r/pittsburgh • u/RockosModernBasiIisk • 1d ago
No ai slop at the coffee tree
I just wanted to show some appreciation to the coffee tree in Fox chapel because it seems like they've stayed away from the ai "art" fad happening at the moment. their iced white mocha is very addictive I can't stop drinking it honestly I should chill. (at least I get skim milk and half sweet so could be worse I guess)
do you know any businesses in Pittsburgh still resisting the ai slop bs?
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u/mCitrine 1d ago
don't get me wrong, i love to be a hater, but would love to see more celebrations like this on my feed than ai slop reposted to hate on ❤
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u/Narwhals4Lyf 1d ago
One of my faves is Cookies Creamery up on Babcock. Beautiful hand painted windows changed out often. Not sure who the artist is.
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u/MDCLXX Sharpsburg 1d ago
My partner does those windows! She’s on IG, “Jazz_it_up_art”, she’ll be elated to read this comment
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u/Betty_PunCrocker Homestead 14h ago
I just checked her IG and I am blown away! Tell your partner I am LIVING for her Beetlejuice painting!!!
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u/RockosModernBasiIisk 1d ago
Let's find out who some of these artists are and celebrate their contributions to our community. You really don't know what you have until it's gone.
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u/The_Year_of_Glad O'Hara 1d ago
This is your reminder that Coffee Tree’s owners went out of their way to try and fight an (ultimately successful) unionization drive a few years ago.
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u/RockosModernBasiIisk 1d ago
I also heard they were stealing employees tips so im not making an ad for them or anything like that. I like their employees and want them to do well. I don't know the owners but I've heard not great things about them. At least they don't use ai but yes they probably did use an under paid employee to make the art.
They have room for improvement for sure.
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u/Cannachem237 1d ago
They still use AI.... Just not where you can see
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u/RockosModernBasiIisk 1d ago
Well at least they put a little effort into not making it look like such obvious slop. Some of their menu pictures do look kind of like ai but it's not super obvious unless you are really looking for it.
I think they realize people don't like that shit.
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u/Existential_Sprinkle 14h ago
They promoted one of their main union leaders to manager which was one of their strongest union busting moves from what I heard
They lost one of their strongest contract negotiators
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u/5pooky5cary5keleton5 1d ago
Small business owners take note. If I ever see ai in your advertising or menu, I will be going somewhere else. A lot of people feel the same.
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u/nunnies 1d ago
One downside to this spot is that every morning, a group of wealthy, older guys who are all MAGA supporters end up taking over the whole seating area. Unbearable to enjoy anything in there while they are present.
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u/RockosModernBasiIisk 1d ago
Yeah I see those guys. I honestly didn't know they were maga, no red maga hats or anything, but I can't say I'm really surprised either.
I just go hang out by the window on the other side near the espresso machine and talk to the employees who are all really nice.
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u/jtbrandan_1 1d ago
This phenomenon occurs in many cafes and coffeeshops. The Mt Lebo SBUX on Cochran had its bunch for a long time in the oughts and teens.
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u/creampuff_carmilla 1d ago
I hated those guys. They brought a cardboard cutout of trump into the cafe a few years ago
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u/SamPost 1d ago
I am not sure this minor virtue begins to override their incredible anti-union, anti-worker ownership.
You can google the news stories, or search Reddit for the details, but giving them any of my money makes me feel dirty.
Also, this account history seems a lot like a bot account. And sneaking in a little product promo like this is the kind of sneaky thing they do. Wouldn't it be ironic if the AI was using anti-AI sentiment to trick us?
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u/jinreeko Dormont 1d ago
Was gonna say, Coffee Tree Roasters makes alright coffee but I'm pretty sure their management are a bunch of assholes
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u/RockosModernBasiIisk 1d ago
I agree with what you're saying but you're being a bit paranoid. I'm not a bot. I'm not sure how you expect me to prove that.
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u/SamPost 1d ago
So you post little one-liners on a zillion unrelated boards to get some karma, but your first real post is cheerleading for the "addictive iced white mocha" at a place where you admit you knowing they are stealing the employee tips - not to mention the horrendous union situation?
