Aug 5, 2026, 9:44 AMit is baffling to me that for 15-20 years we have known that authenticity sells and now everyone including small video creators are farming out their production process to the generic-ass-robot-output production machine
just absolutely self defeating nonsense behavior
Aug 5, 2026, 9:48 AMif you're using AI to make your videos why the fuck would i watch your videos? and i'm not even saying that from an anti-AI standpoint (although also yes absolutely fuck AI), i'm saying it from a "there are 2350820 other channels also putting out generic-ass personalityless drivel i could watch instead" standpoint
Aug 5, 2026, 9:52 AMif i wanted to hear what AI has to say i could just do a google search lmfao
Aug 5, 2026, 9:46 AM@eniko the only thing that makes sense to me to explain all of this is that people really, really hate themselves, and don’t value their own skills or personalities. like, they know the mistake machine churns out garbage, but at least then if everyone hates what they make, they can blame it on something else, rather than face their fears about their own quality as a human being
Aug 5, 2026, 9:49 AM@elana i could see that, but even people who have previously found success like hank green are using it which is the real mind boggler
Aug 5, 2026, 9:53 AM@eniko that's so funny, I thought of him as a counterexample right as I was posting that reply!
I don't know the dude, I don't know his life or his self-image. I've only ever seen a couple of his videos, and I'm not sure I stayed until the end for any of them. Maybe internet toxicity finally got to him and shook his confidence. We could basically speculate all day. But I think there's always room for human self-loathing in any explanatory model of bizarre behaviour 😆 And laziness too. Laziness has to be a big one. But it can't be the whole story, because there's a threshold at which laziness impugns on one's human dignity, and I think "AI" gets you there real fast. People's tolerance to debase themselves and replace themselves with subpar autocomplete… just logically cannot coexist with having self-respect for one's own work.
@eniko this!
the barrier of entry to AI generated stuff is so low if I ever wanted something generated by an AI I might as well just ask one myself.
I feel like the addressable market for AI outputs by it's fundamental nature extremely low because either the AI is bad so their outputs are next to useless or the AI is good at which point it's more useful and convenient to just ask it yourself.
Aug 5, 2026, 9:53 AM@eniko I'm unsubscribing and going "do not recommend channel" with a bunch of people I wouldn't have missed a single episode of 10 years ago.
Aug 5, 2026, 10:09 AM@eniko I've pretty much replaced Scott Manley with watching the same episode of Alexander the OK multiple times.
Aug 5, 2026, 10:14 AMAug 5, 2026, 10:15 AMAug 5, 2026, 10:17 AM
Aug 5, 2026, 10:31 AMAug 5, 2026, 10:31 AM@dangerdyke @eniko @alda oh no doubt, that's why I stopped watching his stuff a while back
Aug 5, 2026, 10:34 AM@rysiek @dangerdyke @eniko Yeah and also, how can you trust that the guy isn't just paraphrasing PR statements via AI if his thumbnails are AI slop?
Aug 5, 2026, 2:03 PM
Aug 5, 2026, 11:14 AM
@eniko It’s the most basic rule of thumb, right? If you aren’t going to spend time cultivating a message, why on earth should I spend time listening to it?
I understand that money is tight, times are hard, and work might be piling up, but…hire a writer!
@eniko You Tube’s latest jolly jape is to use “AI” to generate suggested replies from the creator. Can’t turn it off. All I can do is send in feedback that every single one is inauthentic.
@eniko Yeah, I've been really weirded out when I search for things like "GBA Hidden gems" etc there is so many AI videos, so then I slink back to the people I know make their own stuff, the only safe way when I search those is to only watch videos 5+ years old.
Aug 5, 2026, 10:41 AM@eniko I've seen it summarised as value is a function of scarcity, and AI content is limitless and therefore worthless.
Aug 5, 2026, 10:55 AM@eniko@mastodon.gamedev.place reaction channels survive somehow
but yeah
mindless slop only keeps mindless consumers, whether it was created by human or not doesn't matter
@eniko the weird thing is this doesn't only apply at the creator level, but also at the platform level.
why do everyone keep watching YouTube? because all of the creators are on YouTube.
but if YouTube gets its way of everyone watching AI slop videos rather than real humans, why would people keep watching on YouTube? why not switch to a platform that has slightly better slop and slightly fewer ads?
if there's no human connection there's no difference between one slop and another.
@eniko YouTube should be expressly anti-AI because the minute that vision succeeds the site dies. but of course they can't because they're owned by one of the masters of slop, Google.
@eniko my explanation is that authenticity requires effort, vulnerability and self-reflection. AI-generating a game about managing a vending machine is easier and won't get you called "cringe"
(although using AI to pretend you're a real gamedev absolutely is cringe)
@ratsnakegames @eniko The vending machine concept is a good one here. It's the whole (video) production, not just the single video from a prompt.
@eniko See my ( under warning ) swearwords post I just done. I still have "echoing in my ears" this friend ( was having a voice conversation ) telling me about "the MANY reasons why I should use AI" .. like "if instead of spending time making a beta/game presentation I should use AI to make a mock-up of the game I intend to work on so 'the business people' see it and are happy and the contract is done without me having to spend time doing the actual thing". Now imagine you trying to propose CONT
@eniko CONT. your game to someone and coming there "with an AI mock up-presentation" and telling "This is what Kitsune is going to look like" ( AI slop ) and everyone "Yeah I like that I want it" .. then what about when your REAL game is NOT like the AI slop ? Are they going to say "I don't want it is crap ?" ??????!!!
