Warning: My friend said AI art is just 'fancy copy paste' and it got me thinking

I was at a coffee shop in Boulder last month, talking with my friend Sam about a new image generator I was trying. I showed him a picture I made of a robot in a forest, and he just shrugged. He said, 'It's cool, but isn't it just fancy copy paste from stuff it's already seen?' That hit me hard because I'd spent hours on the prompt. I tried to explain how the model learns patterns and creates new things, but he wasn't buying it. It stuck with me because he's a smart guy, not just a hater. It made me question if the real innovation is in the tool or in how we use it to make something truly new. What do you all think, is he right or missing the point?

2 comments

2 Comments

ellis.felix4d ago

Consider whether your friend would call a chef's new dish "fancy copy paste" of ingredients they've used before.

nancy9294d ago

Exactly, and it's the same with music or books. People don't call a new song a "copy paste" of the same twelve notes. We understand that real creation is about putting familiar pieces together in a new way that feels right. It's a weird double standard that only seems to apply to digital things, where everything gets called a remix or a rip-off. The core skill is in the choosing and the combining, not just in having brand new parts nobody's ever seen.