At this point, if you are not a bot (and I am doubling down on that), you should question your own decisions. Maybe delete the post. That would be persuasive.
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u/dashingappalachian 1d ago
I used to work at Fox Chapel Caribou Coffee (RIP) and I was HONORED when I got to write anything on the boards with the fancy chalk markers. Of course, that was 15-20 years ago and I didn't even have a smart phone, so I could not have imagined the signage horrors of the future.
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u/GordonShumway69420 1d ago edited 1d ago
do you know any businesses in Pittsburgh still resisting the ai slop bs?
Spoiler: OP is also bot. Anytime anyone ends a social media post with a simple question soliciting responses, they're a bot.
Look at OP's post history, a bunch of random 1 sentence replies in big subreddits to build karma and legitimacy, and also posts in r/AIIncomeLab. Kind of weird someone against AI would regularly post there, no?
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u/torcsandantlers Brighton Heights 1d ago
You have to remember that AI is trained on how real people use the internet. People are going to use structures that are identified as AI, because AI got those structures from people. Kind of like how we both ended a comment with a question soliciting a response, right?
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u/dr_xenon 1d ago
That sounds like something a bot would say to draw attention away from themselves. How do we know you’re not a bot?
You’ve determined they’re a bot because they asked a question. Seems like you’d need more evidence than that.
Head over to askreddit if you wanna see some bot accounts.
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u/GordonShumway69420 1d ago
Look at OP's post history, a bunch of random 1 sentence replies in big subreddits to build karma and legitimacy, and also posts in r/AIIncomeLab. Kind of weird someone against AI would regularly post there, no?
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u/mikeyHustle North Point Breeze 1d ago
I mean, just as likely a human karma farmer, but that's also something to call out.
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u/dr_xenon 1d ago
Lots of people post replies in the big subreddits - that’s why those subreddits are big! Some replies only need a line or two.
OP seems to have plenty of original posts in smaller niche subreddits as well - guns, coins, rocks, etc. Their account seems to have more human activity than yours does.
u/RockosModernBasilisk - are you a bot? Please provide a photo of yourself with a terrible towel while eating a fish sammich on Carson street to prove you’re human.
u/GordonShumway69420 - please do the same.
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1d ago
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u/ang3lofsnow 1d ago
A bot wouldn't be able to currently tell a location is using AI or not. It would be more broad instead of name dropping and location.
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u/Far_Application1419 1d ago
You got me curious. Their profile says 5m old, which I'm guessing is 5 months. Idk fam, it kinda seems like a real person looking at their other posts.
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u/PriorFortune1 1d ago
99% of bot accusations on reddit are real people. It's incredibly annoying. Most of the time it's just shitty trolls getting mad that someone disagrees with them and finding lazy ways to claim they must be a bot.
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u/RockosModernBasiIisk 1d ago
I'm not a bot but go off Gordon Shumgay lol
You really cracked the case. You're a regular hardy boy, Gordon.
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u/SundayKiefBowls 1d ago
Yeah this proves it. No bot is going to make an ALF reference.
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u/DizzyCardiologist213 1d ago
that was definitely pretty far out, especially turning it into a slap with the M to G spelling change.
Here kitty.....
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u/SundayKiefBowls 1d ago
What if I just want to type like everyone talked in the 80's? It's fun to make every statement sound like a question? Am I also at risk of being labeled a bot?
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u/IndependentDrag7984 11h ago
https://www.instagram.com/slopsburgh?cplk=MWZkZHBzb2U5MjJwMg==
Plug for my friend's Instagram account documenting all the AI slop advertising across the Burgh, just in case anyone has submissions to archive.
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u/sovinod748 1d ago
AI posters is this subs version of bike lanes.
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1d ago edited 1d ago
[deleted]
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u/jvjsbcur 1d ago
it's almost like ai will have an incredibly negative impact on us, our resources and the brain capacity of those using it 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
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1d ago
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u/jvjsbcur 1d ago
getting outraged or getting appropriately fed up? using ai to make flyers is a harmful cop out so yes, people are going to be pissed. yes, that also means we should stop going places who value their personal gain over the collective good. these businesses deserve to be called out and deserve the outrage/loss of business that comes with it.
