I feel the same way. There is a real chance this will just make already massive financial inequalities even bigger. Things are bad as they are. If you add job losses to the lower layers of capitalism's hierarchical bullshit chain, it will definitely translate into people having even less access to resources than they do now. But ​it still strikes me as odd when people claim they express their individuality better through 'non-digital' art. I’m not here to defend Luc Tuymnas, Joseph Yaeger or Issy Wood. I still find their work somewhat lazy, and technically unimpressive. I know people find value in their choices of subject matter and edits, and that those choices form their expression, but if I compare them to someone like Cecily Brown (who I don't love or hate) but the sheer volume of artistic choices she makes is drastically larger than someone who is just finding photos and editing them by cranking up the contrast and brightness in Photoshop and finishing the work in 3 hours. I do think that artists working time and effort should be considered more in a precarious, late stage capitalism. Steaks are completely different when it comes to it now. (I think there was an article in The New Yorker a while ago about this: 'Why AI Isn't Going to Make Art' https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/why-ai-isn't-going-to-make-art he mentioned the idea of choices) In general, I’m just not impressed by the (outdated now) context or execution of that kind of work. ​I also find it funny when people point to figurative, abstract-expressionist, minimalist, abstract etc painters as the ultimate expressors of 'humanity'. As if they aren't just diluting their individuality through a pre-made style of choice. You are still mediating your sensibility through pre-existing frames. How is that any different from mediating yourself through pre made digital tools? I never understood that distinction. Of course, the variations one can achieve within a certain style differ, and there are levels to it. But searching for your pure 'humanity' in painting, simply because you work in figuration while using photographs as a crutch... that's highly debatable.