that was super cool of you. Before letting people make the incorrect assumption, you hit em off at the pass. good people right there

"assum­ing nom­i­nal dam­ages of $1 per image" that's quite an assumption lol.

To quote "You can't put the genie back in the bottle"

And unless I start to see some evidence that this is theft, by an identical piece in a collage being "created" by AI (impossible I think) - then I have ZERO time to consider how they are being stolen or thinking of compensation ideas.

I say this with an arts degree - it sucks for struggling artists, but I only find it nominally sad that a bunch of people are gunna be out of work making Art for the McCorpos -

If you are one of those artists then i'm sorry if I sound flippant or cruel about this, but you can adapt or you will die. Not literally, of course.

But real artists know its the message not the medium - and they aren't in danger of dying off. They adapt.

the funny part is these tools are inspiring new creativity and mediums. someone made a 3d game using ai generated images. it was a lot of work to combine and put together, it only saved on the drawing. this is opening new doors for artists. but ya, they'll need to adapt.

maybe an even worse analogy, but i stopped using Photoshop when css got good. no need to make images for rounded corners. no need for me to pay adobe. but no one is suing css.

Wordpress was the worst. It put millions of web devs out of work. Why was there no class action suit? /s

Yup - as I’ve read here you need to talk to a therapist, and also it seems you need some intellectual stimulation to give you some direction of motivation in life.

It sounds like you lost your purpose, which can be an existential crisis - but as you mentioned you have a loving family, a house … etc.

I had to leave my career in the army at 30 because of PTSD, fell into VERY rough times, and after all that had 2 kids which helped provide a bit of perspective.

Now, I’m feeling many of the same things but am going back for a new degree in a couple months, I keep myself busy with some of the new technology, and had to really gain some acceptance with myself and my feelings.

And that can be the hardest thing, when the day is over and everything is quiet and I’m forced to be alone with my screaming thoughts.

It can be tough and overwhelming, especially during this time of year. It’s hard but try to have some acceptance that you are right where the universe needs you to be - we like to fool ourselves that we retain some sort of control but we don’t.

Stay positive, friend.

It sounds like you fell in love with the idea of "the tech-start up dream"... Willing to sleep in the closet at HQ to fulfil that dream, put your heart and soul into it - but don't have matching tech. And I get it, that's backwards.

But deciding to be an inventor is a tough road to walk.

And being in the tech-start up space you are going to be dealing with vipers and scorpions - not ideal. And even if YOU have a perfect idea - your chances of success are still slim.

Start small and build up. You don't need a facility, team, or anything but the smallest decent product. Build it, the rest will come.

But these influencers are going to destroy us all. Avoid for advice at all costs.

And you're really almost hitting the point directly - but this guy just seems to "want" to be the owner of a tech-startup, rather then someone with a good tech idea who then turns it into a successful business.

Everyone is selling a dream, and people are willing to buy because they fall in love with the "idea" of the dream - I think unless I had some actually insane, never thought of tech, I would NEVER want to be a tech-startup. Everyone is trying to take advantage of you to fulfil their own dreams, ironically