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Ask HN: Why do we celebrate AI-Copilots but reject AI–Generated art?

20 points praveeninpublic | 4 comments | 26 Apr 25 19:13 UTC | HN request time: 0.788s | source

While browsing YouTube, an AI-generated video appeared and I reflexively told my wife, “That’s AI—skip it.”

Yet I’m using AI-created illustrations for my graphic novel, fully aware of copyright and legal debates.

Both Copilots and art generators are trained on vast datasets—so why do we cheer one and vilify the other?

We lean on ChatGPT to rewrite blog posts and celebrate Copilot for “boosting productivity,” but AI art still raises eyebrows.

Is this a matter of domain familiarity, perceived craftsmanship, or simple cultural gatekeeping?

1. throwaway2317 ◴[26 Apr 25 20:26 UTC] No.43806863[source]▶
I vilify code LLMs every time I review a colleague's code, ask them why they wrote something a certain way, and they can't explain. ChatGPT prose is even worse: it's like a corporate press release, only even blander and happytalker.
replies(2): >>43807099 #>>43807310 #
2. 2muchcoffeeman ◴[26 Apr 25 20:50 UTC] No.43807099[source]▶
You get whole blocks of code written by AI? No reviewing from the original dev???
replies(1): >>43812057 #
3. drivingmenuts ◴[26 Apr 25 21:18 UTC] No.43807310[source]▶
I find AI handy in two cases - writing quick boilerplate and assisting when I'm coming to grips with a library. In my case, I've never used the Qt libraries at all, and I'm trying to learn how to use them. Most of the code gets rewritten several times as I try different things, but it's handy to have something fill in the blanks if I can't remember the name of a function.

Ultimately, it's me who's responsible for the end product and I accept that and review the code. But it's definitely been handy.

4. TheNewsIsHere ◴[27 Apr 25 14:09 UTC] No.43812057[source]▶
Honest question in reply: If you need to vibe code your way through a real programming job how are you supposed to review your own work?