author of the piece here! I think these tools are best understood as a step in an artist workflow that people will use to varying degree. Many painters use phot

author of the piece here! I think these tools are best understood as a step in an artist workflow that people will use to varying degree. Many painters use photography or sampled images to audition compositions, for example. Musicians use samples to spark an idea or set a palette for them to create within. The satisfaction of creating on a blank canvas won't change, but most artists use tools to help them realize what they want to create, and these are incredibly powerful to that end. I think that typing to create imagery is cool, but also agree that the ability to instantly create convincing images (with those images being considered the final work) is not the most exciting/rewarding part, at least when those images are isolated as singular works to consider(like in painting) and not part of a greater narrative. This perspective was part of our motivation to frame the subject differently!