Fuck AI

I (and my actual artist wife, whose opinion on this I value more) view AI image generators as a tool.

I'd say akin to a camera. Photography is still an art form today, but you see MANY pictures that aren't art too. Because it's now accessable and easy to use.

AI image generators is much the same, in that it's very accessable, and so you do see a lot of actual slop.

But I've seen some techniques that are either only possible with AI (functional QR code art) or use AI as only part of a process (fractals mixed in with perhaps Photoshop/Krita/Gimp and then hand printed or such).

Of course most importantly, I think, is that an AI image generator doesn't stop people from making art. You are free to do draw, make collage, create sculptures, etc. People who use it purely to make a thing they want to see, are nearly always, if not always, people who wouldn't have wanted to make it themselves in the first place (or can't). Much like how you might get a craving for a pizza but might just get a cheap frozen one rather than making one yourself from scratch (which can be very expensive too).

Unlike the example, if you want a picture of a painting, a piece of paper and a free pencil won't achieve that - you still do need the acrylics (assuming you're not wanting something that has specific colors outside of acrylic paints like tempera), canvas, a stand, and of course, months to years of skill depending on natural talent. Much like it you want a pizza from true scratch, you need to know not only how to proof dough and bake, but grow wheat, husking and milling it, grow tomatoes, turn milk into cheese, cure meat, etc.

Or you can but a frozen pizza created by a machine. It won't be as good, but it'll be pizza and takes a fraction of the time.

Oh, and he's an example of the QR code AI art I mentioned which a human can't do by hand: