So Davies and Marsh didn't create this AI, only collect enough photographic examples of Delftware tiles to vaguely train it on a style off the internet. They don't host this AI- it's hosted, at...
Exemplary
So Davies and Marsh didn't create this AI, only collect enough photographic examples of Delftware tiles to vaguely train it on a style off the internet. They don't host this AI- it's hosted, at great expense, in America and running on Nvidia chips. They don't even, as the article initially frames the situation, perform any of the "technologically advanced" printing process. This is handled by Digital Ceramics, a more typical company with a focus on traditional lithography printing techniques.
These two men have started a business in which they middleman AI generated slop and a printer, undercutting an old and internationally loved industry and appropriating a style from the Dutch. You may like the outcome and I won't hate on you for putting it in your house, but in my honest opinion I find these men repulsive.
This is a story about specialization. The article gives the impression that Digital Ceramics is happy with their business arrangement with Not Quite Past, and the US cloud companies running data...
Exemplary
This is a story about specialization. The article gives the impression that Digital Ceramics is happy with their business arrangement with Not Quite Past, and the US cloud companies running data centers will rent computers to any business. The remainder of the work, training AI on this particular task and building an attractive website, could conceivably be done by two people, though perhaps they hired contractors and/or have other employees.
I don’t see the result as slop. The customers themselves are reviewing the images and the results will vary depending on their tastes, but presumably they wouldn’t spend £10 a tile on something they don’t want. It doesn’t seem much like spamming the Internet with AI-generated content?
It seems like a legitimate business, no better or worse than printing custom T shirts or selling flooring material.
I recently saw a nice exhibit of Dutch tile at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The artists and even the businesses who made the tiles are mostly unknown. Like Chinese porcelain (which influenced some designs used by Dutch manufacturers), this style is widely copied, for good reason, and has been for centuries. It’s unclear how modern fastidiousness about appropriation applies.
It always baffles me how in the same sentence one calls AI gens slop and in the next breath claims it's good enough to undercut an ancient hand crafted industry. Either the hand crafting is shoddy...
It always baffles me how in the same sentence one calls AI gens slop and in the next breath claims it's good enough to undercut an ancient hand crafted industry. Either the hand crafting is shoddy then, or it's not much of a slop, is it?
Either way, if you read the article, you'd know that cheap Chinese made tiles have been undercutting it for ages, and the industry was mostly beloved by wealthy people who could afford it, a luxury product. I see the fact that it's going to be more available in higher quality to be a great thing.
One doesn't have to sell a better product to undercut existing manufacturing. The average consumer's judgement of quality isn't exactly fine-tuned, and many people are happy with something that...
One doesn't have to sell a better product to undercut existing manufacturing. The average consumer's judgement of quality isn't exactly fine-tuned, and many people are happy with something that passes at a glance- though I'm not sure how many of these do. I've already spotted multiple six-legged sheep in the examples.
Who cares if their taste isn't fine-tuned, whatever that means? That's just some weird gatekeeping. There's clearly a demand for this product, and their business is fulfilling it, there's nothing...
Who cares if their taste isn't fine-tuned, whatever that means? That's just some weird gatekeeping. There's clearly a demand for this product, and their business is fulfilling it, there's nothing wrong with that.
The premise of this sentence is an economic one, but the conclusion you're drawing seems ethical (that's how I read "nothing wrong"). If fulfilling the demand through automated rehashing leads to...
There's clearly a demand for this product, and their business is fulfilling it, there's nothing wrong with that.
The premise of this sentence is an economic one, but the conclusion you're drawing seems ethical (that's how I read "nothing wrong"). If fulfilling the demand through automated rehashing leads to an ultimate decline in the industry, I think there's at least room for discussing if there's something wrong with it.
But there only reason you talk about decline is because of your personal dislike. If people consider automated rehashing good enough to purchase instead of the handmade luxury version, then who's...
But there only reason you talk about decline is because of your personal dislike. If people consider automated rehashing good enough to purchase instead of the handmade luxury version, then who's to say it's a decline? Those who value luxury proposition can still buy it, if there's no one left that does - then what's the point of artificially keeping the industry as it was? "Nothing wrong" is not an ethical conclusion, it's the default state of being morally neutral. The ones condemning it are the ones drawing moral conclusions and I fail to see why (beyond AI being mentioned meaning it's bad).
I am reminded of a passage in The Ministry for the Future discussing capitalist economics. "She found it funny to be speaking of rent as if it weren't the fundamental action of the economic system...
I am reminded of a passage in The Ministry for the Future discussing capitalist economics. "She found it funny to be speaking of rent as if it weren't the fundamental action of the economic system these people upheld, but they like to think otherwise." One of the core economic drivers of capitalism is rent-seeking behaviors. We've managed to modernize and streamline the system so much that rent-seekers don't even need to have the capital to own what they are rent-seeking from.
