Wow! Another year! We are a quarter of the way into the 21st century, although I maintain the objectively correct opinion that we are nary a decade out from the 90s. I personally enjoy the Warhammer 40K notation of 25M3 (year 25, millennium 3). I just finished reading The Infinite and the Divine, by the way. Fantastic book, great humor.

Ah, recent events. Something something Studio Ghibli AI nonsense. People are converting images into a memorable animation style for memes and laughs. A passing interest. Yet, I see artists having kneejerk reactions with enough force to punt a football into low orbit. Frothing, rabid anger has been fueling verbal attacks against AI users, which in turn sours general opinion on real artists. Really? Is it too difficult to share a laugh and then issue a simple word of encouragement to start an artistic journey? Calm down.

I feel like I'm one of the few artists who isn't offended on a visceral level by AI. I will not call it "slop" or "art theft." I personally prefer Human-generated art and will happily encourage people to draw (it's remarkably fulfilling), but I also recognize that AI is a toy, and toys are meant to be played with. Let the non-artists have their fun. Calm down.

People say that the corporations will use AI to replace Human art, and this does seem to be in the process. My question is, did anyone seriously expect this to not happen eventually? Imagine my shock that the corporate scene, renowned for its greed, would want to keep even more of its profits. "Corpos gonna corp" as I've said previously. You must always have a backup plan when dealing with corporate jobs. They always saw you as expendable. Calm down.

I used to see commissioners wringing their hands about lost comm opportunities, but that seems to have faded over time. I see artists continuing to make money from drawing, which is good! This makes sense, considering that most AI users were probably not interested (or wealthy enough) to buy commissions in the first place. Nothing was lost while fun has increased. Calm down.

As for me, I continue to observe the world from my cardboard box, giggling at people's AI shenanigans while continuing my own artistic journey unbothered. Be unbothered! Human art isn't going away.