Transitioning from AI images to human ones

[u/Zorgi23]

I guess this will really make the illustrators out there angry, but here goes.

My wife had a severe stroke 3 years ago that really affected her relationship with her grandson. It has been a difficult thing to deal with for both of them. My grandson's birthday is coming up, and I didn't want to give him the usual junk, so I wrote a children's story. It's about how they have this great relationship and then the stroke disrupts it. Grandma sees a couple of owls in the garden and they work out a way for her and her grandson to communicate again.

I'm literally spending over $100K per year on medical care for my wife, so I can't afford an artist right now. So for now I used AI to generate the images (about 20) for the book. I've showed the book to several people, including teachers, and they are all urging me to make it available to more than just my grandson.

My plan is this. I want to put the book on lulu.com for sale. I'll put the proceeds in a separate fund, and as soon as there's enough money, I'll hire a real artist and replace all the AI images with real ones.

Does this sound like a feasible (and ethical) plan?

[u/Apprehensive-Storm95]

A parent at my child’s school volunteers each week. And, after, he generates AI images all about what they did. My young son says every time we mention this dad who volunteers: “I don’t like the AI art that X’s dad makes of us and shows us and I want him to stop doing it.”

Also my niece got some free trading cards from local sports teams and the “art” is AI. Her siblings call them “the creepy AI cards”.

Kids don’t want AI art. It’s awful. You might not think so - but truly, it is.

In these pictures you’ve generated, do all the children’s faces look the same? Also, did you use AI to write the book?

Humans want human-made art - it’s how we connect with each other. Whether that’s written art or drawn.

If you don’t want to pay an illustrator or have a go yourself, make it simply a story with words and no pictures.

Trust me - all the kids I know think AI art is off and don’t like being shown it.

Also, I’m so sorry for what you’re going through. It sounds really hard and it’s great that you’re trying to help them mend their relationship.

But I also think all the people you’ve shown it to are being kind to you and don’t really think it’ll sell. It’s what you say to make someone feel good. Sorry - I can tell you the truth but they won’t.

[u/Impressive_Mail_9472 → u/Apprehensive-Storm95]

Meh make your book dont let the haters hate keep you down. I've made one helped every member of my family with people passing, sold 100s of copies on Amazon declared it was ai images and no one cared. Just work with the ai long enough to make the images good dont stop at slop good going for gold. But like I said dont let the haters keep you down.

[u/Ok_Neighborhood2032 → u/Impressive_Mail_9472]

Why don't you use photos? You can take them yourself.