Many Procreate users can breathe a sigh of relief now that the popular iPad illustration app has taken a definitive stance against generative AI. “We’re not going to be introducing any generative AI into our products,” Procreate CEO James Cuda said in a video posted to X. “I don’t like what’s happening to the industry, and I don’t like what it’s doing to artists.”
The best-case scenario is that it all goes smoothly, and most customers aren’t even aware of the switch. But the project’s real worth won’t be tested until years later — when, Apple hopes, it sets the stage for a better iPhone.
For many archivists, alarm bells are ringing. Across the world, they are scraping up defunct websites or at-risk data collections to save as much of our digital lives as possible. Others are working on ways to store that data in formats that will last hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of years.
The endeavor raises complex questions. What is important to us? How and why do we decide what to keep—and what do we let go?
And how will future generations make sense of what we’re able to save?
Is Apple playing the long game with modems, or are they forced to play a long game with modems?
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