Read my old art teacher's post about AI and felt a knot in my stomach

Last week I scrolled past a post from my high school art teacher in Columbus. She wrote about how her former student now uses Midjourney to make concept art and sells it for $400 a piece. She said it felt like watching someone skip the 10,000 hours of practice. I kept thinking about how I spent 2 summers learning to paint hands, and now someone can type a prompt. Does the effort still matter if the result looks the same to buyers? Has anyone else had this weird feeling when a real artist you admire talks about AI work?

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young.thomas2h agoMost Upvoted

...and that reminds me of when I tried to learn the banjo for six months. My neighbor could play circles around me after two weeks because he just watched YouTube videos and messed around. I had all these books and tabs, and he just had a weird natural ear for it. I was so mad, but then I realized his stuff sounded good, and nobody at the campfire cared how he got there. The effort part is for us, not for the people buying the thing. Maybe your teacher is just feeling that same sting, watching someone take a shortcut that still lands at the same spot.