Fair warning: likely a controversial take here. When the sewing machine was first invented, tailors in France started a riot, broke into a textile factory, and smashed all the machines. Why? Because they were afraid automation would destroy them. People were having the exact same conversation when cameras were first introduced. I'd put good money on musicians being up in arms when audio recording took off as well ("[i]I record once, they buy it once, and they can listen to it infinitely forever? This'll ruin me![/i]"). In some cases, it probably did cause people to lose jobs. Even so, I'd wager most today would say those developments were a net positive to society. AI art is similar. Sure we often lement about stolen art but let's be honest, people already learn from copying other people. Everyone used to copy Disney in the kid 20th century. In the late 90's early 00's, anime aesthetics were all the rage. The CalArts style has been everywhere the last decade or so. And most of what's training AI aren't samples from hacked portfolios. They're publicly available on the internet, same stuff you'd train yourself with. And here's the thing, creation is a long, laborous and often [b]expensive[/b] investment. Much like how the printing press, cameras, or the phonograph made art available to the common man, AI puts creation within the grasp of a people who'd otherwise be unable to do it. Say you want to make a comic book. You have a great idea but suck at drawing. Your choices used to be: A) hope you find someone who can draw B) spend time learning to draw C) pay someone to draw A you had to get lucky. B and C are gambles and pretty costly to the point that many might not feel the risk worth taking. And even if you have a good idea AND can draw, there's still life to contend with. Some simply can't afford the investment, financially or spiritually. AI can aleviate a lot of that though. Things can be done cheaply and more quickly. Instead of a team of 15 people working on one person's vision at a time, each can work on their own vision at the same time. And yeah, there's something to be said of oversaturation, but that's not on AI. Take YouTube for example. TONS of options, probably too many. And yeah, there are always metas and things can start to get samey (people copying people again). But would we be better off without it? And seriously think about it, because without it all content would be controlled by Disney+, Netflix, HBO, etc. It's scary for artists because they worry AI will replace them but the truth is what's actually going to replace them is more PEOPLE becoming artists thanks to AI. tl;dr AI art is a tool, and like any tool, it can be used for goor or evil. Either way, it's here and in the next hundred years people are likely going to look back at the panic of today and think we were silly for worrying about it.

AI is good.

I’m not threatened. AI could never come up with the stuff I make

You can't spell artificial intelligence without art.

They threaten the careers of actual artists—real people who are already struggling to make a living in an already difficult field. Not only that, but all AI art generators were built off of stolen work, and using them at all is theft. If you want art of something, either put in the time & effort to learn how to do it yourself, or fork out the money to actually support the medium instead pf feeding a corporate machine trying to suck the life out of the art industry for a quick buck.