“June used to mean letting go. Now it feels like one more upload queue.”
— Wing
June used to have a shape.
Long shadows across sidewalks. The smell of plastic binders shoved into cardboard boxes. The static buzz of CRTs fading as schools powered down. You knew what June meant—an exhale.
But in 2023? The line between months is blurry. You don’t log off. You optimize.
Remember when “summer break” was a thing?
“In 2003 we set our IM status to ‘LOL FACE’ as a joke. In 2023, we created impossible AI pets and watched them go viral.”
— Wing
April Fool’s Day 2023 wasn’t just jokes—it was a showcase of how far generative AI had come, and how easily it could blur reality.
A prankster using AI art tools created a convincing New Zealand website advertising “Bungee Jumping Babies”—complete with photorealistic imagery and safety disclaimers. It felt authentic enough to make folks do a double-take :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}.
“In the 2000s we had green beer. In 2023, we had green leprechauns—manufactured.”
— Wing
March 17, 2023 wasn’t just about shamrocks and pints. It became a showcase of how generative AI can crank out absurdly convincing holiday art—and leave us wondering if we’re celebrating Ireland… or a neural network.
AI tools pumped out photorealistic leprechauns holding frothy beers and pots of gold. One standout popped up on Freepik and Dreamstime, with crisp 3D visuals of a thumb‑up leprechaun with beer and coins—so polished you’d swear it was a Pixar asset. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}
“In the early 2000s, we had watermark wars. In 2022, we had style laundering.”
— Wing
It’s December 2022.
You’re browsing Etsy, Gumroad, or even a local convention artist alley. There’s a print of a fox samurai under cherry blossoms. It’s striking. Detailed. Ethereal.
You buy it.
But hours later, something nags you.
Was that… AI-generated?
And if it was—shouldn’t they have told you?
By late 2022, generative AI art had become too good. Midjourney v4 and Stable Diffusion with custom models were cranking out pieces that mimicked human imperfections: rough brush textures, faux pencil strokes, even “digital signature” scribbles in corners.
“In the ‘90s, we worried about scanners stealing art. In 2022, the art stole itself.”
— Wing
The year was 2022. Stable Diffusion had just exploded onto GitHub. Midjourney was suddenly all over Twitter with ethereal, hyper-detailed portraits. And somewhere on ArtStation, someone posted their latest concept piece—only to be accused of using AI.
The war drums were starting to beat.
Professional and hobbyist artists alike raised alarms. It wasn’t the tech—they’d seen Photoshop evolve for decades. It wasn’t even automation—many used tools like Clip Studio’s perspective rulers or photo references without shame.