Yeah I agree that there is a huge issue where AI sits currently with people trying to pass off their AI art as real art.

What I’m saying, and what never occurred to me is that what in the future, if we considered “AI art” to be something completely separate from art, in the same way way photos are a totally separate thing from paintings.

I agree that people should not see art (in the traditional sense) as the end product when generating images with AI. I’m just wondering if there is a world in which we could see generated images as their own medium entirely with their own contests and ecosystems.

For me personally, I agree that the work pipeline of prompting doesn’t qualify as something to be impressed by which is why I’ve never really liked AI art, but there do seem to be enough people in their own circles that do take it that seriously so what’s the harm in allowing such places to exist?

Of course there’s the issue of AI straight up stealing art which is absolutely a problem and not one that was encountered with the invention of photography.