Comment by eggdaft

That is not how artists learn. This is a false equivalence used to justify the imitation and copying of artists’ work. Artists’ work isn’t derivative in the same way that AI work is. Artists create work based on other sources of inspiration, some of them almost or completely to the disregard of other art.

Many artists don’t even go to art school. And those that do, do not spend most (all) of that time learning how to copy or imitate other artists.

I’m not expressing an opinion of whether GenAI is unethical or illegal - I think that’s a really difficult issue to wrestle with - just that this argument is a post-hoc rationalisation made in ignorance of how good artists work (not to say ignorance of the difference between illustration and art, conceptual art training vs say a foundation course etc).