The usage is only half of the problem. Id argue it doesnt need to be used for references either; just take photos of yourself for poses, gymnasts for weird ones, body inspo if yours doesnt fit, google existing photos for landscapes, make your own references for more abstract ideas… We’ve made incredible art for centuries without stealing the work of thousands and throwing it into a math blender.
The main problem though is the training, which is necessary to improve AI, is very easy to fuck up (and thus waste a bunch of electricity for nothing), and necessitates stealing intellectual property forever.
Not to mention that anything I’ve ever seen anyone use AI for was NEVER a single prompt. Most thinking/reasoning models (read: the useful ones) require dozens of internal prompts, repeat prompts for clarification, etc etc.
Locally hosted LLMs are by far the most ethical way to use AI, but they still involve stealing, still produce insane amounts of waste through training, and still require significantly more electricity than an equivalent few dozen google searches (obviously excluding Google’s forced use of AI)
The usage is only half of the problem. Id argue it doesnt need to be used for references either; just take photos of yourself for poses, gymnasts for weird ones, body inspo if yours doesnt fit, google existing photos for landscapes, make your own references for more abstract ideas… We’ve made incredible art for centuries without stealing the work of thousands and throwing it into a math blender.
The main problem though is the training, which is necessary to improve AI, is very easy to fuck up (and thus waste a bunch of electricity for nothing), and necessitates stealing intellectual property forever.
Not to mention that anything I’ve ever seen anyone use AI for was NEVER a single prompt. Most thinking/reasoning models (read: the useful ones) require dozens of internal prompts, repeat prompts for clarification, etc etc.
Locally hosted LLMs are by far the most ethical way to use AI, but they still involve stealing, still produce insane amounts of waste through training, and still require significantly more electricity than an equivalent few dozen google searches (obviously excluding Google’s forced use of AI)