I've seen a few posts recently where people seem to have issues with AI-based art. Some seem sick of seeing all the same types of AI art that Muslims create, and others are bothered saying it's not art because it's too easy and a computer is making it.

Some AI art pieces produced by Muslims look the same because many use the same Muslim-themed prompts: "Muslim woman wearing colorful hijab" or "Man sitting in mosque reading Qur'an." If several people write the same types of prompts (using similar words), they will get similar results from the AI.

If all they are doing is typing in keywords like the above, then yes, that's easy, but why does it matter if they aren't pretending they spent weeks painting it? Now, if someone uses AI and then presents it as their own solo work, this is like a music producer using a sample and then pretending it was an original. Not cool. But people will, unfortunately, find ways to cheat; always.

I'm interested in AI as a tool to express myself as a visual artist; to say something on canvas the way I would as a painter; to personalize expression the way I do as a photographer. I wouldn't be interested if it were just typing prompts, and I couldn't personalize it.

It sometimes takes me over 200 prompt attempts and several hours to get an AI image to look right. Figuring out how to communicate with the AI to yield the best results is part of the art. Figuring how the AI reacts to word choices, word order, ratios, commands, etc., is part of the art.

After generating the base image, I will use lightroom or photoshop to stylize further and enhance it, often spending 1-2 hours per image. I'm using AI to see how close I can get to my creative visual style. If you approach AI with a creative vision, and look to it as a tool, you can do some cool things with it.

When you're putting this much creative energy into something, and your personal creative choices affect the outcome, I would contend there is art involved. Perhaps just not the type art we are familiar with yet.

Like any new technology in the arts, AI will have its benefits and limits, forcing us to question the good and the bad of it all. Some will get discouraged and claim that AI will ruin art, and some will get excited and find a new way of creating previously unavailable to them.