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> We just want to minimize drama,” the company’s founder and CEO, David Holz, said last year in a post on the chat service Discord. “Political satire in china is pretty not-okay,” he added, and “the ability for people in China to use this tech is more important than your ability to generate satire.
It turns out authoritarian power and capital markets can be scary effective. I don't think authoritarian systems are as dynamic and innovative as democratic ones, but a gigantic authoritarian regime can utilize external democracies for innovation and then leverage their market power to silence criticism both home and abroad.
Creative tools that impede free speech are harbingers of Orwellian future. "Sorry, you are not allowed to express that thought".
Chinese encroachment of free speech outside China should be fought against, not aided. I'm in the camp that thinks it's normal for countries to have legal systems and value systems incompatible with each other - but I'm not ok with companies and individuals aiding an authoritarian regime to spread their influence globally just to extract profit.
You can make satire on Biden and Putin, but for Xi Jingping: > We just want to minimize drama,” the company’s founder and CEO, David Holz, said last year in a post on the chat service Discord. “Political satire in china is pretty not-okay,” he added, and “the ability for people in China to use this tech is more important than your ability to generate satire.
> That, one might say, is “pretty not-okay.”
Money quote right there
You can make satire on Biden and Putin, but for Xi Jingping: > We just want to minimize drama,” the company’s founder and CEO, David Holz, said last year in a post on the chat service Discord. “Political satire in china is pretty not-okay,” he added, and “the ability for people in China to use this tech is more important than your ability to generate satire.
Unlike social media which stores and distributes, Midjourney is helping generate content, so people can still make satire through other mechanisms pretty easily - and since Midjourney isn't a distribution platform its not hurting users ability to distribute satire.
You can make satire on Biden and Putin, but for Xi Jingping: > We just want to minimize drama,” the company’s founder and CEO, David Holz, said last year in a post on the chat service Discord. “Political satire in china is pretty not-okay,” he added, and “the ability for people in China to use this tech is more important than your ability to generate satire.
You can make satire on Biden and Putin, but for Xi Jingping: > We just want to minimize drama,” the company’s founder and CEO, David Holz, said last year in a post on the chat service Discord. “Political satire in china is pretty not-okay,” he added, and “the ability for people in China to use this tech is more important than your ability to generate satire.
Thats actually a pretty reasonable response. Its not endorsing the censorship, and it emphasises that not restricting certain generated content would hurt users. Unlike social media which stores and distributes, Midjourney is helping generate content, so people can still make satire through other mechanisms pretty easily - and since Midjourney isn't a distribution platform its not hurting users ability to distribute…
it's reasonable but it's just a purely capital-aligned choice -- the morals and ethics of it are beside the point.
They want China because it's a big market -- but Midjourney produces content -- especially political satire -- that is illegal in dozens of countries... apparently China deserves special attention.
I'll say it plain: They kowtow to China because China represents $$ for them. The "pretty-not-okay"ness is just a happy coincidence for the users who may become legal targets.
I actually think having one person in the whole world you can't generate images of sends a much stronger political message than allowing people to make funny pictures of said person in puffer jackets.