jobs -- and for what? That a handful of rich billionaires get richer. That CEOs think they save money. That we get cheaply made slop sold as "art".
(And it's even worse that Po is a cover artist for novels -- one of the jobs that are endangered by genAI already.)
The thing that made me hesitate was that I was -- still am -- extremely curious to see how the story would develop. I liked the hints of a deeper backstory (even if the way the screenplay told us about the main characters' reasons for going into online sex work was *very* heavy-handed). I was intrigued by the possibility of a story that explores how sex can feel liberating, how we can use our bodies to express ourselves -- by the possibility of a story about hiding in plain sight, about being presented vs. being seen, about identity and being able to be who we are. There is a lot of potential for it to be something very, very good.
And Poom was excellent in this first episode -- maybe his partner too, we didn't see enough of him yet to be sure.
But no.
I cannot in good conscience give my eyes, my attention, and my money to greedy producers who think it's okay to cut corners ("save money") by using genAI slop instead of paying an actual artist.
This also taints everything in this production -- what else, apart from the minutes-long slide-shows in the beginning and in the end of the first episode was done with genAI? The screenplay? The set design? The background score?
I don't understand how iQiYi, Copy A Bangkok or Cheewin Thanamin can condone it and willingly put their name on something like this. And I admit it, I also don't understand viewers who support it -- if we don't make it very clear *now* that the media we consume should be ethically made and *not* use genAI, then we will see a lot more of it in the future, because producers *will* (rightly) think they can get away with it.
I don't want a future like that.
Do you?
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