Use AI to Grow, Not to Replace Yourself

I use AI. There, I said it. XD I'm an illustrator and graphic designer, so you might think I'd be against it, especially considering how AI is changing the creative industry. And honestly, I do worry about what this means for people like me who have spent years developing their skills and trying to make a living from them. I've already seen how changes in technology can affect the work available to artists, and I think AI is very likely to make things even harder. This isn't just a philosophical discussion for me. My ability to make a living from my creative work is part of the equation, and I can't pretend that doesn't matter.

But I also use AI. I use it to help me develop ideas, organize information, ask questions I hadn't considered, and sometimes make tokens for my tabletop RPG games, although I never sell them. I also use it to make funny pictures or memes. I find it useful, and I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with using a tool to make certain tasks easier. So I find myself in an interesting position: I'm someone who can benefit from this technology, but I'm also someone whose profession could be harmed by it. I don't think ignoring AI or pretending it will simply disappear is the answer, but I don't think we should blindly accept everything that comes with it, either.

What interests me is how we choose to use this technology and what kind of future we want to build around it. Are we using AI to help us learn, develop our skills, and explore ideas we couldn't pursue before, or are we using it to avoid having to learn how to do anything ourselves? And while we're at it, how should we treat the people whose work helped make these tools possible? I don't think these questions have simple answers, but I think they're worth asking. I'm not writing this because I have everything figured out. I'm writing it because I use AI, I care about creativity, and I think we should be able to appreciate what this technology can do while still being honest about what it might cost us.

I don't think AI is necessarily good or bad. Like any other technology, it depends on how we use it, how it is developed, and what kind of relationship we want to have with it. Technology has always changed the way people create things, and I don't think there is any reason to assume AI has to be the exception. Cameras didn't kill painting, computers didn't kill traditional illustration, and digital art didn't make learning to draw pointless. Although, to be fair, digital art has already made it harder for some artists to make a living, and I think AI is very likely to take that much further. It doesn't have to make the skill of drawing obsolete to make earning a living from it increasingly difficult. If clients can get certain kinds of illustrations almost instantly and at a fraction of the cost, many of them will choose that option. Artists will still exist, and people will still appreciate their work, but that doesn't mean there will be enough paid work for everyone who wants to make a living drawing.

Still, new tools can open doors that were previously difficult to access and help people explore ideas they might not have been able to bring into the world otherwise. The interesting question is how we use those opportunities.

For example, I think there is a big difference between asking AI to make a drawing for you and asking it to help you become a better artist. Imagine you're learning to draw and you're having trouble with perspective, anatomy, or composition. You could ask AI to explain the principles behind those things, suggest exercises, point you toward useful references, or help you identify problems in your own drawings. You would still have to practice, make mistakes, and develop your own judgment, but you would have another tool to help you learn. That sounds like a pretty good use of technology to me. Instead of replacing your effort, it helps you get more out of it.

I read somewhere that there are two kinds of kids using AI: those who use it to do their homework for them and those who use it to help them learn. I don't know how accurate that claim was, especially the part about changes in intelligence, but the distinction itself is interesting. One student uses AI to avoid the effort of understanding something, while another uses it to understand something they couldn't figure out on their own. The same principle applies to art. If you want to become an artist, asking AI to generate a finished illustration for you doesn't necessarily teach you how to draw. You might get the result you wanted, but you haven't necessarily improved your skills. On the other hand, using AI to study techniques, understand mistakes, and explore different approaches can help you develop those skills. The difference isn't simply whether you use AI. It's what you're trying to accomplish with it.

Of course, I don't think everyone needs to become an artist. If you want to make a funny meme, generate a silly picture for a friend, or create a token for your RPG game, go ahead. Not that anyone needs my permission. XD Not everything needs to be a masterpiece, and not every image needs to be made by someone who has spent years learning to draw. Sometimes you just want a picture of something ridiculous, and that's perfectly fine. I've even made some funny videos with AI back when Sora was available, and they got mixed reactions. I enjoyed experimenting with it, and I don't see anything wrong with that. What interests me is the possibility of using these tools to expand what people can do, rather than simply replacing the things people could learn to do.

I also think we need to talk about authorship. If I ask an artist friend to draw a picture for me, the fact that I came up with the idea doesn't automatically make me the artist who drew it. I can give instructions, explain what I want, and make decisions about the final result, but that doesn't mean I did the drawing. AI introduces more complicated questions because a person can make creative decisions at different stages of the process, from developing an idea to directing a generation and editing the result. I don't think every situation should be treated exactly the same way, but I do think we should be honest about the difference between having an idea, directing a tool, and actually developing the skills to produce the work ourselves. If someone wants to become an artist, those distinctions matter. And if someone simply wants an image for personal use, they don't necessarily need to claim to be an artist to enjoy what they've made.

