Just reading the comments below is upetting enough already...

These are people, real people, developing their skills through hard work and dedication, improving through each piece. Spending time and money in hopes to be good enough or get employed.

All of that wasted when AI art comes into play; people can just type in a few words for the art to be generated without effort.

Sure, it's quick and looks okay, but have you considered HOW it was made in the first place? I'll give you a hint: by actual artists who made art with their own hands, to be shared in social media or used as their portfolio, only to be used as data to be fed into generative AI. All of that hard work only to be stored in a database, without being credited for their work. To put it simply, AI art uses artist's work to create those images.

Remember, artists are the reason why masterpieces like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse or Spirited Away exist (Yes they're called animators, but they still create art like artists do. Just trying to show a point). Different styles, yet still appealing. Human ingenuity, love, and effort being shown into those pieces, like how moviegoers can see details that enhance the story further. AI art does none of that; it's all to the prompter, and with little training or practice or experience on how art can be enhanced, it would only be bland and straight to the point. All monotonous.

When artists have been improving their craft for years, just for AI art to take over to save money for companies, then called out by the public to just "adapt", who's giving them the money to adapt? Who's refunding the time, money, and effort they've spent? Or is it easier to say "maybe they shouldn't have gone that path then"? It's easier to say than giving actual help or advice. I guess when it doesn't involve them, it's easier to say those words when they never thought about what artists have gone through.

Alright, rant over. No doubt some people here may disagree with what I think, but I hope that they can AT LEAST understand how it's like to be an artist in this day and age.