Don't sweat it. At this point the AIs have probably caught up and surpassed all the human pirated consumption in all history. And counting...

What a shocking turn of events. And a impressively good and cynical excuse to continue downloading warez, musicz, movies, showz and pornz

PS. actually, not that cynical...
PS2. Mia Khalifa, stop posing as Spain's football team fan and go back to... ahem... "modelling"

 

Last edited: Jul 22, 2026 at 9:58 PM

@Simplywavs @sexyeyez02

I'm not disagreeing that there is potential cognitive dissonance in using warez and complaining about how ai systems are made using stolen material, but I think the motivations, scale and outcomes are too far apart to be compared fairly. Also, whether warez is explicitly stealing depends on your ethical framework. Most teams release software under a "try before you buy" ethics model, which if adhered to by the downloader can actually create legitimate customers down the line. It's a bit more nuanced than "you steal, they steal, you're a hypocrite".

An individual getting something illegally for free lowers their barrier to entry, but the barrier still exists and ecosystem continues in parallel. Companies illegally/legally absorbing an unlimited amount of human creativity and knowledge to build industrial systems that are then deployed to replace or compete with human creativity and knowledge is an adversarial move threatens everyone in the entire ecosystem.

So can we really compare downloading a cracked copy of anything to these VC megacorps training on our entire human history to create uncontrollable systems that replace us and threaten the very fabric of reality?

I don't begrudge anyone getting in their feels when you look at it like that.

 

@Xupito this is the second thread I've clicked into today to see you mentioning porn... need to send bro to horny jail lol

 

or just look at it all as a collaboration of people..

 

Many people call me pervert but it's an unfair simplification of me as a person. I'm much worse than only that...

 

Last edited: Jul 23, 2026 at 8:47 PM

AI is a very advanced method of sampling where the sound is broken down into tiny fractions (similar to wavetables) and AI uses statistical computation how to put those tiny samples together, but it is still sampling. I would call it ALGORITHMIC SAMPLING. Since there are billions of nodes in the decision tree, nobody knows how the data is stored, but with the right query the original material can be regenerated 90%. Unfortunately, the lawyers who can argue about anything infinitely will never understand this and therefore the elaborate theft can continue.

I would only use AI as educational tool (e.g. encyclopedia) or creating drafts, but I would disallow commercial utilization of the AI output. You can teach yourself how to make an arrangement of a certain genre, but eventually you are supposed to write and mix the song yourself, otherwise you (and others) cannot collect revenues from it. Songs generated with AI or using AI samples would not be allowed on any music platform. Also I would limit upload of 1 song per artist per day. There is no way someone can make 5-10 or 100 songs in a day without AI.

 

I was there at the beginning, free music for the masses. The majority of that gear was snapped up by hobbyists or plugin collectors, people that wouldn't know an original musical idea if it came up and bit them on the arse.

Some of it was snapped up by people who actually knew what they were doing, who went on to create, be that in composition, or production., and became legit users.

It's a stupid argument. Back then there was no market for in the box tools. It was a new concept. Don't kid yourself in thinking the software companies weren't complicit in piracy. Piracy created a market from nothing.

As for true creativity, that cannot be learned. There will always be a handful of geniuses out there, at any skill, who have inherent natural ability and creativity. Everyone else follows in their wake.

AI is pure theft. There is a difference. It isn't going to harm 99.9% of people making music, because they don't have any talent other than trying to re-invent the wheel.

It will however harm the talented. Let's just flood the world with shite! It makes the good stuff harder to find.

And let's divert all the income streams to a bunch of tech bros.