A Case For AI

I know this is going to be controversial particularly where I am seeing SO much pushback on anything Art and AI related. But. Read on a bit. I have things to say and maybe this will make you rethink your position.

When Artists Feel Threatened by AI — And Why I Don’t

There’s a lot of noise right now about AI and creativity. Some of it is thoughtful, some of it is panic, and some of it is just plain exhaustion — because artists already live in a world that constantly asks them to justify their existence. Add a new technology that can spit out images in seconds, and it’s no wonder so many of us feel overwhelmed.

But here’s where I’m at: after years of classes, practice, and finally feeling ready to take on the mantle of “Professional Artist” (yes, again!), I realized I needed to redo the basics — websites, artist statements, social media, all the things we stare at, sigh heavily over, and wish someone else would just handle so we can get back to the literal drawing board.

And guess what made it easier — even enjoyable?
AI.

I was staring at my website, frustrated by my Champagne taste and Beer Budget skills. I even considered scrapping the whole thing for a paid platform like SquareSpace, even though I knew I’d want to customize it beyond what their templates allow. On a whim, I wondered if AI could help.

Not only could it — it did. Better than anything I’ve used before.

It helped me build reusable templates and plug‑and‑play code. It solved SEO problems I’ve slammed into for years. It laid out weekly and monthly plans for keeping my site healthy. It helped with posting schedules, descriptions, meta tags — all the invisible scaffolding that supports the art.

And it made me laugh more than once.

None of this excuses the fact that many AI models were trained on copyrighted work without consent. That’s not cool, not justified, and absolutely needs to change. For what it’s worth, this paragraph came from my research for this post:

“My work was used to train these models without my consent.”
This one is real, and it’s raw. Many artists feel like their work was scraped, ingested, and repurposed without permission — and that’s not paranoia; it’s documented. Even if the outputs aren’t direct copies, the lack of consent feels like a violation.
This isn’t an anti‑AI stance. It’s a pro‑artist stance. Ethics matter. Consent matters. Compensation matters. And the industry is going to have to evolve.

As with any new technology, there will be hiccups. And honestly, I have no idea where AI is ultimately taking us. But I do know this: AI isn’t replacing humans, designers, artists, or creators any time soon.

Will it replace the folks phoning it in — the ones who’ve been using copyrighted work for years, who plug a snarfed photo into a snarfed template and charge $100 for the honour? Maybe. But the artists who innovate, who understand design, who adapt and think conceptually? Their work will only become more sought after.

As my buddy says:

“Art is human. AI isn’t.”

Art is not just the final image; it’s the struggle, the curiosity, the lived experience, the hand that shakes or steadies, the choices made over time.

AI doesn’t have a childhood.
It doesn’t have grief.
It doesn’t have a body.
It doesn’t have a reason to make anything.

Artists do.

And that difference is not small — it’s everything.

So where does that leave us?

For me, AI has become a collaborator.
It helps me edit.
It helps me troubleshoot.
It helps me do the tasks I can’t (or don’t want to) do alone.
It builds the infrastructure around my art so I can spend more time making art.

Do we need to be mindful? Of course.
But I don’t see the future of art as “AI vs. artists.”

I see AI as a tool — one that can help us become the very best artists we can be.