And if you have it done by humans, they'll chimp out and falsely mark stuff as AI when it isn't.
It happened at least once in the Japanese side of Twitter.
Rui Araizumi (the artist of Slayers) was recently accused of using AI-generated art after
posting illustrations, meant to be merchandise for the 2023 Comiket, in a rather different style than he was generally known for on social media.
Not replying to accusations directly, Araizumi lightheartedly posted a series of screenshots (
Tweet 1 /
Tweet 2) which show the process of the creation of his illustrations, as well as videos (
Tweet 1 /
Tweet 2) in which he goes through the separate layers of his artwork, proving that it was indeed hand-drawn. Araizumi even provided a link to the pattern asset he used on the character’s kimono outfit.
(I'll post an archive of the videos once Kiwifarms stops shitting itself)
After the artist proved that he didn't use AI to generate his art, a lot of the users making accusations fell silent as a result, with only a handful offering apologies while most silently retreated from the discourse by deleting their previous posts. When advised by someone to file charges for defamation, Araizumi
mentioned that he has recorded some of the most vapid posts from certain users just in case.
The AI is helpful, but it has no imagination on its own. No matter how many hours I spend tweaking keywords in these programs, it can't come close to what's already in my head, nor can it quite replicate my art style.
At the end of the day, AI is just a mere tool and cannot replace by itself human imagination and the honed creative knowledge & artistic skill of actual artists. For comic-making for instance, regardless you use traditional tools, a digital tablet (even a Cintiq that costs 600 bucks or the Pro model at over two thousand) or AI prompting, you still have to learn about the fundamentals of visual storytelling and panel composition at the very least. Hell, there are no written rules that claim you cannot use those three types of tools altogether to meet a specific end result.
What AI primarily does is lowering the entry barrier for everyone to simply create art stuff. Anyone who fears or believes (beyond the lulz) that AI will threaten and harm the livehood of actual artists for good, like some kind of doomsday scenario, is a special kind of stupid.
I'd argue that being able to make a full living of your art alone was already a tall and risky order well before the apparition of AI, and the economy getting shittier and shittier by the day hasn't helped things either. I've seen enough author's notes in mangas to know most Japanese artists still had to take a normal job to pay the bills and their food on the plate, in addition to draw in their spare time.
Just for extra anecdotal info, there was also a recent japanese TV report of an artist using AI tools to create a 16-pages manga out of a personal sketchy storyboard, and it was showcased as an example of mangakas who could be pairing up AI with their existing skills to create shortcuts in their potentially tight schedules.
