Living legend William Shatner xweeted out a copy of his new album Sunday, something called Where Will the Animals Sleep: Songs for Kids and Other Living Things. Immediately, he found himself under social media fire for using what people assumed was AI-generated art on the cover.
You can pre-order my new children’s album on Amazon: https://t.co/CFiRzv8Lpw pic.twitter.com/jfvJfopdKX
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) April 21, 2024
The complaints boiled down to artists losing their jobs to AI computers, as though all kinds of people haven’t lost their jobs over the last five decades to computers.
What makes these crybaby artists so special?
“Please don’t use AI cover. Kids deserve more than AI salad,” whined one xweeter.
“This is gross,” xweeted another. “Step back from your doubling down on this, reflect, support actual artists and, you know, be the person Kirk would be.
Basically, the multiple-Emmy winner was waylaid with a shame campaign. But Shatner was having none of it. And as he has done many times in the past with these insufferable scolds, the actor hit back:
👇🏻Another hateful artist dumping on another artist’s work. 🙄 I guess the phrase “tortured artist” means tortured by their peers. 😑 https://t.co/XgTOGZLoKS
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) April 24, 2024
They were well paid. https://t.co/AsyyLY2ZMw
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) April 24, 2024
I know the artist’s name. You will too when the album comes out but this person has done at least a dozen album covers- all very different and has been doing so for several years unlike the other so-called artists here virtue signaling & hating on it.🏼 https://t.co/O3bkuNE9tR
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) April 24, 2024
Then, according to what the record company told Shatner, the album cover wasn’t generated by AI. An actual artist was involved and paid well for their work. This gave the Star Trek star plenty of ammunition to ridicule his critics.
“Imagine, so called enlightened individuals who were quick to misjudge and put down a fellow associate’s work,” he xweeted. “Shows you how much they know about their medium and calling out works as AI.”
This sense of entitlement among the artist class is beyond galling. Did a single one of these so-called artists take it to the streets when countless working-class men and women found themselves replaced by machines and robots on assembly lines all over the country?
Why should the artist be exempt from progress?
Why must I pay an artist to produce something AI can generate on my behalf for free?
Do these artists refuse to buy automobiles, cars, and electronics that were not entirely built by hand?
Of course not — the hypocrites.
These so-called artists didn’t even stand up to save the jobs of disc jockeys, who have almost all been replaced by computers.
Just last week, these same people were whining about AI-generated posters for the movie Civil War.
One commenter posted, “Fire the person who approved this garbage. It’s repulsive and insulting to your audience.”
“A24 using ai for advertising might be a sign, maybe its the beginning of the end for a company that used to rely on indie aesthetics. It’s incredibly disappointing,” another wrote.
“Hire an actual artist,” another commenter wrote.
Like almost all things that deliver progress, AI doesn’t eliminate jobs. Instead, it creates a different kind of job. People have to program and maintain AI computers. Those are jobs. The benefits of AI are huge. For example, you no longer have to work with a bunch of spoiled, entitled, whiny, temperamental “artists” who are anti-progress.
If artificial intelligence can make artists crybaby like this, I’m more excited about the future than ever.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover on Kindle and Audiobook.
