The REAL Fight Over AI Art

As an artist (hobbyist, but still invested years in this skill), AI art really doesn't sit well with me. But when I think about it logically, there's no conclusion other than that it's here to stay and that it's fundamentally similar to many other technology-driven revolutions in art that have happened over the past century.

When photography came around, people complained that would ruin the trade of painters. Even without AI, learning digital illustration is dramatically easier now than just 10 years ago thanks to the wealth of great instructive content on YouTube and elsewhere.

My existing art skills still give me a huge advantage over traditionally unskilled AI art creators. I have the ability to use AI results as a basis for painting over, making use of my better ability to articulate and render a vision, while keeping composition, perspective, values, and colours correct. It's a big opportunity for me to expedite brainstorming and thumbnailing.

However, I hope people in general learn to recognize what AI art looks like. I don't buy for a second that "Good AI prompts are just a new different skillset" if it's meant to compare to the skill of an illustrator. Learning text prompt tricks will _never_ be remotely comparable to the dedication, practice, and skill required to learn to sketch and paint. If AI art is passed off as a comparable achievement to illustrating traditionally, to me that's dishonest and is a kind of stolen valor.