In May, Davies and his business partner Jack Marsh, both in their mid-twenties, launched Not Quite Past. Through their website, customers can use AI to create bespoke tiles in the traditional Delftware style. To date, more than 70,000 designs have been generated by a growing and curious audience, with the AI continuously trained to produce new ornaments. A single tile costs £9.99.
...
What do people want on their AI Delftware? ‘Dogs,’ Marsh laughs. ‘The English love dogs. They’ll say, “Oh that’s my dog”, and it’s not, it’s an AI dog, but they are convinced it is their dog.’ Frogs are also proving to be popular, as are more modern subjects. ‘One of our customers is redoing a house in Norfolk. It’s an old medieval house in very bad repair. Some of the antique Delft tiles need replacing. The owner of the house worked in the defence industry and has designed a range of tiles featuring submarines to be included alongside the existing tiles.’ Unsurprisingly, the oldest subject of them all is popular, too. ‘People like to put quite lewd suggestions into the prompt box,’ says Davies. Will the AI comply? ‘No… but we can override certain settings, so if that’s what people really want, we can arrange it for them.’
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Though imitation has always been part of the history of blue-and-white ceramics, it would be understandable if traditional studios, such as the Douglas Watson Studio near Henley-on-Thames, might feel anxious about this AI competition. Since 1976, the studio’s artisans have hand-painted Delft-inspired tiles, which cost around £25 each. The current lead time is 24 weeks. By contrast, Not Quite Past offers a far more affordable and accessible option for Delftware enthusiasts.
So Davies and Marsh didn't create this AI, only collect enough photographic examples of Delftware tiles to vaguely train it on a style off the internet. They don't host this AI- it's hosted, at great expense, in America and running on Nvidia chips. They don't even, as the article initially frames the situation, perform any of the "technologically advanced" printing process. This is handled by Digital Ceramics, a more typical company with a focus on traditional lithography printing techniques.
These two men have started a business in which they middleman AI generated slop and a printer, undercutting an old and internationally loved industry and appropriating a style from the Dutch. You may like the outcome and I won't hate on you for putting it in your house, but in my honest opinion I find these men repulsive.
This is a story about specialization. The article gives the impression that Digital Ceramics is happy with their business arrangement with Not Quite Past, and the US cloud companies running data centers will rent computers to any business. The remainder of the work, training AI on this particular task and building an attractive website, could conceivably be done by two people, though perhaps they hired contractors and/or have other employees.
I don’t see the result as slop. The customers themselves are reviewing the images and the results will vary depending on their tastes, but presumably they wouldn’t spend £10 a tile on something they don’t want. It doesn’t seem much like spamming the Internet with AI-generated content?
It seems like a legitimate business, no better or worse than printing custom T shirts or selling flooring material.
I recently saw a nice exhibit of Dutch tile at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The artists and even the businesses who made the tiles are mostly unknown. Like Chinese porcelain (which influenced some designs used by Dutch manufacturers), this style is widely copied, for good reason, and has been for centuries. It’s unclear how modern fastidiousness about appropriation applies.
It always baffles me how in the same sentence one calls AI gens slop and in the next breath claims it's good enough to undercut an ancient hand crafted industry. Either the hand crafting is shoddy then, or it's not much of a slop, is it?
Either way, if you read the article, you'd know that cheap Chinese made tiles have been undercutting it for ages, and the industry was mostly beloved by wealthy people who could afford it, a luxury product. I see the fact that it's going to be more available in higher quality to be a great thing.
One doesn't have to sell a better product to undercut existing manufacturing. The average consumer's judgement of quality isn't exactly fine-tuned, and many people are happy with something that passes at a glance- though I'm not sure how many of these do. I've already spotted multiple six-legged sheep in the examples.
Who cares if their taste isn't fine-tuned, whatever that means? That's just some weird gatekeeping. There's clearly a demand for this product, and their business is fulfilling it, there's nothing wrong with that.
The premise of this sentence is an economic one, but the conclusion you're drawing seems ethical (that's how I read "nothing wrong"). If fulfilling the demand through automated rehashing leads to an ultimate decline in the industry, I think there's at least room for discussing if there's something wrong with it.
But there only reason you talk about decline is because of your personal dislike. If people consider automated rehashing good enough to purchase instead of the handmade luxury version, then who's to say it's a decline? Those who value luxury proposition can still buy it, if there's no one left that does - then what's the point of artificially keeping the industry as it was? "Nothing wrong" is not an ethical conclusion, it's the default state of being morally neutral. The ones condemning it are the ones drawing moral conclusions and I fail to see why (beyond AI being mentioned meaning it's bad).
I am reminded of a passage in The Ministry for the Future discussing capitalist economics. "She found it funny to be speaking of rent as if it weren't the fundamental action of the economic system these people upheld, but they like to think otherwise." One of the core economic drivers of capitalism is rent-seeking behaviors. We've managed to modernize and streamline the system so much that rent-seekers don't even need to have the capital to own what they are rent-seeking from.
Mirror: https://archive.is/1b5ma
From the article:
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