Artificial Intelligence and generative fill tools are not evil

There has been a lot of discussion on artificial intelligence and “generative fill” tools (which utilize A.I.) in the past year or so. Many tout the potential abuses, or how these tools will do away with creativity of human artists while other talk of the potential benefit of these tools. I don’t believe these tools are evil, in fact, I believe quite the opposite. These tools are wonderful.

I’ll give you a couple of examples. First let’s examine the photograph above. What a lovely scene. Springtime with trees and flowers blooming at a local botanical garden. The problem was there were a lot of other people there and attempting to get a photograph of this scene without people was nearly impossible as seen in the photograph below.

While some may say that it is reality that these places have people but when I look at a scene like this with my own eyes, I often have a tendency to exclude the people in my “mind’s eye”.

Another example. Have you ever been to a tourist attraction such as Mount Rushmore and attempt to take a photograph without people? It is more challenging that the local botanical garden.

With these artificial intelligence and generative fill tools it is just a matter of moments and viola, gone!

It’s not about recreating reality, it is about bringing my vision and how I saw things with my own eyes. The people in both of these examples did not add to the story I was attempting to relate. The story I was wishing to convey was about the grandeur and beauty of the scenes not about the crowds or how people interact with these scenes.