Somewhere in the middle

I want to talk to both sides for a moment. As a long time traditional artist who has been heavily utilizing AI the last 2 years in several ways, I feel like I'm sometimes between a rock and a hard place within both anti AI and pro AI communities.

Yes, I use AI. Yes, I have ethical concerns, but I don't believe that not using it is the answer. In fact, I think it's the opposite. I think we should familiarize ourselves with it even more, and opt for free and open source options when possible.

I think we should use it to empower creators and make art more accessible, for the betterment of art.

Free and open source is a different conversation, but corporate owned AI was built using artists work with the sole intention of not including them in the picture, raking in tons of money, and using up massive amounts of resources in the process. They're the ones fucking this up for all of us.

So I stand somewhere in the middle. Not pro AI enough to support the corporations skirting laws for profit, not anti enough to to be in denial of amazing technology.

How are some of you navigating this and what is your take?