AI GENERATED ART? Do you use it or excoriate its use?

AI and its training without respect to copyright has really rocked the indie writer world. We. Are. Angry.

A few things about recognizing AI:

1) Hands are often ... off. Too many fingers. Bending weird ways. Wrong lengths. Color variants that don't make sense.

2) Things that seem too perfect (like the woodworking thing, above). The likelihood of anyone, let alone a kid who by definition doesn't have decades of experience, could whip up something so intricate is unlikely. So, check for things that don't seem to pass the sniff test.

3) Stuff that doesn't seem to abide by the laws of physics. This is usually in conjunction with something that looks like too much weight is balanced on too little support. It's kind of a corollary to #2.

4) Stuff that all too perfectly fits in with someone's preconceived notions/prejudices.

For example, I saw something that was supposed to be a wedding held at Walmart. Already it's suspect just because of that (sniff test). But it was also playing into every single stereotype, from the bride and groom looking like siblings, to them both wearing Crocs, to him just in his underwear.

It was a lot like a bit that was going around a few months ago, of what was purported to be AI's vision of the typical person from each state in the US. So, the Pennsylvanian has a cheese steak, the New Yorker wears the Statue of Liberty crown, the Texan has a huge belt buckle, etc. Of course, archetypal folks exist, but all of this was 100% on the nose. It conveniently ignores the existence of Pennsylvania vegetarians, New Yorkers who live in Buffalo and have never been to NYC, Texans who think big belt buckles are gauche, etc.

5) There is a kind of fake lighting to a lot of AI (the example you give doesn't have it). It's here:
^That image is from fotor but the effect seems to be platform-agnostic. Once you see it, it's hard to miss. The moment I see that style of "lighting", I immediately figure it's AI.

AI is nasty, and the companies behind it have no problem running over people's rights and then squeaking by via declaring bankruptcy or hiding $$ in offshore accounts, so artists are never compensated.

My profession (I'm a content writer/manager for the web) is probably going to end up becoming pure (or mostly pure) AI by the time I retire in the next 12 - 15 years or so. Right now, someone like me can make money training AI to essentially take our jobs. I am only glad that I am close to the end of my career and not at the start of it.

There is little doubt in my mind that, once blogs, social media posts, landing pages, and the like are completely conquered by AI, that it will be coming for books.

Enjoy the ingenuity of human creativity now, while you can still get it, and while artists can still make money with it.

Because once it's gone, you'll be wondering who put up that parking lot.

Corporations can only see what's best for their profit margin and the bank accounts of their major executives. The wealth divide between the "1%ers" and the rest of us? You thought that was astronomically far apart? Will exponentially become wider in the small few years when corporate controlled AI truly becomes mainstreamed....