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Thinking like an artist today still means being curious, noticing the world, and expressing ideas in creative ways. AI doesn’t replace this — it just adds new tools and new questions.

A simple way to work with AI is to start by using it for brainstorming — let it help you make quick sketches, moodboards, or rough ideas. Then, pick the strongest ones and develop them further, either with more AI prompting or by editing them yourself. When you’re getting close to the final version, your own skills — drawing, writing, filming, designing — become even more important for shaping the work in your own voice. Before sharing it, it’s helpful to check whether anything might cause confusion or harm. And when you do share it, choosing your best work and explaining your process clearly can make a big difference.

Even with AI everywhere, the heart of being an artist really hasn’t changed. You still need curiosity to notice little details, patience to try ideas that might fail, and your own sense of taste to decide what actually feels right. Your experiences, thoughts, emotions, and point of view are what give your work meaning, just like before.

At the same time, artists today do need some new skills to work smoothly with AI. One important skill is learning how to write good prompts so the AI gives you useful or interesting results. It’s also helpful to know different AI tools and what they’re good at — some do better with images, some with writing, and so on. Since AI can generate tons of content, the artist has to get good at selecting, editing, and improving what really stands out. And finally, it helps to understand how these tools work in a basic way, including their limits and the ethical questions they raise.

Because AI has become such a powerful tool, artists also have more to think about in terms of responsibility. It’s important to consider whether you want to tell your audience how much AI was involved in your work. You also need to think about consent and fairness — for example, avoiding the use of someone’s face or style without permission. Copyright issues can get complicated too, since AI sometimes blends existing material in unclear ways. Most importantly, artists should think about how their work might affect others and make sure it aligns with their own values.

AI is best seen as a creative partner rather than a replacement. It can give you quick sketches, ideas, or variations that help you think in new directions. You can also treat AI’s output like raw material — something you cut up, remix, or reshape into your own artwork. Sometimes AI even acts like a mirror by revealing hidden patterns or stereotypes in its results, and that can inspire new ideas or critiques. In many ways, AI simply makes it easier to experiment widely, try out more possibilities, and refine your ideas faster.