And their prices are 15-30% higher than any place else. And their customer service sucks. And the only employees are high school kids because they only pay minimum wage. And their hours are 8:30 am - 4:30 pm, Mon-Fri, so you have to take time off work just to go there.

At least that's how it is for me where I live. It's a wonder any of them are still in business. The saddest part is, most of them say shit like, "Well at least we don't have Bidenomics to worry about anymore. Things were way worse then."

You're not the only one bothered by this. But I'm having a hard time drawing a line in the sand for some of my favorite places.

Eh. They think it's much better than what they had, and probably can't tell it's AI generated. They paid a local "graphic designer" or even had their kid do it.

The more "mom and pop" they are, the more I forgive them.

Local chain restaurants should know better than to use AI images on their menu, though. Not that I eat out anymore.

If you're a regular there, I think it's reasonable to contact them and say that you go there often and are bothered by the AI. "I started coming here regularly because it felt authentic". "You guys don't feel authentic anymore, and I'm disappointed" or more strongly "and I'm thinking of taking my business someplace that cares enough about their customers to put in the effort." "I wish you'd go back to the way you used to do things." Etc.

Assuming we're really talking about a small business, it's very possible someone will listen.

I reach out to small businesses all the time working on OpenStreetMap, and (obviously with selection bias for the ones who respond) they're usually just pretty nice-seeming people trying their best with what they have.

Edit: One thing I think I should've emphasized isn't just to say "please stop using AI" but that specifically "I liked it better the way you used to do it." or outright, with no comparison, "I liked the way you used to do it". "It made you unique." That is, give them a concrete alternative. For a lot of people, AI, like plagiarism (because it is), is a tool used when someone thinks their voice isn't good enough. It helps to try to convince them that it is enough and that they not only don't need AI but that it's harming the unique identity you enjoyed by making them blend in with everyone else.

Edit 2: I didn't think to include this before, but like obviously, be honest. If it won't upend your business there, don't say that it will; consider real effects it'll have, like "I don't know that I want to recommend this to friends anymore." If you've only been there five times, don't be afraid to say that; "I've shopped/eaten/whatever at your establishment several times, and [...]". If you're asking somebody to be authentic, you not only owe it to them to do the same, but it's probably a more effective strategy. They'll probably be more moved by Bobby Jones (43) who likes to come in for a burger every couple months after work and just doesn't like the vibe anymore than their biggest fan they've never seen, the oilman in from Dallas who spends $20,000/month at their establishment and is so simply appalled that they cannot in good conscience return until the Burger Shack de-lobotomizes their mascot design.

I’m mostly bothered that they for some reason always have that unsettling trypophobia filter.

This is just another thing on the list of thigs that I dont like business doing.

Slop advertising itself is not enough to stop me supporting local business, but it is a mark against them should competition ever arrive.

I'm not bothered. They are small local shops. The owners are shopkeepers and not graphic designers. Graphic design is hard, not everybody can do that on their own. Many of them have trouble maintaining even a basic website with their opening hours. Many shops do not have the budget to hire a graphic designer for every task.

There now is a tech that allows them to create reasonably good looking signs. And that is fine.

ohnoaihowterrible

get over yourself

It would bother me too.

But not to the point of withdrawing my support, assuming their business has nothing to do with IT and AI otherwise.

Doing your posters with AI nowadays is the same as using ClipArt+ComicSans in days of yore.
OK, it's not exactly the same. So then I'd have explain it to them. "Forgive them for they know not what they do."

That said, I rarely support business just because it's local and small. There needs to be at least one more reason. I have seen too many local & small businesses & owners that exploit and pollute and corrupt just like their big counterparts.

There now is a tech that allows them to create reasonably good looking signs

There already was

Yeah and people have always bitched about handwritten signs. Signs made with a typewriter. Signs made with MS Publisher or Word Art and Comic Sans.

Not sure why you were downvoted, when what you said is true.
Many small businesses ride the razor's edge in finances, and if AI can help even just a little, I see nothing wrong with it.

Edit after a few days:
All these downvotes, yet no discussion. Nothing to back up the reasons.
Is it really as simple as, "wahhh, AI bad, me no like comment"?

Listen, do I like that AI data centers are chewing up resources left and right, and is sucking in everything anyone has ever done online in past 30 years since the Internet went public?
No, of course not.
Large companies need to put some serious brakes on expansion, and should scale back what is already in place.

But do I also see some good that AI can deliver? Yes I can.

If some medical company comes out tomorrow with a novel new drug that could safely eliminate the autoimmune disease that I, and thousands of others, suffer with, and they said, "This new drug was created and successfully tested by AI, and has been 100% peer approved.", am I going to turn it down solely because AI was involved?
Not a chance.

Life is binary there can be no nuance

I don't like it, but big corps are already getting away with it so I'm not judging too harshly.

Yeah, using AI art for advertisements etc is lower bar than amateur throwing stuff together in paint, gimp, inkscape or some random office software.

Seeing as you didn't make the meme and it's been around for a while, obviously not

I expect higher prices when I'm trying to shop local. I know they can't compete on price. I'm willing to pay the premium specifically to support small business.

Sure, restricted hours kind of suck, but like...I'm not going to hold wanting to find work/life balance against them.

Customer service is hit or miss anywhere. Really, I think the idea of customer service has mostly gone out the window everywhere. It sucks because HS kids (and anyone else working these jobs) aren't being taught these skills. With a small business, at least I can have a nice little conversation with the owner even if they're socially awkward. People skills are hard. Obviously there is a line in there somewhere that goes into shitty service or bad attitude.

