I'm not sure how you feel about AI-generated images, I think it's causing a stir in the art world like we had never seen before. I like to generate images but I don't consider myself someone who's trying to steal the spotlight from artists since I'm not creating anything. I still have great respect and admiration for artists who have honed their skills through learning and practice.
But one positive aspect of AI-generated images is that they allow for a free flow of ideas and concepts that might have otherwise remained hidden. People who lack the skill or time to express themselves can now do so with greater clarity thanks to AI-generated images.
Rather than seeing AI-generated images and traditional art as competitors, I believe that they can be complementary. AI-generated images can serve as a useful tool for artists to overcome creative and technical barriers and improve their skills. Meanwhile, those who appreciate and generate images with the help of AI can help push art into a new era by exploring new ideas in the graphic space.
@ryuichi
On the other hand, it is a fact that there are people who are using it for bad purposes, and like when the photograph was invented, it will take quite some time for a backlash or the right way to use it to be established 
@nop In the case of characters, maybe you can ask the AI for rough bases using simple ideas and the artists can refine and expand those ideas, it would leverage work from a lot of people in the anime production field, but i don't think it can replace artists ever, you still need people to animate and do a proper draw of characters in all angles, you just can't do that consistently with AI.
@ryuichi There seem to be various applications for anime. With AI, it seems possible to create art styles that would be difficult for humans to draw frame by frame, such as oil paintings or watercolor paintings.
@ryuichi@qoto.org Its definitely a useful tool. The closest parallel I can draw is advent of digital photography. It did wreck havoc on certain segments of photography market, but in turn it gave skilled photographers more tools to work with and to focus on more important things, like composition and more creative photos. Stable diffusion will most likely have similar effect on digital artists.
My opinions of it from my personal use case.
@ryuichi@qoto.org My personal use case is that I just enjoy having images that are mine, personally. I've never been a very good artist. I never have been able to, nor likely would ever be able to enjoy anything I created with my own hands. These tools give me the ability to create something that's mine. I never intend to sell it. I never intend to use it for anything beyond my own personal enjoyment. I just like having pretty pictures to look at that are mine. Now some will say "You should just commission an artist." I have tried that in the past but I never enjoyed the result in the same way. It's also far too expensive to do a lot of that. I respect the artists I bought from. There is a lot of really good hand made artwork out there and alot of it is very beautiful. I respect their time and value their work and skill. But the art I bought got filed away. I almost never look at it. There's just no joy there. It's just something I paid for. I had no hand in it. It wasn't mine. Meanwhile, since I got into AI art, I've got a folder of hundred of images that I am enjoying often. Images that I go back and look at. Images that I continue to work on, generating more of, refining concepts, tools and skills to make them look better. I'm having fun. Fun I would never have had with someone else's hand made art. Fun I could never have had with just using the normal tools myself. And I have tried.
There are still a lot of questions open. There are certainly people using it for bad purposes. But as with any tool, there's legitimate uses for it as well. I understand the fear and rejection of it. I also held that opinion before I informed myself on how it all works. I do think a lot of it is simple misunderstanding that can be cleared up with time.
@waifumemes69 I find the argument that you have to pay artists every time you want to materialize an illustration to be quite ridiculous. It's like saying that you can't listen to a song unless you hire a band or musician. It's as if artists have a monopoly on artistic representation.
Moreover, paying for art can be challenging because of budget constraints. If you have an idea but can only afford a mediocre artist, you're stuck with subpar art, or have to save up for a better artist that coul end becoming very expensive and last several time to deliver anything.
AI has enabled people to experiment more freely with concepts and ideas and enjoy seeing their ideas materialized. While I acknowledge that I haven't created anything myself, if the images produced by AI serves the purpose of materializing ideas that have I don't see how it can harm anyone.
What i am going agree that for now the range of stuff you can do with AI for now is not as broad as people would expect, just having several people interacting in complicated ways it's almost impossible to do.
@ryuichi@qoto.org I'm not going to say it's ridiculous. But it is a budget issue and I would be doing it for the same sort of things I'm using AI software for anyway. So it's not like anyone is losing out because I'm using the software instead of hiring an artist.
I do think if I had a specific enough need for art. (Especially a commercial need.) I would still hire an artist. Even if I planned to have the art be AI generated to some extent to save cost or time. I think it would be good to hire someone with skills to do the cleanup and editing necessary on the AI generated images.
As with the photography example from another commenter. The fact that everyone owns cameras now doesn't mean people don't still hire professional photographers when they have an image they actually care about.
To kind of reinforce my personal viewpoint about wanting to be involved in the art to enjoy it. Model kits. People could just buy a pre-made statue or figure of something. But model kits are very popular anyway because people like to be involved in the creation of something. Like to add their own twist on it. I think that's how I feel. The enjoyment is partially the process for me.
@ryuichi
I agree. AI can be particularly useful for people who are required to draw illustrations in addition to their main creative skills, such as for game graphics or novel illustrations. It can also be convenient in art creation, such as leaving detailed backgrounds to AI and focusing on drawing characters.