GENERATIVE AI IS THE OZEMPIC OF THE ART WORLD.

I’m a heartbroken, AND VERY ANGRY, pet portrait artist.

Let’s stop pretending this is all okay… it’s not.

Generative AI is infiltrating the art world, and it makes me sick to my stomach. There once was a time I enjoyed logging onto social media to find inspiration, and connect with fellow creators. Now, I dread it because, every single day, this mockery is thrown right in our faces.

I read this defense written by one of these people calling themselves a pet portrait artist:

“I have spent countless hours learning, practicing, experimenting and mastering the scripts and techniques I use to create each piece. I write my own scripts, work from the pet’s photograph and put time and care into creating artwork that captures something special for the person receiving it.”

I was floored. Good for you at learning how to use a machine to steal. Is everyone supposed to be impressed? Seriously!

Art is central to humanity… our history, culture, raw emotion, and genuine connection. Technology is fine but the idea that human creativity and decades of discipline suddenly don’t matter anymore just because a machine can produce an imitation in seconds is NOT progress. Period. And yes it is all an IMITATION because AI was trained on REAL HUMAN ARTIST WORK so it’s ALL PLAGIARISM.

We need human connection.

I have dedicated my entire life to my craft. I have spent decades learning, practicing, failing, adapting, and honing my technique. I put actual paint on an actual canvas. I pick up brushes. I get butterflies in my stomach whenever it’s time to buy new art supplies. I get goosebumps when I get to try it out. I wait on pins and needles after I send my customer a snapshot of my finished piece to see if I captured their pet. I cry with them as they describe their lost pet’s life and those emotions travel from my body into my brush and onto my canvas. I create. There is a mountain of difference between lifelong dedication and asking a computer to draw something for you from a prompt.

And let’s talk about what those images actually look like. How about plastic, over-polished, and hollow, right? Everyone acts amazed, the comments and compliments infuriate me but where is the human touch? Where is the personality? Where is the soul? THERE IS NONE!

A machine spitting out an image will never, ever come even CLOSE to the same thing as a hand-created painting by a REAL artist. And someone putting prompts into a box is NOT AN ARTIST.

An Entire Artistic Tradition is Being Devalued

What makes me even more furious is seeing what happens when you search for a custom pet painting on any search engine. Of course pages of AI-generated imagery and printed digital files are actively pushed ahead of actual, living breathing painters because the search engines are AI! So all the potential customers looking for a real artist have to fight through layers of computer-generated abominations and deception just to find what they are looking for.

Printing a computer image onto a piece of canvas does not make it a painting so STOP calling it that.

An entire artistic tradition is being devalued right before our very eyes and people are actually defending this AI generated slop! No care whatsoever that all the human beings who have poured their lives into a physical craft are being brushed aside for speed, convenience, and flat-out deception.

This pet portrait artist WILL NOT SHUT UP about it.

I won’t just shut up, accept it, and move on. I will never apologize for fighting to protect, respect, and value real human artistry. I will call out this mockery and deception until my dying breath.

A prompt is not a paintbrush. A digital image is not a painting. And generating a picture by typing some words into a box does NOT make anyone an artist.

-Melissa Guyette, pet portrait artist

Looking for a real, hand-painted pet portrait? I create traditional custom acrylic paintings of dogs, cats, and beloved animals—painted entirely by hand on canvas. Because a portrait of someone you love deserves real heart,  not a computer output.

MelissaSmithArt.com