I do plenty of shopping at chains, but it's important to me to throw money at small businesses. I've watched my city grow a lot in the last 30 years and the only thing keeping it interesting are the local businesses.

I'm bothered, but i can't fully blame them, as they probably have someone else did it for them. I've seen a lot of sign/poster/banner designer these day used AI to do the graphic and print, they stopped offering designing since they've figured out they can do this easily. So people who need stuff made and printed either have their stuff made with AI, or they have to do it themselves.

I've seen designer made a simple "now hiring" sign with AI, which result in shit silhouette that isn't readable far, instead of simply "NOW HIRING" with whatever design software. Design is dead.

Instant walkout. If they’ve already started a dialogue, I (respectfully) let them know why I’m not buying—otherwise I don’t bother. I’d literally rather see a shitty MS Paint drawing than an AI generated picture.

Gonna be every single one very soon. No one has PC skills anymore to make photos. Sad but hey, signmakers are all long dead now too.

Local is still better than giving your money to evil corp.
And honestly, local shops struggle against bigger corps. They don't have graphic design artists on hand to make posters. What are you expecting them to do.
The shops that don't have AI generated posters usually have menus and posters that are years out of date because it costs too much to update them.

Couldn't they simply take some pictures of the items/services they provide? Then PowerPoint all that shit together in a pleasing format? You dont need to hire Picasso for fucks sake.

Im with you! Unfortunately, a lot of small business owners are the most capitalist minded people around. That was a very sad revelation for me in my earlier adulthood. Just gotta keep searching for the good ones because they are around.

I mean, I still shop those places when I can. But it's usually extra effort for a worse experience.

I reject the idea that shopping at a business is "support". Like buying chicken nuggets at the gas station is some kind of civic responsibility; I'm a patron.

Capitalists have actually convinced people that shopping is a moral act. In America, we don't protest in the street. We burn our Nikes in a Tic Tock.

We live in a capitalist society. Money equals power. Giving a place your money effectively contributes to their power. Unfortunately that means it's not entirely unreasonable to equate patronage with support and it's generally reasonable to draw moral conclusions based on what people support.

Obviously it shouldn't be the only or primary way we engage in activism, but boycotting or shifting patronage is a reasonable part of a political movement under capitalism. Sometimes patronage cannot be helped, but we should do what we can to support places (sometimes financially) that best align with our morals.

Actually wtf lmao. Capitalists just want your money, they don't give a fuck about morals.

By purchasing a product, you are directly financially supporting whoever you purchase said product from. The profits from that transaction will contribute to them being able to continue their business.

This is like, really incredibly basic shit. Are you real??

Are you using ai to write this??

Edit: asking because of the emdash but I respect that the op is not an AI. I just had to ask 🤣

I’m using i to write this.

I have way more respect for chicken scratch drawn with a Sharpie on a piece of cardboard than AI “art.”

Powerpoint isn't free. And using it is not simple. Small busniess owners often work substantially more than 40 hours a week. Looking down on them because they didn't want to spend another 5 or more hours learning powerpoint seems pretty entitled.

If we talk about groceries - from my experience there’s no reason to shop at big chains if there is a farmers market nearby. I bring my own reusable packaging for solid stuff and bottles for milk and juice. And people who run it are usually chill and just doing their thing.

But as we venture into tech territory - it becomes really muddy, many of people running small IT businesses in here are pompous arses. Like dude runs some musty basement and thinks of himself a Bill Gates.

FN A BROTHER

They never built a clip art data center in my backyard.

Plus you still had to creative use the clip art. So there was human assembly there. Plus a human most definitely created the clip art in the first place.

So overall, not really the same

Just checking because of the emdash 🤣

Yup, I genuinely refuse to support businesses actively using AI.

Yep, I’d bail too. Support no one that uses AI where a human could have done the work. Local or not- fuck them.

I am too

I did let a place I go semi regularly know that I choose not to eat dessert recently because their dessert menu had all AI images. The next time I was there the specials were just text (like their standard menu)

I honestly had no idea apparently some people pay for PowerPoint. 🤣

I'm sure there is an open source equivalent.

Dude... alt-gr+dash, or cmd+dash or alt+dash depending on your flavor of OS/keyboard layout.
The whole em-dash = ai is so annoying to me cause I've been using em-dashes way before LLMs came to spoil the fun.

forreal, it's one of my favorite ways to break up a sentence. it's also stupid to accuse of Ai for one piece of grammar, when there's typically multiple tells to pay attention to when it comes to Ai.

let's not forget that llms were originally trained on human-made text too. we are the ones who made the patterns first. llms simply regurgitate it

No wtf?

I’m on an iPhone, which autocorrects two dashes (- -) to an emdash.

That's why I ask! I respect that real people use it. It's a valid punctuation

Damn I'm missing that "ugly" stuff made in Paint and typed in Comic Sans more and more every day.

You are not alone. Its a surefire way of telling me they do not give a shit about their business. Its honestly nice that AI makes it easier to spot ;)

There needs to be some respectful images that you can reply with on social media when you see local businesses using AI images just to make the point that if they wont hire local for their advertising why should I shop local to keep them in business.

I recently saw a local store with "we have the best fruit" handwritten on a piece of paper. I don't think the alternative of AI poster is a poster designed by a local artist for them. It's AI poster or no poster at all. You may prefer no poster but I'm not bothered by AI in such cases.