AI-generated media: What's the point?

If you have even a minor social media presence, you've probably been unfortunate enough to come upon the wonderfully disturbing world of AI slop content. We're talking wrestling matches featuring controversial mustached historical figures and Formula One-style races featuring Stephen Hawking in his wheelchair (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, I genuinely envy you). And while this content can sometimes have its own appeal, in a very brain rot-inducing kind of way, these represent just one "application" of generative AI—if you can even call it that.

These generative AI tools have come a long way since they were first unleashed upon the world. If you'd like a quick refresher, the Will Smith Eating Spaghetti test is a handy benchmark for how far AI image and video generation have progressed. The progress made, while admittedly impressive, is also rather unsettling and begs the question: What even is the point of this technology?

Way too real for our own good?

At a surface level, it is easy to focus entirely on the downsides—of which there's no shortage. We already had more than enough people falling for poorly written phishing emails and obvious scams. Now imagine how much worse things are going to get, especially as it is getting harder to tell real media from AI-generated media. There have been several reports of generative AI-enabled scams lately, and this is likely to get even worse.

Then there’s the creative angle. Generative AI is often dismissed as lazy, uninspired, or outright harmful to artistic fields (with studies even showing that our overreliance on this technology could be making us less smart). And let's also not forget, Gen AI presents us with an incredibly convoluted minefield when it comes to copyright law and protection of intellectual property.

When you take all of this into consideration, it's no surprise that there are so many vitriolic conversations surrounding this tech. But at the same time, if we focused only on the bad every time there's a new innovation, we'd probably experience only half the amazing things we can today.

It's not all bad

AI-generated content shouldn't be viewed as a replacement for human-produced content. It is a quick and cost-effective solution when you need artwork at a moment's notice. Of course, because of how derivative AI-generated content is, you're not going to be able to create truly novel pieces, and that's okay. Let's be honest, most art—even the most unique and original—is often derivative to some extent.

Generative AI is simply a tool. Used deliberately, it can lower barriers rather than replace people. Independent filmmakers experimenting with visual effects, small game studios prototyping assets, or creators pitching visual concepts without a massive budget all stand to benefit.

And maybe that’s the real point: generative AI isn’t about originality or replacing people. It’s about compressing effort.

Trust the process (or don't, it's up to you)

While a healthy dose of skepticism is never a bad thing, there's a tendency among certain people to adopt a doomer-like mentality when it comes to any new technological disruption. The truth is, generative AI is still a relatively nascent technology, so it remains to be seen how things progress from here.

Is AI highly disruptive? Yes. Could it come for our jobs? Sure, that's possible, too. But, like any revolutionary technological innovation, it will also create new jobs, and we, as a society, will learn to coexist with this technology, like we always have.