I've tried making AI art, and there was definitely skill involved. I understand why prompt engineering can be hard. Every word I added could have unpredictable effects, constrain the space of images that can be generated because of the correlations. Choosing between similes was important.

What I realised was that I was fighting against the model to put my intent in the art. The model was extrapolating things I didn't want to put in the art based on popularity and trends, and I was having to find workarounds to actually make what I wanted.

A pencil will never inject intent I don't want into my art. My hand might slip, I might get the proportions wrong. But I'll never try to draw a criminal and accidentally draw a black person because my pencil was exposed to more black criminals than white.

There are AI artists who can put their intent into their art. But they're 1% of the people making AI art. Most of the time, a majority of the intention comes from a computer copying trends. And that's not art. In order to make art, actual meaningful art with these programs, you have to be an expert.

Any idiot with a pencil is an artist. The pencil only does what you tell it. You don't have to work to make it yours.