Toddlers vs AI art

If a toddler draws a picture, then AI “improves” it by generating a lifelike version of the drawing… does that make the drawing better?

Or does it steal a gift from that child away from you.

Or rewrite history as we lose evidence of their growth, perspective, and effort.

Or remove the desire to improve in a skill that computers “will just do better anyway”.

What if the generated lifelike version of the drawing removed the art, by removing the artist.

What if their imperfect hand-drawn art is more “real” art, a communication between artist and viewer, a relationship shared through images, than the machine-made alternative could ever be.

What if that’s true whether it’s hand-drawn on paper or in Photoshop - the hands of the artist are on each brushstroke, like words in a poem.

Worth thinking about.