He argued that it's just the same when an artist draws inspiration from other peoples' art and creates their own - which is just plain false.
Hey, can you articulate the difference though? Stating this as a plain fact seems kinda like you're constructing reality to fit your opinion and maybe that's what your friend is pushing back on.
It's true that AI is often trained on copyrighted images, but artists use copyrighted images as references all the time. I know AI can't be literally "inspired," or have artistic intentions, but like, what actually is the difference? Other than philosophical differences that involve like, the inability to emulate actual creativity.
Seems like AI is just faster, because it's a computer that can do tons of adjustments instantly instead of iterating over time like a human. Anyway, just food for thought. I don't think AI is going to replace artists entirely but a lot of companies are definitely going to try to see how far they can take it.