I don’t make AI art, but I have a LOT of problems with Anti-AI mindset.
First of all, it’s bold of them to assume I don’t also support traditional/digital art. (I have a friend who does all three, and often combines methods). I draw traditionally and digitally because I’m not very good at AI art. I know exactly what I want and I find it easier to just draw what’s in my head, than trying to explain it through several different prompts. The key here is *that’s my preference*, not a rule for how other people should make art. If they don’t want to use AI for art, that’s fine! No one’s forcing them. What I take issue with is *they* don’t want to, and they *try to force it on everyone else*.
It’s also largely hypocritical. They talk about how data centers are messing up the environment, but AI data centers aren’t the only ones to exist: X, Instagram, Reddit, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+/Hulu, pretty much every major social media and streaming services use data centers. There have been more efforts to make data centers more environmentally friendly (ie. using air for cooling instead of water) but if you’re really that concerned about your carbon footprint, I would stop using streaming and social media altogether.
And AI doesn’t “steal” art. It learns *concepts*, it doesn’t *cut and paste*. I could go into a long, detailed, technical explanation on why, but I’m pretty sure everyone here knows why. Are you telling me, as a “Perfect Artist” that you’ve never *once* used another picture to learn form, anatomy or a certain drawing style without permission from the original artist? I find this argument especially ironic coming from people who “desloppify” AI art (taking a piece of AI art and drawing over it or making their own version). By their own logic, “desloppifyers” are stealing art that AI stole. (Even though it didn’t, but whatever.)
And then there’s that whole inspiration porn such as, “this person doesn’t have hands, so they draw with their feet”. Okay, good for them, I guess, but not all disabilities are the same. I can walk most of the time, but I have hypotonia (low muscle tone from being a premie) and a turned-in femur. I need a wheelchair to get around bigger places like theme parks because I tire more easily than your average person. By their logic, there’s no excuse for me to use a wheelchair because I “technically can walk”. I’m not saying AI art is the only way a disabled person can make art, but it can make it easier for some people if they choose. If I were better at prompting, I would probably use it, too.
Let me know if I’m missing other major arguments that Antis make, but I think I’ve covered the main three.