AI Art in 2026: Real Creativity or Just Expensive Bollocks?

Look. I've been watching this AI art thing unfold and I need to say something proper about it before I explode.

Everyone's lost their minds. You've got CNET and Simplilearn and all these tech rags putting out lists like "20 Best AI Art Generators of 2026" like we're shopping for fucking toasters. Twenty. Twenty different ways to generate images nobody asked for. Apple's launched Creator Studio — "an inspiring collection of the most powerful creative apps" — and I'm sitting here thinking, inspiring for who exactly? People who can't be bothered to learn how to draw?

Here's the thing nobody wants to admit. Most AI art is performative. It's people pretending they're creative because they typed a prompt and got something that looks pretty. Know what I mean? That's not creation. That's consumption with extra steps.

But — and this is important — I'm not saying AI is inherently rubbish. I'm saying the way most people use it is rubbish. There's a difference. Proper artists, the real ones, they use tools. They don't let the tools use them. The frauds? They let the algorithm do the work and then pretend they've got something to say.

Interesting thing though — Creative Bloq just published "The AI-free art apps you need to try in 2026." That's a reaction, innit? That's the pendulum swinging back. People are getting sick of the synthetic shite. They want something with fingerprints on it. Something that took actual effort. Frontiers published academic stuff about AI in education and the arts and even they're asking questions about what this means for human development. Not celebrating. Asking questions.

That tells you everything.

See, I respect the greats. The ones who came before and actually meant it. They didn't have AI. They had vision and discipline and the guts to put something real into the world. Now we've got kids generating a thousand images a day and calling themselves artists. Biblical arrogance, that is.

But here's where I'll catch flak — some AI art IS proper. Mega. Biblical. When someone with actual vision uses it as a tool, not a crutch, you can tell. The intention comes through. The human hand is still there, even if it's digital. The problem isn't the technology. The problem is the laziness. The dishonesty. People pretending they did work they didn't do.

Apple's Creator Studio, all these generators, the counter-movement of AI-free apps — it's all noise until you decide what you actually believe. Are you making art or are you making content? There's a difference. Art comes from somewhere. Content just fills space.

I'll say this and I'll stand on it. The best art in 2026 — AI or not — will come from people who could make it without AI but chose to use it anyway. That's the test. If you need the algorithm to do the work, you're not an artist. You're a customer.

Everyone else can do one.

Real ones know what I mean.

OX x