AI ‘Artists’ are not artists, there is a big difference between someone creating art and someone typing a few words into an AI to get a picture.
Real art, whether it’s traditional or digital, comes from a person. It takes time, skill, and experience. Artists study anatomy, lighting, color, and composition. They learn through trial and error. Every piece they make reflects their emotions, their perspective, and their life. Even the imperfections are part of the process. It’s a conversation between the artist and their medium, no matter if that medium is paint, charcoal, or a Wacom tablet.
People love to say AI is a tool, like Photoshop. But that’s not entirely true. When you use Photoshop or Procreate, you’re still doing the work. You’re making thousands of decisions. You’re drawing, painting, blending, adjusting. You’re creating. The software just helps you do it faster or cleaner. It’s still your hand, your eye, and your intent.
AI doesn’t work like that. With AI, you write a prompt and the machine spits out an image. You’re not making creative decisions, you’re reacting to what the machine gives you. You’re not guiding a vision, you’re picking something from a menu. It’s like ordering from a vending machine. You didn’t cook the meal, you just pressed a button. The real work was done by the people who trained the model, and by the countless artists whose work it scraped and learned from, often without consent.
That’s why AI-generated images aren’t the same as art. They can look impressive, and they can be fun to mess with. They can even be useful as tools. But they’re not art in the same way. They don’t come from a place of emotion, effort, or growth. They don’t reflect the mind or heart of a creator. They’re simulations of art, based on what already exists.
So yes, AI does have its uses, but it shouldn’t be treated as a replacement for real artists. And someone who types a prompt into a machine isn’t an artist. They’re a user. The tool did the creating. They just pressed the button.
But, you say, what if you can’t draw or afford an artist? If you’re someone using AI because you can’t afford commissions or you’re just trying to get your ideas out there, I get it. The world isn’t always kind to people who want to create but don’t have the tools, time, or money. It makes sense that AI looks like a good option. It’s fast, it’s accessible, and it can be exciting to see your vision come to life in some form.
If you’re using AI because you love art, because you have ideas, or because you want to learn, then you’re already on the right track. You have the spark. You care about creating. And that matters more than any tool or algorithm.
The issue is not that people use AI. The issue is when people start calling themselves artists for typing prompts. Or when they claim the work as their own. Or when they say AI is the future of art and we no longer need real artists. That mindset devalues the time, effort, and humanity that goes into making something by hand, by thought, by heart.
If you’re drawn to AI because you want to learn, I encourage you to take the next step. Use it as a jumping-off point, not the destination. Study what you like about the images. Try sketching a version of it. Learn what makes it work. You don’t have to be amazing right away. Nobody is. But you’ll be building something real. You’ll be growing.
And if you can’t afford to commission an artist, that’s okay. Most artists understand what it’s like to struggle. There are communities out there that do trades, offer freebies, or have lower-cost options. You can also support artists by sharing their work, crediting them, and respecting what they do.
The point is, if you care about art, it’s worth respecting where it comes from. AI is a tool. It’s not evil on its own. But it becomes a problem when it replaces people, or when we forget the difference between pressing a button and pouring your soul into a piece.
Art is human. That’s the magic. And if you feel inspired by AI, don’t stop there. Use that feeling to start making something of your own. It doesn’t matter if it’s messy. It’s yours. And that means more than any perfect image an algorithm could ever generate.
If you want help learning, there are people who will gladly help you get started. You don’t have to walk that road alone.
There’s another side to all this that’s worth looking at, especially if you care about the future of creativity. AI art isn’t just about pretty pictures or fast results. There are real dangers when it goes unregulated, and a lot of people don’t realize what they’re stepping into.
First, there’s the problem of misinformation and deepfakes. AI image tools can already generate realistic photos of events that never happened, people who don’t exist, or famous faces in places they’ve never been. It’s not just funny fake memes anymore. We’re seeing entire fake news stories built around AI images. This can hurt real people. It can ruin reputations. It can even mess with elections or public trust.
Then there’s the environmental cost. Training these AI models takes a massive amount of computing power. That means server farms burning through electricity, contributing to emissions and using up resources just to generate content that often gets tossed aside in seconds. It’s easy to forget, but the digital world still has a footprint. And it’s getting bigger every time we rely on AI to flood the internet with new images that no one asked for.
There’s also the damage it can do to your own creativity. When you let a machine make all the decisions, you stop making them yourself. It gets easier to say, “good enough” and move on. You don’t learn how to work through creative blocks. You don’t get better at problem-solving or experimenting. The tool starts to shape you, instead of the other way around.
That doesn’t mean using AI will instantly ruin your imagination. But if you use it as a shortcut every time, you miss out on the growth that comes from doing the work. You stop developing the voice that only you have. Over time, it gets harder to tell what’s really yours.
And let’s not forget the harm it causes to working artists. A lot of AI art is trained on real people’s work without permission. It’s not a “style reference.” It’s scraping, copying, and reusing the results of someone else’s labor. That’s not inspiration. That’s exploitation. When companies can flood the market with AI images, they stop hiring real artists. And that means fewer opportunities for the people who make art their life.
If we don’t push for regulation and respect, this stuff will keep growing unchecked. It will get easier to fake reality. Harder to find truth. And harder for real creators to survive.
So if you care about art, if you care about truth, and if you care about creativity itself, this matters. AI can be a tool. But it needs limits. It needs oversight. And it needs us to remember the difference between what looks real and what is real.
Because the future of creativity depends on whether we protect the people behind it.
I say all this not as someone who’s anti-tech. Quite the opposite. I’ve been deeply into AI and machine learning since the early days of chatbots in the early 2000s. I’ve watched this tech grow from silly little programs that could barely hold a conversation to incredibly powerful systems that can write stories, generate voices, and create images in seconds.
I’ve always believed in the potential of AI. It can do amazing things. It can help with accessibility, automate repetitive tasks, and make certain types of work faster or more efficient. That potential is real. I still believe in it.
But what we’re seeing now isn’t responsible innovation. It’s misuse. It’s abuse. And it’s being driven by profit, not creativity.
The companies behind these tools aren’t building them to help artists or storytellers. They’re training them on stolen content, pushing them into every industry they can, and laying people off in the name of “efficiency.” They flood platforms with AI-generated material, drowning out real voices and making it harder for anyone to build a name or make a living. And the users are being sold a dream: that you don’t have to learn, or grow, or hire anyone. Just press a button and you’re an artist now.
I’m not saying this to shame anyone. I get why people use it. I’ve used AI tools myself. I know how useful they can be. I know how tempting it is when you’re stuck on an idea or when you just want something fast. This isn’t a callout. It’s a conversation.
I want people to understand what’s happening beneath the surface. To see how this tech is shaping the way we think about creativity, ownership, and truth. To realize that just because you can do something doesn’t mean it’s good for you, or for the people around you.
Because if we don’t talk about this now, we’re going to lose more than just jobs. We’re going to lose trust in what we see and hear. We’re going to lose the value of human effort. We’re going to lose the messy, beautiful, personal side of what it means to create something.
So if you’re using AI tools, just take a step back and think. Ask yourself what you’re building. Ask who it helps and who it hurts. Ask what you want your role to be in this creative ecosystem.
You don’t have to throw the tools away. Just don’t forget what makes your voice matter in the first place.
And if you’re curious, confused, or unsure where the lines are, you’re not alone. I’m happy to talk about it. Not to preach, but to share, to help, and to keep the human part of this conversation alive.
Because we need more of that now than ever.
“The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers.”
— Sydney J. Harris