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u/the_real_xuth Hazelwood 1d ago
There are lots of facets to it. But I wouldn't object if "AI" managed lots of the tedious jobs I have to do, the things that I don't want to look at and deal with. But instead it's sucking the soul out of the world, creating a poor facsimile of the things that we celebrate. Note that I'm not against machine generated art. I've dabbled with variations on machine generated art for 40+ years (and all of the art that I've worked on in the last couple decades has had significant computer aided components). Some of the recent advances in "generative AI" have enabled some genuinely inspired and intriguing things that people can do with machine generated art. But so much of the "AI art" that is produced now really is best described with the term "slop" and I'm really not interested in having it in my life.
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u/CL-MotoTech 1d ago
It remains very novel yet and that’s why it’s poorly used.
When numerical control or the cotton engine or any of the endless other examples started, it was often “it does what we do but worse.”
The world we have today wouldn’t be possible without eventual acceptance of technological change. I am not saying current AI is good or even beneficial, but it’s here and I doubt it’s going away.
How it’s used will be interesting to see in like ten years. Photoshop is widely accepted now, at one point it was hated too.
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u/Dagos Morningside 1d ago
Haha in the art sphere, everyone hates Photoshop. Like we alllll hate those guys and their stupid ass program
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u/CL-MotoTech 1d ago
Lots of people hated the cotton engine too. People revolted against NC. Yet art remains prevelant.
People hate lots of things. Photoshop and Adobe remain staples across many industries. Terrible company and lots of bad things about it, yet it remains.
There’s more art than ever and there’s more digital art than ever. Good or bad.
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u/the_real_xuth Hazelwood 1d ago
Photoshop is widely accepted now, at one point it was hated too.
This is conflating two uses of Photoshop/image editors. The use of image editors to adjust the global contrast or levels (for example) has never been controversial. By contrast the use of image editors to substantially change the content of an image without informing the viewer has never been "widely accepted". The reason this abuse took on the term "Photoshop" was because Photoshop was the first popular tool to make that deception relatively easy to do.
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u/CL-MotoTech 1d ago
That doesn't change the end result of my point. With out NC none of this (the internet, this conversation, the screen you are looking at) would even exist. Yet, detractors complained the same as they are doing about AI.
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u/the_real_xuth Hazelwood 1d ago
And now you're ignoring the key point that I made in my original comment which is that using tools to reduce labor is generally seen as a good thing. Using tools to remove creativity/creative input is generally seen as a negative (especially in the cases where it is taking from others uncredited).
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u/CL-MotoTech 1d ago edited 1d ago
How has NC or the cotton engine reduced or replaced human creativity? Both of which drastically reduced labor in their respective fields.
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u/Loud-Injury-4805 Shaler 1d ago
Sadly, Ruckus has gone all-in with the slop on their website & emails, which is ironic because they're billed as a "coffee gallery," implying some nod to the arts.
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u/Chocobochica 1d ago
I'm super curious about this accusation, since I've been going to Ruckus since they opened.
The photos on their sites are all on plates they actually use, ie the red ones bc red is their color for everything. Like I can look at those photos, having eaten there before dozens of times, and confirm that yes those are the plates, with the ridges & everything. Are there tells or something that you can point to as them definitively using AI? Genuinely asking.
I can't speak to the veracity of the emails since I don't get those.
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u/Loud-Injury-4805 Shaler 1d ago
Making red fiestaware plates via AI is pretty easy. The devil's in the details. The tortilla in the picture of the wrap is incongruous; the shadows & reflections & focus on the page with all the plated cookies don't match up; the lighting on the cover photo is all over the place & the sliced whatever that is is entirely too tidy (including the basil?); the handle on the coffee cup is wrong.
AI is one of those things that sets my Spidey senses off, I just can't explain it. I can spot it from a mile away, though. I blame Highlights for Kids & those damn "find the hidden pictures" games.
ETA: I've been there a bunch, too. Just to hang out & for events, fwiw.
