The subject of AI tools in digital art practice is complicated and I want to give my honest current position rather than the version optimized for social approval.

I don't use AI generation for my art. Not because I think it's ethically simple or legally settled — it isn't — but because the process of making art is personally important to me and AI-generated work doesn't satisfy that need.

I do use AI for reference assistance: generating abstract color scheme ideas to react to, creating rough environment thumbnails to critique compositionally, suggesting pose variations I hadn't considered. I treat these outputs as reference material, not as product.

The ethical questions around training data are real and unresolved. I am skeptical of both 'all AI art is theft' and 'AI tools are just brushes.' The actual ethical situation is more complicated than either slogan.

What I ask of artists who use AI tools: disclose it. Especially when selling work. The buyers deserve to know what they're buying.