Here's something I've been chewing on: the word "artist."

People throw it around like it means something specific. Like there's a line somewhere and you're either on one side or the other. If you use AI, you're out. If you picked up a pencil and suffered for your craft, you're in. That's the vibe online right now. And I think it's worth actually looking at what we're arguing about.

Because when I think of an artist — like, a real artist — I think of Michelangelo. Picasso. Rothko. I think of timeless works of art that you see in a museum.

Or to dip into other realms of artistry, I think of Prince. Michael Jackson. Paul McCartney.

The kind of people you learn about in school because they literally changed how humans think about beauty and expression and what's possible.

Those are the names that come to mind when someone says the word "artist" with a capital A.

So when someone making beats in their spare bedroom gets told they're not a "real artist" because they used AI to help production — sure, okay. But then let's be consistent. That same bedroom producer wasn't on the level of Prince before AI either. Neither was the person yelling at them about it.

Nobody in this argument is Michelangelo.

We're all just people making stuff.

And that's the part that kills me. The title is self-bestowed. It always has been.

The Only Definition That Matters

Here's how I think about it, and it's pretty simple: Has somebody compensated you for your creative work? Have you made something that changed how people think, even a little?

In most professions, if someone pays you to do the job, you can call yourself that thing. You fix pipes, someone pays you, you're a plumber. You don't need guild approval or a certain number of hours logged. You did the work, someone valued it, that's the credential that ultimately matters, lets be real.

But with "artist," suddenly there's this whole other layer. You didn't go to art school? Not an artist. You didn't spend ten years mastering a medium? Not an artist. You used a tool that didn't exist when I was coming up? Definitely not an artist.

It's a gatekeeper move.

The admission criteria always seem to be: did you suffer the way I suffered? Did you come up the way I came up? If not, you're not in the club. And I'm sorry, but that's not a definition of artistry.

That's a definition of insecurity.

But Here's The Real Double Standard

Nobody goes after traditional artists.

Nobody tells the watercolor painter on Etsy that they're not a real artist because they're not hanging in the Louvre. Nobody tells the weekend guitarist they're not a real musician because they never sold out Madison Square Garden. Those people get to exist in peace with the title they gave themselves.

But the person who uses Midjourney to visualize a concept they've had in their head for years? The person who uses AI to help them write songs because they could always hear the melody but never figured out the theory?

Those people are suddenly frauds. Losers.

Not real.

Why? Because the tool is new. That's it. That's the whole reason.

I've Yet to Meet the Person Who Asked For This Fight

The other thing that gets me — and I mean really gets me — is that most people using AI creatively didn't show up asking to be called artists. They're just making stuff.

Experimenting. Learning. Having fun with something for the first time (maybe their entire life).

And then someone who gave themselves the title of artist comes along and tries to take it away from a person who never even claimed it. You're picking a fight with someone who didn't ask for one, defending a title that you gave yourself, acting like you earned it through some process that makes you more legitimate.

You didn't.

You just started earlier.

Or you had access to tools and education that other people didn't.

Or you had the time and the privilege to spend years on your craft while somebody else was working two jobs.

The only admission to the "artist" club should be this: did someone care enough about what you made to compensate you for it? However you made it. Period.

So What Am I Actually Saying

I'm saying the title of artist is made up.

And the people who guard it most fiercely are usually the ones most afraid of what it means if the door opens wider.

You want to call yourself an artist? Go ahead. But you don't get to hand out that title and revoke it from other people based on which tools they used. You gave yourself that name the same way they did. The only difference is you think yours counts more.

It doesn't.