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u/Chocobochica 12h ago
So, no real proof at all.
Ruckus has art all over the walls from local artists, sells prints for said artists, hosts events for local creators/musicians/the arts, and offers free refills on coffee for the county employees who are out clearing the roads in the winter or for DLC employees responding to storm damage that has knocked out power.
No, I don't work there and am not affiliated, but it's good people running a good place. I highly doubt they use AI. I'll take that over your "spidey sense." 🤡
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u/Loud-Injury-4805 Shaler 12h ago
I am very aware of the good deeds the people at Ruckus do, & all the art on the walls, etc etc.. Like I said, I've been there plenty of times as well, for a bunch of events, not just to grab a bite to eat.
It doesn't change the fact that their online presence is full of AI slop.
Not my fault you can't spot it when you see it. Maybe you should sign up for their newsletter & see if any of that seems realistic to you? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
ETA, you asked for "tells", not proof. Don't move the goalposts & you won't have to add the, "I promise I don't work for the company & am not otherwise affiliated," disclaimer next time.
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u/antony1103 Franklin Park 1d ago
True, but their coffee is so much better quality than coffee tree...
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u/PriorFortune1 1d ago
do you know any businesses in Pittsburgh still resisting the ai slop bs?
...almost all of them?
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u/RockosModernBasiIisk 11h ago
I see ai art everywhere so that's definitely not true. "This is your sign" roofing company is particularly egregious and it's everywhere.
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u/creampuff_carmilla 1d ago
Former coffee tree barista here. That was my fav part of the job (art by me)
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u/iammas13 1d ago
Most coffee shops will never use ai slop. Baristas would riot before they even used it on one sign.
The only one ive seen use it is shibam, who seems to be a big fan.
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u/deltawarriors 1d ago
As a barista I agree, but a lot of us also don’t have the power to do anything about it. My cafe was trying to use AI ads for a while until they got really bad customer feedback for it, it had nothing to do with all of us staff telling them it was a bad idea.
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u/bloodygofigure 1d ago
God, I’m so tired of people acting like AI is the downfall of creativity. Not everyone has hundreds of dollars to spend on a graphic designer, marketing agency, or professional artwork. If a 70 yearr old woman running a little bakery can generate a logo in three minutes and use that money to keep her business afloat, why is that such a terrible thing? AI is a tool. That’s it. Just like Photoshop, digital cameras, and countless other technologies that people swore would destroy entire industries. Technology evolves, and so does the way we work.
And before anyone says I’m against artists, I’m not. I work in the printing and design industry. I understand the value of actual talent, experience, and craftsmanship. AI isn’t a perfect replacement for any of that. But pretending it has no legitimate uses simply because it threatens the traditional way of doing things is ridiculous.
There are absolutely valid concerns about copyright, ethics, and how these systems are trained. Those conversations are worth having. But the constant outrage over someone simply using AI is getting exhausting. You don’t have to like AI. You don’t even have to use it. But criticizing a business for embracing one tool while praising another for avoiding it seems like a strange hill to die on.
Adaptation isn’t the death of creativity. Refusing to adapt doesn’t make you more creative, either.
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u/DizzyCardiologist213 1d ago
Straw scenario and false dilemma not needed unless you actually have a case where solvency vs. not is based on ai ad slop.
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u/5pooky5cary5keleton5 15h ago
If the 70 year old bakery owner uses ai to make her logo, there's a logo maker who didn't get hired for that job. Does their business not matter?
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u/GordonShumway69420 12h ago
If a bakery owner fixes their own leaks, there's a plumber who didn't get hired hired for that job. Does their business not matter?
If a driver changes their own oil, there's a auto mechanic that didn't get hired for that job. Does there business not matter?
If a homeowner paints their own house, there's a house painter that didn't get hired for that job. Does there business not matter?
Do you not see how silly that argument sounds? A logo maker isn't some sacred job that deserves to exist just because it already does. If someone can do it on their own, more power to them.
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u/anuncommontruth Bloomfield 1d ago
Pizza Parma hires my friend to do their window paintings and sidewalk signs. They're neat!