Do you feel guilty using AI?
Some weeks back, I asked AI to generate a profile picture for my cooking channel.
Chat Gpt generated the image based on this prompt:
“Using this photo of me, can you help me create a profile photo for Instagram and YouTube along the lines of “Genie in a Kitchen” – I.e. use my real head and replace my body with a genie in the bottle kind of concept? I am holding a kitchen knife (to show that this is a cooking channel).”
Shortly after I uploaded the image, a writer friend warned me it might spark backlash.
Her friends pointed out it looked like stolen Studio Ghibli art and I would risk getting hate comments or lose subscribers.
I told her the truth.
Yes, I DID create it using AI, channelling Ghibli’s whimsical style.
After my chat with my writer friend, the moral dilemma nagged at me.
Should I reject AI, or harness its potential without guilt?
As a writer, I admit I initially resented tools like ChatGPT for threatening my livelihood.
But as someone who has always sucked at art, AI was liberating.
It actualised my imagination with professional-grade execution in just a few minutes!
After 3 days, I changed the profile pic to my real photo.
AI can mimic style, but not soul.
My followers connected with me – the human cook, not the fantasy genie.
As my friend said: “We like the real you … Not the cartoon one.”
Innovation has always disrupted art. From photography to digital brushes.
You can’t stop the AI juggernaut.
Like it or not, AI is penetrating every aspect of life.
Every creator must choose to fear the wave, or ride it.
I stand by my belief that AI is transformative.
So yes, we should AI.
But never at the cost of who we really are.
