At least I’ve made some observation about the world and expressed it in a creative way (using an established template). That’s five times as much creative effort than AI image posters.
It’s funny that you focus so much on the Custer’s Revenge part, since that literally took the least effort.
I agree that using the meme wasn’t too much of an effort. But I consider the creative process I had to be:
Make an observation that the AI Image ideas are lazy.
Think of an appropriate meme format that fits my opinion on the matter.
Create the meme without a watermark (that’s more technical than creative)
Think of an atrocity that’s not too much in bad taste (I don’t want to make fun of the Armenian genocide). That’s literally the last few seconds before I posted.
That’s it. Making the observation and finding an established term to express that in the context of a specific community is IMHO way more creative than being the n-th person to think “wouldn’t it be fucked up if Disney made this?”
I don’t want to claim that creating the right image is no effort.
I want to focus on the creative part of the process where the message is expressed. Internet memes are almost by definition low effort to create, since anyone can use a meme-generator or use an image creation tool to use a well established template. That means you can focus on the message/observation that the image should convey.
I can’t paint that well, but I can make jokes about observations I make. That is what I consider to be the creative process that matters in meme communities, since the actual images are ripped from stock images or pop culture.
AI art makes it possible to create images that most people wouldn’t be able to create by hand (or more traditional image creation software). But that part isn’t really important in meme communities, where the form is less important that the message.
It’s kind of the problem with AIs in a nutshell: All form, no context or meaning.
I’m glad that you get my point. Yet, I don’t want to be too gatekeep-y with the status of a “meme” (I really like the original concept, since it is a very useful… meme).
I really want to focus on the message to be brought across. And in most AI generated images I perceive a very lazy thought process behind the idea.
Check out my AI generated movie poster of Custer's Revenge! (feddit.de)