D&D General Would It Matter To You if D&D Books Were Illustrated by AI Instead of Humans?

[Jfdlsjfd]

Yes, the increases in the cost of living has outpaced wage growth for quite some time now. I often wonder what the breaking point will be when such a disparity will result in the Middle class completely disappearing.

Not really, as even in the US,, where it was collectively chosen not to use minimum wages as a redistributive measure, the situation is still better than 70 years ago (but not than 50 years ago, as it peaked in 1968 and decreased since, for minimum earners).

The situation is still acceptable for many since the average wage has kept up (the winner being the high-earners of course) :

In a full post-job scenario, the winners would be a very small minority, making political institution of redistributive measures more acceptable (the breaking point you're speaking of, which can't really happen as long as a majority is better off in the current system).

 

[beancounter]

Not really, as even in the US,, where it was collectively chosen not to use minimum wages as a redistributive measure, the situation is still better than 70 years ago (but not than 50 years ago, as it peaked in 1968 and decreased since, for minimum earners).

The situation is still acceptable for many since the average wage has kept up (the winner being the high-earners of course) :

In a full post-job scenario, the winners would be a very small minority, making political institution of redistributive measures more acceptable (the breaking point you're speaking of, which can't really happen as long as a majority is better off in the current system).

How the American middle class has changed in the past five decades

The share of adults who live in middle-class households fell from 61% in 1971 to 50% in 2021, according to a new analysis.

www.pewresearch.org

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

How the American middle class has changed in the past five decades

The share of adults who live in middle-class households fell from 61% in 1971 to 50% in 2021, according to a new analysis.

www.pewresearch.org

True. From the document you link to, I think the most striking illustration is this one:

However, the disappearance of the middle class wasn't due only to a fall (from middle income to lower income) since the part of the population getting an upper income grew from 14% to 21%.

What is shown isn't a rise of poverty, it's a (slow but steady) rise of wage inequalities, that need to be compensated by non-wage redistributive measures. Espcially when the ratio will be 95% (lower or even no income) and 5% upper income.

Refusing technological progress would make the pie stop getting bigger. Accepting technological progress it will let it increase and increase inequalities if this specific progress isn't addressed, which is relying on other mean that keeping salaries artificially high by rejecting technical improvement.

 

[beancounter]

True. From the document you link to:

View attachment 260276


However, the disappearance of the middle class wasn't due only to a fall (from middle income to lower income) since the part of the population getting an upper income grew from 14% to 21%.

What is shown isn't a rise of poverty, it's a (slow but steady) rise of wage inequalities, that need to be compensated by non-wage redistributive measures. Espcially when the ratio will be 95% (lower or even no income) and 5% upper income.

Galandris, I think you would be a good fit for a political forum I frequent. PM me if you would like me to send you a link.

I'm going to stop here, as we are going off topic at this point.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Yes, this has become much more general than the particular situations of arts in RPGs! Let's stop.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

When you combine that I really like human artists, with the fact that I generally don't like AI artists... yeah, it would matter. AI art is getting "better" all the time, sure, but it's still generally not very good. It's okay, sure, and it's interesting in its own right, but it's not what I would call all that good. YMMV.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

. What I am seeing is a premium for "handmade" product, which aren't handmade but tool-made (even a bespoke suit will be made with a sewing machine),

Hand made has never meant “made without tools”. It means made by a person or small team on an individual scale, often by individual commission, rather than in an industrialized and “one size fits all” process.

with a modicum of human contribution to the final product, based on the idea that the human worker is more apt to produce a high-quality result than the industrial one, among a market generally dominated by industrial products.

I know exactly 0 people who buy handmade products primarily because they think it’s necessarily of a higher quality, so much as because they find greater satisfaction in supporting an individual owner-operated creator/crafter/tradesperson business over a large corporate entity with shareholders.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

I know exactly 0 people who buy handmade products primarily because they think it’s necessarily of a higher quality, so much as because they find greater satisfaction in supporting an individual owner-operated creator/crafter/tradesperson business over a large corporate entity with shareholders.

Now you know exactly one. Handmade suits (and shirts!) fit better than industrial products (unless you happen to be exactly like the model the industrial designer used). If a robot could make them, I'd buy from the robot, but we're not there yet. And I am pretty sure I am not alone in this case (I am pretty sure a lot of customers don't care at all about the tailor... one of the most common complaints being price, which is directly saying they'd want the tradeperson to earn less).

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Now you know exactly one. Handmade suits (and shirts!) fit better than industrial products (unless you happen to be exactly like the model the industrial designer used). If a robot could make them, I'd buy from the robot, but we're not there yet. And I am pretty sure I am not alone in this case (I am pretty sure a lot of customers don't care at all about the tailor...).

That isn’t the same thing as buying handmade because it’s necessarily better quality than industrialized products, IMO.

A measured and fitted suit is better because it’s bespoke, not because one guy in the back of his shop made it. It isn’t even necessarily better made by any measure either than the fit (and there is a lot of material quality, quality of construction, etc), just because it’s handmade. I’ve had friend spend $200 on a very cheap handmade suit, and it was great until it fell apart.

Now sure, it’s usually gonna also be better, because any professional sartorialist relies on reputation, which relies on quality, but that isn’t an automatic feature of being hand made.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

That isn’t the same thing as buying handmade because it’s necessarily better quality than industrialized products, IMO.

A measured and fitted suit is better because it’s bespoke, not because one guy in the back of his shop made it. It isn’t even necessarily better made by any measure either than the fit (and there is a lot of material quality, quality of construction, etc), just because it’s handmade. I’ve had friend spend $200 on a very cheap handmade suit, and it was great until it fell apart.

Now sure, it’s usually gonna also be better, because any professional sartorialist relies on reputation, which relies on quality, but that isn’t an automatic feature of being hand made.

That's why I wrote "idea of being higher quality". I could have been clearer. It is not always a fact that handmade = better, as you justly pointed out (humans can make mistakes, or just don't care, or, in the case of very cheap handmade product, rely on reputation of handmade products without putting the effort). I think the analogy is pretty apt with artists in the future. For "run-of-mill" needs, if an AI can make you a black dragon picture to print and use as a token, or create a reasonable likeness of a character to put on a character sheet, the industrial product (easily available, low price) will be the most common opportunity. But a human artists, possibly using AI tool to make part of the work, will coexist with this offer, potentially offering a better quality (in the sense of "more fitting") product for when you need a very specific portrait for a campaign you know will last years or because you want your battlefield map to feature a very specific combination of things, or you really want a group of goblins to wear a specific uniform and so on.