i'm zach! - wishlist THORNSPELL on Steam

This analogy still remains popular, but it is flawed. The issue with AI is not merely effort. It is authenticity and discernment. When cameras appeared, nobody was fooled by what is a painting and what is a photograph. Discernment still existed. Which means we could still independently assess their value. AI isn't just a new medium, it is mimicry of everything else. It is a tool of deception. Photography didn't make its way by pretending to be painting. And within the art world, deception and fraud has always been viewed extremely harshly. There is a reason a discovered forgery loses all of its value. Photographers didn't hide the nature of their photography. They didn't get upset if their photograph was correctly labeled a photograph. However, many using AI will become upset if their work is labeled AI, implying that they understand the value of their work relies on it being perceived as something else.