I see the same two or three pieces of public domain dragon art used over and over again for self- and small time publishing projects.
The same pieces of dragon art that I used for Zooscape years ago, when they hadn’t been going around in circles over and over again.
Clearly, none of the people using those two or three pieces of public domain dragon art were willing or, most likely, able to spring for buying original, commissioned art. Which, really, is no surprise.
Fiction doesn’t make money.
Right now, even fiction in Hollywood doesn’t make money, and that’s why the WGA has gone on strike. I’m 100% on their side. Corporations make huge money from fiction, and then hoard it. That’s not okay.
But I want small time voices too. The people big companies won’t choose.
Regulating how corporations that actually make money are allowed to do so is absolutely essential for creating a world worth living in.
But banning a small time author from using AI art to make a more eye-catching cover doesn’t help with that. It only hurts the author.
AI art programs are powerful and beautiful tools that are only going to be become more prevalent, and artists were being treated badly before they came on the scene. Sure, AI makes an easy scapegoat, but blanket bans aren’t the answer.
Learn to see nuances.