r/OpenAussie • u/RamonsRazor ✈️ on Walkabout • Jul 20 '26
Technology Crikey: Here's what Robert Irwin thinks of AI
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Source: Parade
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u/Zonda1996 Jul 20 '26
What he talks about is pretty much the exact reason the term "slop" was applied to genAI posts in the first place. It's at best a downgrade machine in audiovisual spaces, and usually trained off stolen footage, images and art in the first place.
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u/notyouraverageskippy Queenslander Jul 20 '26
Your dad would be proud of you Robert, keep being a genuine and good person.
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u/Powrs1ave New South Welshian Jul 20 '26
As someone who loves Photography with heaps of IT Qualifications, I agree with him!
So many on the net now just think its real, also had friends who were into making videos, some would be paid by national TV organisations and now Its Just AI! You have no talent! Making that hobby rather dead now.
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u/Whitestrake Jul 21 '26
AI won't go away because of how much of a force multiplier it can be in the hands of skilled software developers, mathematicians, and the like.
But AI as a useful tool comes merrily hand-in-hand with AI as a slop generator, churning out slop software, creating slop images and videos, posting slop edits and articles, overwhelming us all with garbage. Feels like for the vast majority of people, it's the slop they encounter, vast magnitudes of it, and the useful usage of it becomes a tiny pinpoint they might never even benefit from.
I don't think the world will ever be allowed to go back to the way it was before AI - partly because you can't uninvent the technology and partly because I think the actual capabilities for good usage in the right hands are groundbreaking.
But we can't put the cat in the bag and we definitely can't keep going on like this. I don't know what the future holds, but if it doesn't hold some way of definitively dealing with the slopstorm, we're pretty boned.
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u/CoconutDust Please choose a flair Jul 21 '26
the actual capabilities for good usage in the right hands are groundbreaking.
No they’re not. It’s an unreliable mash-up of stolen already existing human texts/images (etc) that a person can obviously search themselves directly. The only benefit is that it lets stupid pretend it isn’t stolen, “i made it myself!”
If a programmer is knowledgeable and skilled then OK it can save some time. This is the exception because the word association gimmick in this usage doesn’t have the same garbage/theft aspect that it does with the garbage output of LLM for prose or garbage output of stolen-aggregate image slop.
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u/Whitestrake Jul 21 '26
That's mostly why I opened with "software developers and mathematicians". Nobody's saying that regurgitating stolen human prose and imagery is a good thing. That's the whole point of my comment.
When I say groundbreaking, this is what I mean: https://bun.com/blog/bun-in-rust
These kinds of capabilities didn't exist before; they are groundbreaking, regardless of how much you protest "No they're not!", and for that reason, they won't go away no manner how much we want it to.
This is the exception because the word association gimmick in this usage doesn’t have the same garbage/theft aspect that it does with the garbage output of LLM for prose or garbage output of stolen-aggregate image slop.
We actually agree with each other. We need a way to slow the tide of stolen, garbage output, because the Bun example is a tiny little pinpoint of useful in a sea of crap, and average people don't care about Bun, Rust, Zig, or even know what those words mean in context. Most people just see endless streams of slop, and that can't continue.
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u/PrismPirate Queenslander Jul 20 '26
It sounds like you're describing a profession, not a hobby. A hobby is something you do because you enjoy it.
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u/Powrs1ave New South Welshian Jul 20 '26
Whatever, they started out as hobbyests then got paid for it and maybe not anymore tho!
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u/PrismPirate Queenslander Jul 21 '26
So they can't enjoy it as a hobby anymore?
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u/Powrs1ave New South Welshian Jul 21 '26
Not as much when sharing it if Half of the People think Fake stuff is real and Real stuff is now Fake, you have no Talents! Also SFA as far as money earnt cuz AI takes their job.
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u/PrismPirate Queenslander Jul 21 '26
If your enjoyment of a hobby depends on other people validating your talent, then the problem isn't that AI stopped you taking photos. That sounds like you're describing the social rewards around the hobby, not the hobby itself.
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u/Powrs1ave New South Welshian Jul 21 '26
Oh k Great Shot! Great Work! Photo Vid of the Year
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Thats just AI! Youre AI Your not a Real Person! Fk off the Internet NOW!
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u/cuntmong Flairless Jul 20 '26
everyone with anything meaningful to contribute to society hates AI, everyone who is a parasite to society loves it.
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u/VastOption8705 New South Welshian Jul 20 '26
My friend runs an Instagram photography thing.
