Why Don’t You Want to Pay a Subscription?
I’ve been diving deep into the world of AI filmmaking lately, specifically researching how to create cinematic videos using software like OpenArt. I find that the things it can do, are like magic, simply because the only hope an underpaid scriptwriter has to ever become a filmmaker is zero, so I decide…well, why not do it with AI?
So I began…watching YouTube videos on how to create cinematic AI films.
But whenever I clicked on a YouTube tutorial to learn the ropes, the comment sections left me completely baffled.
Instead of people discussing prompts, lighting, or cinematic consistency, there is always a massive uproar. A crowd of angry users in the comments, constantly hurling insults at the YouTubers, calling them “scammers” and frauds.
Their crime? Recommending software that isn’t free. The entitlement is wild. There is this aggressive demand that these advanced tools should cost absolutely nothing. People are genuinely furious that they have to pull out a card to pay for a monthly subscription. And it makes me wonder: when did the tech world become a social welfare department?
AI is not the government. It is not a charity organisation or a philanthropy project designed to hand out gifts.
These software are game-changing tools that are completely disrupting industries like filmmaking and content creation. If you use them wisely, with actual artistic intent, they can make you a massive amount of money. The developers on the other side of these platforms are human beings trying to earn a living from a product they spent millions of dollars, time, and intellectual energy building. You can call them “greedy corporations” all you want, but it makes sense right? Because, well, since they are so greedy and rich, let them give it to us for free because we are so poor!
Oh dear, you want to use their hard work to fund your own passion, your own businesses, and your own wallet. Expecting them to fund your dreams for free doesn’t make any logical sense.
The reality is that modern society has become so accustomed to “free” things
Free social media
Free movies
Free downloads
Free Free Free!
We have completely lost our appreciation for what these tools actually give us.
And you know what it gives us?
liberty!
And you know what you give back?
Nothing!
You have taken far more from AI than you have ever given back to society.
We are surrounded by AI breakthroughs every single day. It is embedded in the smartphones we hold, the algorithms that entertain us on social media, the navigation systems we use, and the medical breakthroughs saving lives globally. Ninety-nine per cent of the time, the average person enjoys the benefits of this massive tech ecosystem for free without even realising it.
Yet, the moment a specialised, AI creative tool requires a token financial commitment to access, people flip the script and act like the worst is being asked of them, as though someone is trying to rip them off.
If you are going to create using free tools, you are going to be a mediocre creator, unable to compete with the guys who pull out their cards to pay for the best features AI has to offer.
And you know what?
AI isn’t the problem here. You are.
The Danger Of Not Evolving
To understand why people choose to ignore AI, we have to look at how people choose to interact with technology. I will give you a perfect analogy using my father.
Back in the early 2000s, my dad bought a regular Nokia torchlight phone. Now, there was a lot he could have stretched himself to learn on that device; how to type and send text messages, how to navigate the settings, how to play the built-in games but he chose to learn exactly one thing: how to dial a number and make a phone call. That was it.
He didn’t bother learning anything else because he knew he had a crutch to fall back on. His crutches were his children and the people living around him. Whenever he needed to send a text message, he would simply call one of us to do it for him. He refused to expand his knowledge because his relationship with his phone was protected by his crutch.
Fast forward about twenty years later. My sister bought him his very first smartphone and history repeated itself. He immediately defaulted back to what suited him. He learned how to make calls, and surprisingly, he learned how to navigate to a sports betting app so he could check predictions and monitor his games, a betting habit common among many Nigerian men.
He mastered the betting app because it directly served his immediate interest: Money and Gambling.
But when it came to anything else, replying to a basic WhatsApp message, buying internet data, or taking a photo, he immediately reached for his old crutch. He would call on his children to handle the “complicated” stuff. He was entirely capable of learning it, after all, he figured out the betting app on his own but he simply chose not to stretch his mind.
This is the same loop happening in the AI world today.
The people who are the most terrified of AI taking over the world, the ones screaming the loudest that AI is going to steal everyone’s livelihood, are almost always the ones who have flatly refused to evolve. They are scared of what AI can do because they are standing completely still while the world is moving forward.
It is exactly like holding a powerful smartphone in your hands and only using it to make phone calls.
AI is incredibly broad. It is a vast landscape of opportunity. Today, you can sit right inside your living room, open a mobile phone, and do absolute magic that can turn you into a millionaire. The barrier to entry for high-level execution has never been this low. All you need to have is curiosity and a tad bit of time to learn.
I mean, we are humans, we always have to learn something anyway, even top executives who stop learning stop getting promoted soon.
Stop leaning, you die!
A Sprinkle Of Curiosity
We have a wave of people enthusiastic about AI and another wave of people who look at this new era, wrinkle their noses in disgust, and refuse to learn, they fall behind. They choose to hate the tool, some choose to ignore it, others are afraid of it and here comes the death of curiosity.
To learn anything, there has to be some trigger of curiosity and a “What is this?” Question.
“But AI is going to be the end of the world” you say? Look at our Instagram timelines flooded with sickening images of AI art.
Yes, I know. AI has its disruptive and chaotic elements just as every single revolution does and I hope, someday, there are going to be some government regulations around AI to stop some of the craziness but you have to admit, this thing called AI, holds an overwhelming amount of good for those who are willing to adapt. Refusing to evolve in an AI-driven world isn’t taking a righteous stand; it is a direct path to obsolescence. If you choose to remain static, the world will leave you behind, and you won’t have a crutch to blame for it.
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