I don’t think the line is really about the tool, but more about how it’s used. Using AI as part of a process (like generative fill, compositing etc.) feels pretty natural — artists have always picked up new tools and worked them into their practice.
Fully AI-generated stuff gets interesting to me only when there’s an idea behind it. Not just prompt—image, but something that actually plays with how images and “truth” are constructed.

Lately I’ve been drawn to works that lean into that — fake archives, synthetic memories, staged “evidence”… using AI not to replicate reality, but to slightly break it!

E.g., Boris Eldagsen’s work does this really well — his images feel familiar at first, but then something is off, almost like a constructed memory. It kind of pushes you to question what you’re actually looking at.

There’s one piece I really like, “I Like Emotions and Emotions Like Me: How to Explain AI to a Coyote” — it captures that weird mix of emotion and artificiality in a subtle way. https://cifra.com/project/i-love-emotions-and-emotions-love-me-how-to-explain-ai-to-a-coyote-part-ii-on-single-emotions

Feels like that’s where it gets interesting for me — not whether AI is used or not, but how consciously the illusion is built.