Vent: My friend sold her painting at a discount because of AI copies

My friend paints landscapes and sells them at local markets in Portland. Last Saturday a buyer showed her three AI prints of similar scenes at half her price and asked why hers cost so much. She ended up dropping her price from $200 to $120 just to make the sale, mostly out of frustration. It's not like she can compete with someone who types a prompt and prints the thing. I feel for her, but I also wonder if lowering prices is the right move at all. Has anyone else seen local artists get pressured this way by AI image sellers?

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the_eric1mo ago

That whole "everything should be cheap" mindset is slowly killing the value of real handmade work everywhere, not just art.

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alicer531mo ago

People want everything fast and cheap now, but they don't see the hours of skill that go into one good piece. Same thing happens with custom concrete work I see around here, everyone wants a bargain and then complains when it cracks. Can't have it both ways, right?

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