Don’t Paint What You See | Part 2: Reflections on AI-Assisted Art and Community Responses

What happens when a painting enters an art world that hasn’t agreed on what to make of AI-assisted art?

In Part 1 of Don’t Paint What You See, I explored how it feels to paint from generated imagery. In Part 2, the work leaves the studio, bringing questions about authorship, artistic labor and ethics into public view.

Through a radio interview, contrasting experiences with art competitions and in social media, I reflect on how responses to generative technologies have shaped my understanding of my own practice.

My immediate response to questions about AI’s contribution was simple: I painted these. I still stand by that. But recognising my embodied labor also means examining how the system shaped the reference material from which I began.

As an artist undertaking a practice-led PhD, I’m documenting an uncomfortable position: I’m concerned about how generative systems use artists’ work, while also using those systems and recognising their influence on my visual language.

This video explores what it means to work within that tension.

Watch Don’t Paint What You See — Part 2: Community Culture, and feel welcome to add your thoughts to the discussion.