How does AI art even work? Sorry, not a techno nerd here beyond physical hardware.
out of uniform: i'd be happy to answer your question!
basically, AI art is inspired largely by a lot of different styles that are fed into a computer so that the computer can learn how to draw based on prompts that are fed into it to create whatever it is that you desire. however, what many may not know is that the styles that AI art use are stolen from artists who have poured countless hours into perfecting their craft.
for example, in this new yorker article, a popular artist named kelly mckernan had noticed that their art style was being fed into these generators to create works that are similar to the art style they use. other notable examples that i've seen ai art generators use is from takeuchi naoko, miyazaki hayao, amongst countless others who are fighting to get their styles removed from these generators.
also from what i've been told by @catncore, who helpfully explained why AI art makes artists who poured their heart and souls into their pieces, is that companies are laying off their artists to use AI art in lieu of paying actual artists. the examples i was given is rayark, who develops deemo and cytus, that opted to fire their entire art department to use AI instead.
it's also not just illustrated pieces that are being stolen — actual voices are also being replicated as well with singers and voice actors alike. an example that i can cite is the weeknd and drake having their voices be used for "heart on my sleeve", which was covered in this new york times article. another article, this time written by gizmodo, also details where prolific voice actors are having their voices cloned and used without being paid royalties over their voices being used in this fashion.
it's better to avoid using AI generators at all because all one's doing is just stealing the hard work done by others and calling it their (the users of generated AI art) work when it's not.
hopefully this answer helps to explain why AI art is terrible and shouldn't be used under any circumstance.