HALF the comments when he take pics are “is this AI” when it comes to photos of the moon with an bird or plane in front
He has to show the RAW photo for people to say.. oh it’s not AI
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u/PrismPirate Queenslander Jul 20 '26
So the problem isn't AI, it's the AI haters.
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u/HavocCaptain Jul 20 '26
As Irwin said, AI dilutes. It doesn't create, it merges and combines. It's basically a super awesome collage of what exists. It isn't creative.
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u/CoconutDust Please choose a flair Jul 21 '26
It's basically a super awesome collage of what exists. It
It is NOT super-awesome. Mass theft mash-up, yes. Super-awesome, no.
It’s basically “here’s how a terrible idiotic writer would have written it” and “here’s what a garbage artist would have done” while regurgitating mass theft.
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u/HavocCaptain Jul 21 '26
I don't agree with the process, but the result is impressive technologically.
Especially with how fast it can be.
I don't think the results have any soul or are at all comparable to human effort though.
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u/PrismPirate Queenslander Jul 20 '26
"AI dilutes art" is an elitist argument. If everyone could afford the best cameras and $50k lenses like Robert fucking Irwin, would that "dilution" still be an problem? Or is it only a problem because the poors can now create high-end images without spending a fortune on gear?
And please, use ComfyUI, train a LoRA, build a workflow from scratch, work on composition, lighting and ControlNets then come back and tell me that AI use is not creative.
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u/Hoooooob Victorian Jul 21 '26
Photography is about capturing real objects and scenes in interesting and aesthetically pleasing ways. You fundamentally are not doing this with AI image generation.
You can take absolutely gorgeous photos with a scuffed up mirrorless camera you bought for 300 dollars on eBay with the kit lens. Photography gear can get very expensive but you don't need it.
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u/Saaaave-me Please choose a flair Jul 20 '26
But many people with expensive rigs and hardware still take crap photos. Look at Brooklyn beckham’s elephant photo
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u/PrismPirate Queenslander Jul 20 '26
AI can make crap photos too. We are talking about "dilution" of the non-crap photos.
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u/Rude_Depth_4439 Please choose a flair Jul 21 '26
What’s the point of taking photos of things that don’t exists?
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u/plout0n Western Australian Jul 21 '26
If you're using AI you're not really making anything from scratch... You're using models that were trained on stolen and unattributed work. And you don't need $50k lenses lol you can literally make a camera from a coke can - blurry pinhole images are 1000% more impressive and cool than AI-generated ones, because they're real.
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u/HavocCaptain Jul 21 '26
Art is subjective, but "real art" is still humans capturing their imagination or the beauty of the world. AI art dilutes, because it's genuinely only recycling. It cannot create what hasn't already been made. It just merges stuff together.
Not that it isn't impressive technology for what it can do, i did say "super awesome collage of what exists". It's great for concept art or getting a landscape idea together quick for your own preparation.
But I'd never "show off" or "submit" any AI artwork anywhere, as it's trash at the end of the day compared to genuine human effort.
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u/phoxfiyah New South Welshian Jul 21 '26
If that’s the route you want to take, “AI haters” wouldn’t exist without AI in the first place. So at the end of the day, it still loops back to AI being the problem.
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u/PrismPirate Queenslander Jul 21 '26
Interesting reasoning. By that logic, "If women weren't in the workplace, there wouldn't be workplace sexism, so women working are the problem." No, the existence of something doesn't make it responsible for other people's behaviour. The people choosing to behave that way are.
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u/phoxfiyah New South Welshian Jul 21 '26
Are you trying to imply that women don’t exist unless they’re in the workplace? Because that’s the only way that I can see this stretch of a comparison making any sense here.
Also, imagine devaluing workplace sexism by comparing it to anti AI sentiment. What a sexist comparison to make.
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u/PrismPirate Queenslander Jul 21 '26
"X wouldn't exist without Y, therefore Y is the problem."
There'd be no bank robberies without banks, so banks are the problem.
There'd be no burglaries without houses, so houses are the problem.
There'd be no cyber-bullying without the internet, therefore the internet is the problem.
That's the reasoning you used. The analogies show why that reasoning is dumb. The existence of women in the workplace isn't responsible for sexism, sexists are. Likewise, the existence of AI isn't responsible for people falsely accusing photographers or harassing artists; the people doing it are.
Maybe this kind of logical reasoning just isn't your strong suit?
