I have a fairly clear opinion and position on the use of AI. First of all, my drawings, paintings, commissions, flash designs, etc. are and will continue to be created without the use of generative AI. Drawing is something I genuinely enjoy and am passionate about. What matters most to me is the process and the act of creating itself. The act of drawing is what I find most interesting. Personally, I think that AI tools as we know them today are useful tools for analysis, calculations, summarising information, etc. Artistic creativity remains something deeply human.

The ways I most frequently use AI in my work are for proofreading, speech-to-text transcription and translation. I find that AI-generated texts quickly become cliché and sound unnatural. I want the information I share to be accurate, verified and authentic, so I avoid having entire texts generated for me. I care a lot about the texts I publish and put time into them: I do research, reread, edit and revise...

To help me finish this website, I used Shopify's built-in AI tool to generate code and help make the website look exactly how I wanted it to. Some Shopify templates are quite limited and needed a few adjustments that required editing the code: changing the layout, adding animations to certain buttons, creating a dynamic menu, etc. The website's overall look and design largely come from me. I spent a lot of time gathering examples and inspiration to create something decent that feels like me and fits my artistic world. I would have loved to hire a professional to build the website, and it probably would have saved me a lot of time and frustration, but unfortunately, I'm still a long way from being able to afford that kind of help.

Other, less frequent uses of AI in my work include brainstorming, organisation, calculations and occasionally research, when Google fails to provide the results I'm looking for. I generally use ChatGPT for these tasks.

Finally, I sometimes use Photoshop's AI tools (Firefly) to edit the settings and backgrounds in photos of my products. I want to make it clear that I never run the entire product photo through an AI tool. I'm particularly careful to show you my products as they really are. The AI assisted edits are limited to small adjustments, such as the photo background or decorative elements around the photographed item. Most of these edits can already be done using traditional image-editing tools, so my use of AI is kept to a minimum.

As for clients using AI-generated images as references for tattoo or commission requests, I don't object to working from an AI-generated example provided by a client, but I don't particularly encourage it either. When creating your design, I generally don't need an exact visual reference. A written description is enough, along with a few inspiration photos if you'd like to provide them. Generative AI tools don't actually understand the technical constraints of tattooing. They can produce compositions that look like tattoos, but are technically impossible to tattoo or simply unsuitable for creating a result that will stand the test of time.

Finally, I want to emphasise the importance of maintaining a critical mindset and keeping some perspective when it comes to these tools. Data centres are known to have an environmental impact, and I think it's important to be aware of that. However, I don't believe that occasional or thoughtful use of AI is something to be condemned, especially when it comes to text-based queries, which consume significantly fewer resources than, for example, generating images or videos. I believe that everyone is responsible for their own carbon footprint, and that it's important to consider our overall impact.