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I don’t understand why you wouldn’t just… use a photo of Amsterdam?

Custom illustrations simply have that premium look, you know? (I joke, but also not. I think that this is actually a vestigial taste of the before-ai-times, and that there's a big mismatch in how fast this is evolving out of existence for different groups of people.)

Not saying that the taste for custom illustrations is obsolete btw., but the taste that any "custom illustration" signals more effort than none and/or a photo of the real thing, even slop ones.

It's very cool of you to reconsider your position on this, I like that a lot! Honestly, my orginal intention wasn't even as compassionate as yours. I was mostly agreeing with you, as I think it's pretty safe to assume that it's AI generated and that it would be better to then use "the real thing."

Basically I was just sharing a possible answer to the question. But your reaction now has me thinking about the "right" way to "call out" AI images in the wild, to ensure both that they become less and less used, but also that people who use them in good faith don't feel antagonized.

Sam's point is why I always hesitate before sniping at AI art: unless there's an obvious tell, I'm uneasy about directing ire at someone who may not actually have used AI, their style just looks AI-ish. I think this is the worst aspect of the AI era: the constant suspicion of everything.