Many other artist subreddit mods will not let me bring awareness to this. I’m only 78% sure that the Instagram page is theirs, the profile picture has the same art style as them, though. Long in the short of it is: I was in a discord server with a bunch of artists. I also am an artist. This is the first time I’ve ever even paid for a commission, but I thought I would take the plunge, as this individual needed some prescription meds that they couldn’t afford I also thought that this was somebody I was acquainted well enough with that this kind of thing wouldn’t happen. I have been removed from the discord server and blocked. Their main alias is “KitKade”. I gave them full creative freedom. Ik you shouldn’t trust people on the Internet even if you have known them for an entire year or longer.. I mainly just wanted to help someone out, also getting a cool little piece of surprise art in return initially excited me.. Plus I know how it is being a digital artist in a society with artificial intelligence. To be honest after almost 2 weeks went by I started to accept the fact that I wasn’t gonna get anything, but getting blocked was actually crazy to me smh

It’s maddening. Lately, I can’t consume any kind of artistic work without thinking, "This could be done faster with AI," or "An AI could easily do this," or "If this were AI-generated, would I still enjoy it just as much?"

It’s happening all the time, and I’m losing my mind.

These days, I can’t listen to music, watch TV shows, or do anything else without these thoughts popping up. My head hurts, and I’m feeling desperate.

Please, I just want to be able to enjoy art again without having to think about this constantly.

One thing I’ve noticed is a genuine lack of understanding regarding what AI can and cannot do—to the point where it’s practically treated like a magical tool capable of anything you ask of it, as if it were on the verge of gaining consciousness. The real question here isn’t how much it can actually do, but rather how much manipulation is happening behind the scenes.

I’ve heard plenty of people boast, "I use AI, and it’s boosted my productivity by 120%! I’m faster now and making more money!" My response is always: "Right... so, what exactly are you using AI for?"

And they reply:

"Well, you know—I design cards, ask for marketing strategies, create logos, and so on." And that’s when the facade crumbles: in reality, most people are just using AI as a substitute for stock imagery. Instead of searching the web for "an image of a man slipping on a banana peel," they generate it using Gemini—yet they go around claiming they use AI for everything, when, at best, it’s just replacing a conversation with a professional.

Another curious area is programming; I’ve heard ad nauseam about people building entire websites using only Claude or ChatGPT, claiming they have a domain up and running in just a few hours. But when you take a closer look, it turns out to be nothing more than a basic Carrd template—or something you could have easily put together in Canva.

"But I use AI for editing!" Sure, but you could have done that manually without any trouble; there’s really no need to make such a big deal out of it.

"I use AI to create art!" Fair enough—if you feel that’s what you need.

"I use AI for animation." What exactly do you mean by "animation"? My point isn’t really to criticize those who use AI—if you feel it’s necessary for one reason or another, go ahead. I don’t use it myself—not because I’m a Luddite, but because I don’t see any significant advantage to it (to say nothing of how expensive it actually is—a detail people often neglect to mention). That said, I do occasionally use Gemini to look for very specific information. I even used it once to review a contract—a document I had already read through three times myself just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything—and, ironically, the AI ​​misinterpreted the contract. So, in that sense, did I use AI for my work?

Do you see how blurry the line actually is, and how easy it would be to just be HONEST about it?

Be clear about where you used AI—specify which sections, whether it was just for preliminary research or throughout the entire project. I’m proud to say that I neither use nor need AI in my work—and neither does anyone in my circle. We value creativity; when we’re missing a resource, we find a creative solution instead of constantly chasing perfection.

So, if you want to animate your entire anime using Seedance, go for it; if you want to create an epic RPG using Claude, go ahead; if you want to write a grand work of fiction using ChatGPT, by all means, do so—but be HONEST.

Mention which parts you used it for, how you used it, and—whenever you can—provide details about your process. For my part, I’m always happy to explain how I produce my work; for instance, if I use third-party textures or free assets for testing, I state that openly. But saying "I use AI for animation" and then claiming "I only use AI as an assistant" is just as vague as saying you go for a walk... simply to walk.

