Why I Hate the AI Yearbook Trend

Let's get into it.

I've thought about this more, and I believe it has something to do with how much the concept of perception has been on my mind lately. But also, fuck AI art in general (that's another thing we can get into another time though.)

As someone who makes part of my living by sharing my life online, I often get used as a dumping ground for people who are brimming with self-hate and find my whole existence to be an abomination. Having someone perceive me through such a faulty, maladaptive lens can feel non-consensual: like a part of my me is being used as a shit rag or something.

We cannot stop a troubled person from grabbing their perception of us, churning it through the maze of their personal experiences and ego and spitting out something totally demented. All we can really do is keep them and their shitty Franken-vision of us out of our purview (god bless the block button).

Something about these AI high school yearbook photos hits on this feeling of wanting to control who and what perceives me even though I can’t. Like what is my image being fed into? What are they doing with it? And what am I getting out of it?

There's something about feeding my likeness into a creepy, soulless machine and getting back a dead-eyed vision of myself presented as the bullseye ideal of the even larger creepy, soulless machines of capitalism and patriarchy that doesn't sit right with me.

Don't get me wrong - it's fun to stare into the mirror of idealized perception: there's something so intoxicating about seeing ourselves as the vision of our culture's hetero-patriarchal archetype for desirability. Conventionally attractive thin young women seem to be the only ones that the men with power and privilege find worthy.

But what I want to know is: where is the AI that will turn me into a 70-year old white man in a suit? Because I think imagining myself with that kind of power would be even more intoxicating.

Do you agree? Disagree? Am I over thinking this? BTW- you can now leave comments here and this is one I really would love your thoughts on.