Science & Technology
Character.AI and the controversial rise of AI companions | TechCrunch Disrupt 2025
Character.AI has captured global attention but not without controversy. CEO Karan Anand joins us to discuss the explosive rise of human-like AI companions, the legal battles and recent lawsuits challenging the company’s practices, and the ethical and technical questions behind lifelike dialogue. This TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 fireside chat dives into both the breakthroughs and the…
@designexcellence
November 18, 2025 at 1:40 pm
Art, an intellectual property that can only be produced by sentient beings, is the critically irreplaceable crude oil that is refined by business and sold as the gasoline of algorithmic outputs (“AI SLOP”), even as it destroys the commercial value of art itself.
Laws exist to serve and protect humanity, for when they fail to do so, they are nothing more than instruments of oppression that must be abolished. It is only because enormous quantities of art have been ingested that these algorithms are formed. Absent the art, no slop-spewing algorithm can exist any more than gasoline can exist if crude oil did not. The businesses are selling gasoline made from crude oil that wasn’t paid for.
For those who are wondering what visual art is, it is the product of sustained and deliberate labor by one or more sentient creators, in which they make a series of thoughtful decisions to give tangible form to an expressive idea. It is defined by the creation of enduring visual artifacts whose primary purpose is visual communication. It requires more than a single gesture or the mere selection of a pre-existing object; the work must embody the creator(s)’ effort, process, and authorship in a tangible form.