A friend posted “AI has no place in the creative space. Period.”

That isn’t the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard, but it’s close.

Excluding AI from creative endeavors is no different than a woodworker refusing to use sandpaper or electric tools. Or a farmer today insisting doing things “the old way” with draft animals rather than tractors. If you choose not to use modern tools, that’s fine. Looking down on those of us who choose differently is patronizing, at best. It’s basically the “No Real Scotsman” argument: “No real artist uses AI tools.”

Get over yourselves.

The recent explosion of AI-enabled tools is a great democratizer. With AI-enabled tools, I can more easily turn a vague concept into a work of art, without having to become expert at a dozen different sub-specialties. For example, I am not particularly skilled at drawing. But I can describe what I want and have an AI tool render top, front, and side drawings that I can then use as guides when carving.

When I’m trying to build a new type of structure, I use AI tools to quickly prototype different designs and joinery on screen rather than having to cut out and test each design. When I run into a problem with construction I consult the AI chatbot rather than do a Google search because the AI chatbot typically gives me a much more focused and useful response. When I come up with a new-to-me idea, I’ll consult an AI chatbot to see if others have done anything similar. And I’ll use the chatbot for brainstorming–coming up with new ideas or new takes on old ideas.

Yes, art is a human endeavor. But art is also wherever we find it as well as wherever and however we choose to make it. Dismissing art that was created with the assistance of another human artistic creation (AI) as somehow not worthy is as pathetically arrogant as insisting that people who don’t know how to operate a car with manual transmission “aren’t real drivers.” I use AI tools the same way I use other tools: to help me do the things I either can’t do without assistance or to do the things that are tedious and time-consuming. That’s just efficient resource management.

Will some people use the AI tools to illegally or unethically duplicate some other artist’s work? Undoubtedly. But that was already possible and being done long before the advent of AI tools. It’s just a whole lot easier now. But I’m not going to dismiss an entire class of useful tools just because somebody else could misuse them.

From my point of view, the “AI backlash” in the creative world boils down to gatekeeping: “I don’t want those people in my creative space.” Yeah, I’ve run across it before: wood carving groups that don’t recognize power carving (like with a Dremel) as “real carving.”

Again, get over yourselves. You don’t like AI in the creative space? Fine. Don’t use it. Or if you want to wall off your pretty little creative garden then don’t stop with banning AI. Get rid of all technology and learning and create “pure” art from random rocks and sticks. Your arbitrary lines are childish foolishness.