“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.
🎨 Artists Felt It First
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.