But there is another side to this discussion that is just as important: how these technologies are developed and whose work makes them possible. Some of the biggest AI companies in the world have built systems trained on enormous quantities of images made by human artists, many of whom did not explicitly agree to have their work used for that purpose. Then we hear that the machine is simply learning from inspiration. Well, I think we should be careful with that comparison. Human artists learn from the world around them, including other artists, but a commercial AI system trained on millions of images operates at a scale and in a way that is very different from an individual learning to draw. Calling it inspiration doesn't make questions about consent, copyright, and compensation disappear.

I don't think this means we should reject AI or abandon the idea of technological progress. It means progress should come with responsibility. If a technology creates new opportunities for people, that's wonderful, but we should also ask who benefits from it and who bears the costs. Artists spend years developing their skills and their visual language, and it seems reasonable that they should have a meaningful say in how their work is used to develop commercial systems. There should be serious discussion about consent, compensation, and the rights of creators. The fact that a technology is useful doesn't automatically justify every method used to develop it, just as the fact that I enjoy using a tool doesn't mean I have to approve of everything the company behind it does.

I think the companies developing these tools have an opportunity here, too. They could work toward a future in which artists have more control over how their work is used, consent is taken seriously, and the people who create the original material are treated as participants in technological progress rather than as disposable resources. That would be a much more interesting future than one in which everyone is simply told to accept whatever happens because the technology exists now. Progress shouldn't require us to abandon the principles that made creative work worth protecting in the first place.

There is also the question of what happens when producing images, videos, music, and articles becomes easier than ever. The internet is already flooded with content, and AI makes it possible to generate even more of it. People can produce images in enormous quantities, while automated accounts compete for attention by posting things designed to generate engagement. In that environment, making something beautiful might not be enough to stand out. But perhaps that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Maybe it will encourage people to think more carefully about what they want to create and why. Personality, experience, craftsmanship, and the relationship between an artist and an audience might become even more important. I don't know how things will develop, but I like the possibility that a world where images are easy to produce could encourage us to look for something more meaningful than just another pretty picture.

After all, the ability to create something and the desire to create something are two different things. A tool can help you bring an idea into the world, but it can't decide what is worth expressing on your behalf. You still have to discover what interests you, what makes you curious, what you want to say, and what kind of work you want to spend your time making. And I think that is especially important in art. The process of learning to draw, write, compose, or tell stories isn't merely an obstacle between you and the finished product. It is also the process through which you develop your own way of seeing the world. If we use technology to skip all of that, we might get more results, but we could miss out on a lot of the experience that makes creating things worthwhile.

I don't want a future in which everyone has to learn to draw by hand, and I don't want a future in which people are afraid to experiment with new tools. I'd rather see a future in which technology helps more people explore their creativity, learn new skills, develop their ideas, and express themselves in ways that weren't possible before. Someone who struggles with drawing could use AI to learn about anatomy, someone who has trouble organizing their thoughts could use it to develop a story, and someone with a great idea could use these tools to figure out how to bring it to life. I think there is a lot of potential there, as long as we remember that the goal isn't simply to produce more things. The goal is to help people do more with their own creativity.

So, I guess my position is pretty simple. I want us to use AI to improve ourselves, not merely to replace the effort required to become better at something. I want artists to have a say in how their work is used, and I want technology companies to take responsibility for the way they develop their products. And I don't think there is anything wrong with using AI for practical or trivial things when it helps you accomplish what you want to do. These ideas aren't contradictory. We can enjoy the benefits of a technology while still asking for it to be developed and used responsibly.

Technology gives us possibilities, but it is up to us to decide what to do with them. We can use it to avoid learning, or we can use it to learn more. We can use it to flood the world with content, or we can use it to explore ideas we couldn't pursue before. We can treat human creativity as an obstacle to automate away, or we can use these new tools to help people become more capable, more curious, and more creative.

I'd much rather see the second future. Not because I think technology should stand still, but because I think progress should mean more than making things faster and cheaper. It should mean giving people more opportunities to learn, create, and discover what they are capable of doing.

And if we can build that kind of future, then perhaps the most interesting thing about AI won't be the pictures it can make for us.

It will be the things it helps us learn to make ourselves.