It’s a 36-minute rock opera about the World’s Greatest Hamburger Chef.
The full movie is here:
https://vimeo.com/1083430438
As I tend to explain more on this site than a simple social media post would allow, here is that “more.”
The feverish, slavering, violent opinions about a recent spate of algorithms marketed as “artificial intelligence” have certainly been devoid of actual intelligence. We are told either that our every problem will be solved by these new, impressive, Mechanical Turks, or that the survival of civilization depends on us rejecting the Satanic Robot Overlords. You are either cramming “AI” functions into every kitchen appliance and facet of modern life or you are wrecking the planet by making Studio Ghibli images of your own photos. But there is no subtlety, it’s either all good or all bad, with a rabid religious tone that offends if you have any common sense. These arguments and opinions are a waste of time and energy.
Like every new-fangled electronic pencil before them, these tools give us the same paradigm as all the old tools, from the invention of the wheel on up. In the hands of murderers, idiots, power-hungry capitalists and other vermin, they will give us murder, idiocy, more vicious capitalism and further exploitation. Because that’s what those forces do with everything they touch – further the interests and aims of those who use them. The inherent technology behind the GAN or computer vision analysis does not create human suffering, that’s for individuals to perpetrate, and we all know who they are. They also happen to be using pretty much every other tool civilization has provided to subjugate us as well.
I made this piece not because I am abandoning old tools, and not because I have any political affiliations of interests in the technology and those who create it or support it. I’m just a goofball who saw a new way to make something and started screwing around with it. In the end, I think I’ve made something that firmly plants a thumb into every artistic, creative, ethical, moral, and philosophical argument you could have about so-called “AI.” And I think it’s good when art creates the pretext for actual conversation about materials, media, intentions, ethics, and consequences.
I’d love it if something as weird and dumb as “Maestro of Meat” got people to talk about this stuff with more nuance than misplaced rage or dopey utopianism.
And if its not your bag, don’t click. I can, and will, do plenty of other things.