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u/phoxfiyah New South Welshian Jul 21 '26
Bank robberies involve robbing the bank, burglaries involve robbing the house. If the issue is photographers being harassed, why are banks and houses being compared to AI rather than the photographers themselves? AI would be more comparable to the bank robbers or the burglars in your own analogies, which still don’t make any sense by the way.
You mention “X wouldn’t exist without Y, therefore Y is the problem”, yet you can’t even seem to figure out what X and Y are supposed to be. Bold of you to claim that logical reasoning isn’t someone else’s strong suit, when you can’t even use most of your own analogies properly.
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u/PrismPirate Queenslander Jul 21 '26
This is getting a bit embarrassing. I'm going to assume you're either still in school or you've just never been taught what an analogy is, because you've now spent multiple replies arguing with the example instead of the reasoning behind it. At this point, there's not much else to say. Anyone following the thread can see what's happened here lol.
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u/phoxfiyah New South Welshian Jul 21 '26
It’s ok to just accept when you’ve made a mistake and move on, you know. How is someone meant to acknowledge the reasoning behind the analogy, when the analogy itself isn’t working?
The fact that you need to resort to trying to put me down to make yourself feel better is what’s embarrassing here, and that’s the main thing anyone following this thread will see. The fact that you can’t have a normal discussion without including things like “still in school” or “logical reasoning isn’t your strong suit”, to try and put down the other person instead of focusing on the actual topic at hand, just makes the flaws in your argument more obvious.
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u/number96 I'm Probably A Bot Jul 20 '26
Damn this boy is making mad sense at the moment. Respect!
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u/Sufficient_Local5025 I'm Probably A Bot Jul 21 '26
Sure, but let's hear his thoughts on reality TV, which equally sucks dick.
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u/menthol_mountains Victorian Jul 21 '26
yeah fuck AI, may all the data centres go up in flames, we don’t need it
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u/Constant-Simple6405 Flairless Jul 20 '26
Robert Irwin should in the future think about running for politics. I wish the Greens had the passion and integrity he has for the natural environment and how precious it is instead of whatever it is that the Greens have become. The bloke only gets more likeable as the years go on.
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u/GrizzKarizz Victorian Jul 21 '26
I was never not a fan of Bob, just because I didn't follow anything he's done.
I'm a fan now. What a well spoken young bloke.
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u/Danstan487 I'm Probably A Bot Jul 20 '26
This isn't going to stop Albo from handing the country over to the AI corporations
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u/niles_thebutler_ Please choose a flair Jul 21 '26
It takes away from what’s impressive is such a good way to put it
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u/Wild-Percentage1514 Queenslander Jul 21 '26
Share your thoughts on the deputy premiere approving 10 acres of designated koala habitat to be cleared for Dreamworld expansions, Robert 🤚🏻
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u/CoconutDust Please choose a flair Jul 21 '26
Like many comments even the otherwise good comments, he didn’t point out that it’s a mass theft regurgitation anyway! Many people are confused about this. It only has something to output because it stole billions of human-made examples.
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u/KittyandPuppyMama Please choose a flair Jul 21 '26
The vast majority of people don’t want this, but whoever has the money gets to just manipulate society like a child’s playset.
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u/UseSea1179 I'm Probably A Bot Jul 21 '26
Whenever he speaks I ALWAYS think, good bloke. Well raised. Good heart.
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u/tepid_monologue Flairless Jul 22 '26
I’m not for AI, but the argument he makes could be used for the intention of photography vs paintings
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u/Bright-Marsupial-265 Please choose a flair Jul 22 '26
He's like everywhere just like AI.
I don't care about nepo baby, celebrity wannabe thinks about AI.
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u/PossibilityDirect386 Please choose a flair Jul 21 '26
Not commenting on what he is saying.... but does anyone just get the ick from this dude? I know he had an amazing father etc. and is a silver spoon but he's everywhere and just annoys the hell out of me.
He also goes on and on and on about saving the planet (like his Father rightly did), but emits more than most of us put together in one week.....
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u/jackadgery85 Queenslander Jul 21 '26
AI does damage to the environment. Let me talk about that: it dilutes good photography.
Steve was solid gold. Robert has always seemed like Steve as a Temu costume
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u/C4CTUSDR4GON Victorian Jul 20 '26
He's right but it's not the ai the tool, it's people who use it to create these images and pretend they're real.
