Hey everyone, I'm sitting here just finishing up my lunch break and having a quick trawl :-)
So I wanted to ask you all something, my girlfriend’s really into arts and crafts and has a great eye for design. Lately she’s been talking about trying someething from home, maybe doing some freelance graphic work or selling her designs online.
The thing is, everywhere we look, AI art is just… all over the place. Stock sites, Etsy, you name it. Feels like it’s taking over. Even stuff that looks handmade turns out to be AI half the time. She's really not keen on AI art!
So we’re both wondering, is it still worth starting something like that right now? Are there parts of the art or design world where being human still matters, or has AI kind of closed the door on that?
Would love to hear from anyone actually doing creative work online. What’s it really like out there right now?
I mean, yeah, AI’s made a real mess of the design world. Every time I open Etsy now it feels like walking through a wallpaper factory. A lot of it looks nice at a glance, but all with that same vibe, then you realise it’s all lazily-prompted AI images. A well-crafted image prompt goes a long way, as Diane will attest to!
Creative Bloq had a piece the other month basically saying the same thing: freelance gigs are down, AI’s clogging the pipes. No shock there.
What’s funny is it reminds me of Total Recall - that scene on Mars where all the ads are shouting at people in those fake cheerful voices. When I first saw it, I remember thinking, “yeah right, nobody’s ever going to fall for that kind of synthetic nonsense.” Fast forward to 2025, and have you seen YouTube ads lately? It’s all the same plastic AI energy. The audio is almost worse than the visuals! But there's no stopping it.
Anyway, I think humans still win where the human part shows. Real texture, small flaws, actual story; that still connects. If your girlfriend’s got a good eye and focuses on what feels personal and hand-touched, she can cut through all the AI grey goo ... in the right context.
So yeah, I'd say still worth doing. Just keep it real, not robotic. I don't think you'll make a million with it though!
You could say the same about professional writing - AI has destroyed so many careers! A few years ago, I had clients queuing out the door, happy to pay up to $100 just for 1000 words of well-written copywriting that actually converted or brought traffic.
And then when AI became affordable, people slowly disappeared - one client even admitted he had fed my writing to a generator, and asked it to sound like me!
And now I am your girlfriend's worst nightmare - I sell AI designs on Etsy! It's not making me a fortune, but I genuinely enjoy it.
Is there still room for genuine artists and designers? If there is, the opportunities are disappearing fast, unless you are already established or have clients who want to retain you.
Appreciate the honest feedback. You’ve helped me see it more clearly.
If making money is the goal, it’s probably not worth it right now. Feels like genuine art and design have been pushed back into “hobby” territory. Which is fine, I guess ... not everything has to be a business. But trying to compete with the AI flood sounds like trying to empty the ocean with a bucket.
I think Diane's example where AI can be trained to mimic us is quite scary. Those YouTube ads where the vocal track sounds weirdly familiar, but you can't quite place it. I think they're training the voice on celebrities and we recognise the delivery. Slightly unnerving.
That Total Recall scene really stuck with me too! Feels like we’re already living in that world.
Anyway, I’ll lovingly suggest my girlfriend sticks to making art for the love of it, you never know. It’s all fun and games until the servers running AI melt the polar ice caps - and at that point, none of us are doing internet marketing anyway 😅