I saw an article on Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) arguing that AI is a form of mutual destruction, while its proponents exalt AI’s high efficiency and low barriers to entry. The article explains why AI often produces mediocre content. The author also believed that some people don’t seem to believe in science – they believe in technology, or more accurately, in the use of technology, or more specifically, in the use of weapons. In the end, they hoped for a great disaster to educate this anxiety-ridden society that prioritizes efficiency and productivity above all else.
This article was quite accurate in identifying its enemy – I am indeed a supporter of high efficiency. I even think efficiency itself has a certain aesthetic appeal, probably because I’m an INTJ. Finding imperfections in things and trying to improve their efficiency is part of my daily routine.
Without the pursuit of efficiency, technological progress wouldn’t even be possible. Without technological progress, modern society wouldn’t exist, and so many people wouldn’t be alive. Too many people view efficiency as a form of discrimination against them, but it’s one of the fundamental ideas underlying modern technological civilization. Those who want to return to the old society can try not using their phones.
Very few people can truly appreciate the value of efficiency, and I won’t force this understanding upon them.
Have human workers become less valuable after the introduction of AI? Speaking from my field of AI video creation, it still involves hundreds of hours of manual work. Through writing, design, storyboarding, and other processes, each image undergoes 5-10 layers of manual Photoshop work, spanning dozens of tools, and ultimately requires manual editing.
The production process remains equally complex, while the results still need improvement. I don’t consider these hundreds of hours cheap. I also want to inform everyone interested in custom AI videos: AI is not a reason to lower prices – tool costs and labor costs remain very high.
Did photography kill painting? No.
Photography became its own art form. I believe AI will also evolve into its own unique art form, with its own artistic style and soul, born from human-machine collaboration. AI art will also have its distinctions between high and low quality, and talented creators will continue to be recognized as such.
The future becomes unpredictable due to the existence of AI. The purely pessimistic view that AI will lead to mutual destruction is nothing more than anti-AI complaints. They believe technology can be used for evil. I believe technology is neutral, or even beneficial. I once wrote:
“For me, technology is far from merely neutral or capable of evil – it is the only good. Human nature has remained largely unchanged since ancient times; only technology has undergone significant changes. Electric lights illuminate the world – that’s enlightenment. Everyone using smartphones – that’s equality. And in the future, artificial intelligence might even cure various diseases – that’s compassion.”
For thousands of years, human nature has remained unchanged. Our planetary environment isn’t large enough to alter human nature, unless interstellar travel occurs, which might divide humanity into spacers and Earthers. However, given that human nature remains unchanged, technology is the only thing that has undergone significant change.
I don’t think all humans need to understand technology, but at least they should understand that the wifi they use and all the modern conveniences they depend on daily come from it, and from the absolute dedication of the people behind it. AI is also an integral part of modern and future life. I’ve always wanted to write an article called “AI Concerns Everyone.”
The unpredictable future is what anti-AI people truly fear. But for the rest of us, we’ve long grown accustomed to this. We’re used to not being able to clearly see who will win or lose, and we’re used to making predictions about future developments based on limited clues. This era was meant to be one where nothing is certain.
As for whether people who believe in technology are merely believing in weapons, I would like to say that while technology advances rapidly during wartime, most technological progress during peacetime can actually resolve conflicts and help humanity reach a certain balance. It essentially replaces war competition with technological competition. Therefore, we should be grateful that the gaming industry gave birth to artificial intelligence, rather than World War III.
Technological changes produce new art forms, while older art forms gradually become marginalized – this is a normal process. Just like how AI videos are developing rapidly now, many videos from three months ago are already unwatchable. The world changing is actually a good thing – if technology stagnates for long periods, the possibility of war would actually be higher.
So, rather than using war robots to fight each other, though that will certainly happen too, we should create as much art as possible while AI is still focused on art. As for those who think AI should only do housekeeping work and shouldn’t do creative work, they should realize that AGI isn’t far away.
Follow me as we explore AI filmmaking together.
