In 2022, I created a #fantasy #drawing that featured a #warrior in Thracian armor, a #hobbit woman dressed in Scythian clothes, and a #centaur equipped with bronze weapons, all gravitating around a #dragon egg. This scene was to be set in a swamp.

However, during this time, #AI technology capable of generating images emerged. Out of curiosity, I decided to experiment with this new tool, inputting the words “Create a swamp with twisted trees”. To my astonishment, the AI generated breathtaking images with a single click — images that surpassed by far my own abilities. This experience left me with a profound realization:  artists are fuc**d.

The ”birth” of AI reminded me of historical shifts, such as Gutenberg’s printing press replacing manuscript copyists and the invention of the camera, which exiled newspaper illustrators to caricature work. In this new confrontation between man and machine, artists find themselves sidelined, their careers threatened.

The ease of replacing an artist with a simple text prompt is alarming. For instance, the opening credits scene of ”Secret Invasion” and a controversial book cover for a Sarah J. Maas novel – both AI-generated – exemplify how major companies are setting a precedent. If industry giants opt to use AI, they send a clear message that anyone can follow.

This sense of injustice was hard to shake when I realized that resisting the AI ​​invasion is futile. Legal actions against companies like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, which have trained their programs on countless images without artists consent, have not slowed down the development of AI. The profits resulting from AI are predicted to be so enormous that lawsuits do not scare these corporations.

Now, in 2024, I chose to share my drawing. In my post, I included my original work and the AI-generated background, merged together using Photoshop.

Maybe collaboration between humans and machines could lead to innovative forms of expression, but incorporating AI elements into my art felt like a betrayal of my own efforts.

There is a need for clearer regulations and ethical guidelines in the development of AI technologies. Protecting the rights of artists is crucial.

Some stories are too old to have a name, others are too old for anyone to remember them, but witnesses to the old events still exist, they are the stones, and the stones can speak. The stones from Altamira, Lascaux, Font-De-Gaume, Kakadu, Cuevas de la Manos, Măgura, Coliboaia – have seen and heard everything, and now, after tens of thousands of years, they tell us immortal stories. Stories so old that at the end of each of them, doesn’t write ”The End”, but writes: BEGINNING.

Artwork for a Romanian illustrated book.

The Forest prepares for a big carnival, among the guests we find: the fox, the bear, the badger, the Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, the dwarfs and many others.

Artwork for a Romanian illustrated book.

It is spring, and the Forest, the mother of all animals, changes her clothes and prepares for a big carnival. Among the guests we find: the beautiful deer, Mr. Fox, the owl, the lion and many others.