One thing I'm still struggling to predict is just how far AI art will really penetrate into society. Namely, if you've shown this stuff off to "normal" people,

One thing I'm still struggling to predict is just how far AI art will really penetrate into society. Namely, if you've shown this stuff off to "normal" people, you've probably noticed that their reactions are kind of mixed, most being fairly dismissive. Some might even be confused because they just sort of thought that this is how art was made on a computer in the first place. Personally, I don't think a hypothetical DALL-E 3 or even DALL-E 4 will change their minds. At a certain point a sophisticated AI art tool becomes indistinguishable from Google Search. Indeed, part of me wonders if where this is all heading. Google Search for things that don't actually exist. Infinite Pinterest. Indeed, I think this is the most serious scenario. I mean, think about it. Imagine what it would be like if Google search rolled out a new search engine where you paid to search for images, but you could use whatever images you found for whatever. Search for a dragon sitting on a pile of gold and you'll find a heap of dragons sitting on piles of gold in any style you could imagine which you. Download it and use it in whatever you want. Its yours now (or so they claim, you can't help but wonder if its too good to be true). That really is essentially what AI art is. And when you put it that way, it sounds pretty underwhelming. If you're a creative director /marketer on a budget, its infinite stock photos at a price just slightly cheaper than what you were paying anyway. If you're a creative on a budget who can't draw good, it's a good-enough source of creative imagery (so many damn NFTs). If you're a small business owner, you might be able to find a logo you like after enough digging, though you might feel that you're limited by your ability to ask for what you want. At the end of the day though, it amazes me how the smartest people in the room consistently fail to comprehend how unreliable spoken and written language are as a form of communication. It's a very slow way of communicating versus pictures and imagery. Honestly, this whole infatuation with AI makes me think that these people are trying to invent yesterday's future, the future of the 60s, one where you could talk to an "artificial brain" but the idea of a computer as a creative canvas was absolutely absurd. It feels like a strange step back. It feels very backwards to suggest that "prompt engineer" will be a future career. I think that's why the real future of AI art probably isn't machines that make the art for you, but "magic paintbrushes".