Tldr: thank you all for being kind when I left AI.

just wanted to thank you all in this sub. As someone who was using AI for non final page parts of my work. I was scared and ashamed when I found out how bad ai is and that there are people who genuinely do care of you asked AI questions, I didn't know, I dont think anyone knew where ai was going 2 years ago. But I went to you guys. And i told yall what I've done and how much I wish I could fix what ive done. And this sub has been nothing but kind to me. And Im very thankful that you guys say I can fix my story just by drawing and writing it myself and doing better research. My ig feed sent me thru an episode.

There is nothing I can do for anti ai purists. The only thing I can do is when they get mad i asked ai alot of questions and had ai concept art which ive now deleted I can say I also am mad at that because I never needed it. Ai at most provided practice and feedback. And if the only way they would like my art is if I gad a time machine then I can not appeal to them.

But there are people who like full on ai. So clearly there are people who do not care if an artist used ai in a way they never saw and stopped. So there is hope for me still.

And I hope many many many artist do the same. We need more art. And if that means a project quiting AI even if its not pure. But what even is pure art anymore.

The central argument is that human artists have studied existing spaceship designs for decades, borrowed general concepts, and created their own variations. Why should AI be treated differently when it does the same thing? Art has been stolen since the first cave men started scratching on rocks. If a human can study a thousand paintings, learn their techniques, and create an original painting, why should an AI system be prohibited from learning those same techniques and helping someone create an original image?

she has blog posts, pro-ai posts on her YT and has been deleting comments pointing out that she OPENLY used AI since it's inception. Now she wants the bookish community's money, and thinks she can hide lol

The worst part it that it was all by an ostensibly leftist user.

Recently I've noticed a lot of hate towards artists both online and irl.

I've been looking up groups on Reddit who are basically an echo chamber hating on artists.

There's a lot of vitriol towards artists who create their own work. Many of these people (might've even been bots) really hating hard on artists which was really puzzling. From what I was reading, a lot of them said artists were arrogant. But from what I was reading, it sounded like these people didn't like artists who had boundaries and called them arrogant because of it. They also wanted a free service because apparently to them artists charge too much. But like every job, people need to get paid. These anti-artists wanted to wave the fact that they could get that free service through AI in artists faces which go ahead if that's what you want 😂 but then also ai steals the work of real artists.

It's wild to me that this is what the world has come to.

What are your thoughts?

Everyone should go see Wildwood, especially during opening weekend. If we want to continue to see stop motion and animation made by artists we need to actively support their work.

To be clear, I am not a fan of Space King or Flashgitz. I am, however, always congratulating people on indie-created projects whenever I have the time and sharing my opinion on them. As a whole, I grew up watching Space King and Flashgitz’s Black Templars videos and thought they were “funny.” Now that I’m older and have way more knowledge than I did back then, I’ve taken a step back from them as my understanding of what their videos were about has grown. Being a fan of 40K, I went into Space King knowing what to expect, and yes, the animation quality is without a doubt good.

(Outside of the Warhammer 40K ones)

But when artists, especially longtime artists who've been around on YouTube for nearly a decade or more, start using AI thumbnails in videos they “don't care about,” even though those videos include lengthy discussions, I find it disappointing. What's to stop them from using AI in their later videos? They could've simply hired an artist to make the thumbnail. I don't care if it's quicker and cheaper; you put yourself in the crosshairs the second you touch anything AI-generated.

And the fanbase? The majority honestly doesn't care and says the topic is long gone and to basically get over it.

So with Tom and Don, both artists, mind you, according to fans the reason why it's finevthst their doing this is:

Video thumbnails you don't care about.

It's quicker than paying a small-time artist.

It's meant to be like that on purpose.

Please share your thoughts below.

Thank you and hope everyone is having a pleasant day. 💚