The problem with copyright law is you need, well, copies. AI systems don’t have a database of images that they reference. They learn like we do. When you picture SpongeBob in your mind, your not pulling up a reference image in a database. You just “learned” what he looks like. That’s how AI models work. They are like giant strings of math that replicate the human brain in structure. You train them by showing them a bunch of images, this is SpongeBob, this is a horse, this is a cowboy hat. The model learns what these things are, but doesn’t literally copy the images. Then when you ask for “SpongeBob on a horse wearing a cowboy hat” the model uses the patterns it learned to produce the image you asked for. When your doing the training, presumably you made copies of images for that (which is arguably fair use), but the model itself has no copies. I don’t know how all of this shakes out, not an expert in copyright law, but I do know an essential element is the existence of copies, which AI models do not contain, which is why these lawsuits haven’t gone anywhere yet, and why AI companies and their lawyers were comfortable enough to invest billions doing this in the first place. I mostly just want to clear up the “database” misconception since it’s pretty common.

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Reddit isn’t fun anymore, I agree with that. I checked /r/all for this first time today in months. I haven’t logged in or browsed since the blackout, but there are a few communities I miss and was thinking about going back over for those, so I checked r/all out of curiosity to see how things have been. The content was just so much trash, and I don’t even think it’s that much worse. It’s just that I’ve been away for so long that I’m looking at it now like “how did I spend my days scrolling through this garbage for hours?” It’s just boring, it’s like just interesting enough to keep you scrolling hoping to find something actually interesting.

Here on lemmy there is far fewer users and far less content. But I’m starting to see that as a good thing. I pop by and scroll, but I don’t spend hours here like I did on reddit. The discussions are smaller, but more engaging and thoughtful. I remember before I left there were certain threads I’d see and just skip because I already knew exactly what all the comments would be. Also, I’m actively engaging more here, so there is actually some “social” in my social media use, instead of just passively consuming like I mostly did on reddit.

Overall I think ithe switch to Lemmy has been good, for me at least. It’s like I’ve broken the reddit addiction, and looking at it now I can’t understand why I got so caught up with it in the first place. To me, reddit just isn’t fun anymore.

My wife was on Reddit for about 9 years when she got hooked on TikTok about a year ago. In her words, Reddit had become boring. She still checks the local community sub, but that is about it. Just worth pointing out that Reddit is facing pressure from two ends. A lot of the more casual users, and the popular content creators, are on TikTok and other video centric platforms. Reddit can’t compete there, as much as they try. The dedicated users they did have, those interested in community and discussion, well Reddit just angered much of that group.

Prior to the blackout, I was angry with Reddit. Since the blackout I’ve taken a step back and realized how much garbage Reddit is filled with (ads, shitposts, promoted content, etc), and how much I want to find something better. Before the blackout I was planning to quit Reddit out of anger. Now I plan to quit because, as my wife said, Reddit is boring and I’m excited to explore what comes next.