Where is the opt-out button for AI? How do I switch off AI? Or am I doomed to have AI and all it’s inherent problems forced onto me against my will? The “AI” world has arrived, and is doing an incredibly impressive job of gaslighting the world into accepting AI whether we like it or not. It’s everywhere, in phones, computers, software, the internet, and even cameras.
AI is here, and you can’t switch it off.
Just use Google, or any of the other search engines, and AI results are given to you as the primary result. Even when you’re trying to avoid the main search engines, to avoid AI, the others are now using it as well.
Photoshop, Google, Microsoft, Facebook/Meta, Apple, et al are all hell-bent on making AI the MAIN marketing feature of all their new products, whether you want it or not, that’s the marketing plan. Simply take your product and put the letters AI on the end, and voila! These companies now have the answer to all of life’s problems, whether you have problems or not, AI is the answer.
I’m sorry, but I’m absolutely sick of it. I don’t want AI – it does NOT benefit me, or my photography, or my writing, in ANY WAY. Yet, I’m the one who’s mad. (I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!)
Companies are marketing their devices as offering AI from Google, AI from Meta, AI from Microsoft, then on the same page talking about how they are really concerned about offering environmentally friendly production of new products with recycled materials.
Yet, AI models use huge amounts of electricity and water to run
In case you’re not aware, AI models, whether that’s search results, image generation, or chat systems, use HUGELY more power in the form of electricity needed to run MASSIVE data centres that are destroying the countryside(1). Water usage for these, to cool them are huge, damaging nearby water supplies for people who live nearby(2).
There is NOTHING environmentally friendly about AI systems. And there seemingly seems to be no off switch, as Microsoft, automatically force this software onto your computer, and others put it on your phone with each new update.
Every new phone from mainstream brands is integrating as many AI features as possible to help you manage and plan your life, all whilst saying how they are trying to save the planet. Here’s an idea, why not give me an option to switch off AI, then I can know I’m not contributing to the destruction of the planet?
I’m glad that most traditional cameras for photography don’t work in the same way as computers and smartphones, it means any settings and features on the camera are there when I switch the camera on, and gone when I switch the camera off. I don’t need to connect to a supercomputer system the size of 33 football pitches to take a photo. Why would I need this when using a phone or computer?
Related reading
- See how much AI was used in an image – and stop generative AI ‘training’ on your pictures
- Best Photoshop alternatives – no-subscription photo editing software
The views expressed in this column are not necessarily those of Amateur Photographer magazine or Kelsey Media Limited. If you have an opinion you’d like to share on this topic, or any other photography related subject, email: ap.ed@kelsey.co.uk