@eniko So true!
Aug 5, 2026, 10:40 AM@eniko This! Art has value because art is a process that takes time and effort, it's somewhat bizarre that more people don't understand this.
Aug 5, 2026, 11:57 AM@lettosprey@tech.lgbt @eniko@mastodon.gamedev.place I mean, the value of art is so multi-faceted that narrowing it down to simply time and effort is rather reductive. Any single answer would be.
Time and effort are obviously necessary to do anything, including art, but using tools and practices that decrease the time and effort needed doesn't make the art valuable.
The slop isn't worthless because it's easy and quick. There's some worthwhile art you can make relatively easily and quickly. The slop is worthless because it's a parasite upon humanity that actively strips any degree of uniqueness or expression from its product and erodes the mind of its user.
I keep thinking about that scene in The Bear where somebody is carefully peeling mushrooms. Mushrooms. Doesn't change the taste, nothing's being carved or arranged in interesting shapes, and it's not even about the texture-- the only artistic meaning in the process is some Veblen goods type bullshit about how the diner ought to be impressed that somebody took the time to perform this intricately pointless task. (That entire show makes me constantly and deeply uncomfortable.)
But yeah, scarcity or time or effort do NOT make art.
Hell, think about some of those Zen paintings where a master just whips out a couple brushstrokes and bam somehow it's a subtly profound masterpiece right then and there.
Aug 5, 2026, 6:04 PM@violetmadder But, isn't effort required for uniqueness? And I don't mean "value" as "financial value", nor "effort" as "needless effort that has no significance for the result" (like the mushroom), but anyway.
I can look at a pic of a cat, or marvel at a painting of a cat, the real difference is that "anyone can take a picture of a cat!" while creating a painting, that takes some effort.
But a photo of an osprey as snatch a fish, that is something else. Difference being the work put into getting just that one picture.
If one found a "quick & easy" way to do these things, it would not be the same.
Many get excited by the prospect of easily becoming an artist with AI as a tool, but if everyone can just "easily create it", would anyone be interested in what you produce?
This is not an argument against automation being wrong for getting a job done faster, products we depend on don't follow the same rules as art, I'll argue it is wrong to use AI for writing code,but not because "need effort!"
@flesh @eniko
Well, the Zen brushstrokes thing is an interesting example because it really only takes a matter of seconds to lay down a few truly stunning brushstrokes. A lot of the best artwork looks almost effortless when the artist is really in the groove. And uniqueness is to some degree unavoidable, even when a person is actually trying to copy a thing it's hard to NOT show your own style.
Of course, that's not counting the many many many thousands of attempts that didn't turn out as cool, or the many many years it took to get to where the genius started to show at all. But that effort is not shown or contained in one of the successful artworks-- that can be just one smear on the paper.
Art is ineffable. There's no formula. Sometimes additional effort, doing things the longer painstaking way, is really worth it and builds in a richness that can't be acheived with any other technique. Sometimes it's just a foolish avoidable grind. Part of that is in the eye of the beholder, too.
As a digital artist, I used plenty of computer tools-- I spent loads of time tweaking procedural textures, for example, and would like to learn to write my own algorithms for such things. I've seen huge knock down drag out debates about what counts as using reference vs what's copying, the old fight over what counts as transformative vs derivative (and you get those jerks who try to claim ALL art is "theft" as if inspiration is no different than stealing). When we're throwing physical OR digital paint on the canvas a lot of what we do is quite accidental, not every fiber in the paper or pixel on the screen is a conscious or deliberate choice, but we decide which accidents to keep and highlight and so on.
It will always be intangible and hard to define.
@eniko you can thank #YouTube's #AdPocalypse killing of #SmallChannels like mine…
Cuz I did 0% clickbait & 100% origibal content…
Aug 5, 2026, 10:54 AM@kkarhan fucking algorithms
@eniko that wasn't an algorithm thing, but a #YouTube decision in 2016:
- #Advertisers git their #ads placed on #Daesh #Propaganda videos.
- In return, YouTube decided to basically shaft the bottom 99,99% of channels by #demonetizing them - despite having not violated any rules and proactively verified oneself.
And I got shafted by that as well!
@eniko you can thank #YouTube's #AdPocalypse killing of #SmallChannels like mine…
Cuz I did 0% clickbait & 100% origibal content…
@eniko I know why; Authoritarianism. Most people are always rushing to fall in line, behind whatever king they think will deliver them gifts.
We weren’t bred through 10000 years warlords and authoritarian regimes for originality, even if some of that did survive..
Yep, which is why I think the rise of an AI/tech-lord ruling class well happen rather naturally.
Just like with mega-corps, capitalism, feudal lords and monarchs and gods before … people will just fall in line and worship.
@eniko I'll just continue streaming myself playing games for fun. Been doing it to nobody for close to 6 years.
Besides it's more fun (for me) to watch my own stuff without having used those kinds of tools, lol.
@eniko People know this but they are also lazy and cheap.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
@eniko where are y’all running into AI videos all the time? With the website I frequent I don’t think I ever see AI videos.
@eniko just 15-20 years?