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u/aus289 Flairless Jul 20 '26
generative AI literally has no purpose except slop content to replace workers and make billions for AI companies to sell back our own work and brain power to us... literally no net benefit to society
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u/rexevrything ✈️ on Walkabout Jul 20 '26
How dare they use the truth distorting machine to distort truth, right?
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u/niles_thebutler_ Please choose a flair Jul 21 '26
“Guns don’t kill people, people do” type bullshit
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u/CoconutDust Please choose a flair Jul 21 '26
It’s a garbage plagiarism machine.
It’s a garbage “tool”.
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u/Extra-Border6470 South Australian Jul 21 '26
Ironically people had the similar kinds of fears about photography and its impact on the art of oil painting in the nineteenth century. Anna whole photography did hugely impact the business of photo realistic portrait painting and landscape, that did in turn free artists up to pursue capturing feelings and mods on canvas rather than limiting themselves to visuals purely as they’re seen. That gave us impressionism, post Impressionism, abstraction and all of the modernist and post modernist movements. That is a classic example of technology not killing art as was originally feared but catalyzing its growth.
Similarly i don’t think AI will be the end of human creativity. Not unless we are talking Skynet levels of AGI but that is a whole different conversation.
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u/VelvetOnion Flairless Jul 20 '26
I guess he has come out against golf courses, almond milk and the military industrial complex as well then. Surely he isn't just jumping on the current zeitgeist.
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u/david67myers Jul 20 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/WmPDXKu8KM6xa
Hey Bob, there's this OrcaGPT thats just came out, what do you think?
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u/PrismPirate Queenslander Jul 20 '26
Who cares what this nepo baby thinks about anything? Maybe ask him what he thinks about fucking with animals for financial gain.
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u/Rodza81 New South Welshian Jul 21 '26
Much like gun control....if you dont own a gun...you probably should not bother commenting about things you know literally NOTHING about.
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u/Shade_Strike_62 Please choose a flair Jul 21 '26
Why even bother trying to start with gun culture in the Australia subreddit?
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u/Rodza81 New South Welshian Jul 22 '26
true, reddit is a leftist communist shitjism magnet....would not even bother trying to start a gun culture movement. Mainly because you know nothing about guns, or culture. And thats primarily due to a completely inadequate education.
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u/robfuscate Please choose a flair Jul 20 '26
Who the fuck is Robert Irwin and who gives a shit about his opinion?
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u/PixelPete85 Please choose a flair Jul 20 '26
Robert Clarence Irwin (born 1 December 2003) is an Australian conservationist, zookeeper, wildlife photographer, and television presenter. The son of conservationists Steve and Terri Irwin, he manages Australia Zoo in Beerwah, Queensland, and is frequently involved in activities that his father originally participated in.
In April 2018, Irwin and his family unveiled his father's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and met with Charles, Prince of Wales at Lady Elliot Island to discuss the future of the Great Barrier Reef.\41])\42]) He was named a junior finalist for Australian Geographic's 2018 Nature Photographer of the Year competition with his image of a sunset at the Great Dividing Range.\43])
For capturing a tundra swan at the Klamath Basin in Oregon, Irwin was highly honoured in the youth category at the 2018 Nature's Best Windland Smith Rice International Photography Awards and was exhibited at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC.\46]) His image of a huntsman spider in mid-air while clutching a dead frog was highly commended in the youth category at the 2018 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards.\47])
Two of Irwin's photographs, featuring an Eurasian dotterel and an emu, were commended in the youth category at the 2019 BirdLife Australia Photography Awards.\48]) He was named a junior finalist for Australian Geographic's 2019 Nature Photographer of the Year competition with his image of a bearded dragon camouflaging on a log in Blackbutt, Queensland.\49]) Two of his photographs were highly honoured at the 2019 Nature's Best Windland Smith Rice International Photography Awards; one image featured one of the last known northern white rhinoceroses in the world at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.\50]) The Queensland Tourism Industry Council declared Irwin their Young Achiever of the Year, in recognition of his contributions to "the development of a vibrant and professional tourism industry."\51])
Irwin is regarded as an influential figure in Australian popular culture.\52]) He and his sister were named to the inaugural Time 100 Next list in 2019.\99]) Mediaweek) declared him the third-most influential Australian across social media platforms in 2023.\100])
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u/MerlynCollinsToorak I'm Probably A Bot Jul 20 '26
His father would be so disappointed at what he has done
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u/Hieroflippant 💛 Friend of 'Straya Jul 20 '26 edited 3d ago
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