I once again stumbled into a hotbed of controversy on a Reddit thread that seems to encourage this kind of thing (r/BitchEatingCrafters). Today’s issue seemed to be the use of AI in crafting and art.
While I can relate to the irritation around people trying to sell AI-generated patterns (awful, we can all agree), and AI-generated photos for one’s business, which often misrepresent the work of the artist, I cannot – for the life of me – understand why people have their panties in a bunch about artists using AI to create a logo for their business, or draft marketing copy for a website or brochure.
What’s the difference between the artist or crafter using AI to generate marketing copy or hiring a writer to do so? In either case, the artist is not writing the content. Same thing for logo creation. Apparently the Anti-AI crew thinks that people should do all of that themselves, or they are being “dishonest“.
Following this logic would then require crocheters and knitters to raise sheep, sheer the wool themselves, card it and spin it into yarn before crocheting or knitting, or they’re not truly fiber artists.
When challenged, some will say that work should be outsourced to freelancers, such as those on Fivver.
I have some really bad news for people with that opinion:
“…Fiverr embraces its responsible use to help freelancers deliver better results and assist clients more effectively. AI tools are now a part of many professional workflows — from writing assistants to image generation, automation, and data analysis — and Fiverr supports their use when done ethically and transparently.” (Fiverr.com)
All of this, of course, is ridiculous. If we look back in the history of humanity, we can see that for most of human history, the basic economic unit (family or small, cohesive band) had to provide for itself directly. Hunter-gatherer groups hunted, gathered, made their own tools, built their own shelter, and made their own clothing. There was some informal sharing within the group, but very little formal trade beyond it. Anthropologists call this a state of near-total autarky: each unit produces what it consumes.
In this scenario, people had to be generalists. A person needed to be at least somewhat competent in multiple skills: tracking game, making cordage, building a fire, treating wounds. There was no one else who could do it for them. Being excellent at any single skill didn’t matter much if you still had to spend most of your time on everything else.
Then came the Neolithic Revolution (~10,000–8,000 BCE) – the period when agriculture emerged. This era is seen as the point when total self-sufficiency gave way to a more cooperative arrangement between people with different skill sets. Farming advances meant some people produced more food than their family needed. The surplus enabled others to not farm and to instead spend their time making pottery, smithing tools, or weaving. They could trade their goods for the farmers’ extra grain.
As the rise of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and China (noted as some of the earliest civilizations) unfolded we see fully developed divisions of labor: farmers, soldiers, priests, scribes, merchants, builders, and others. Each group depended on the others for what it didn’t produce itself.
The Anti-AI purists seem to be lacking in knowledge and understanding of this history. No one today (with rare exceptions in isolated sects or religious communes) produces everything they need. We ALL trade, either directly or by purchasing with money, to acquire the things that we do not have the expertise to create.
For small business owners, this means that they will reach out for expertise around things that are not in their wheelhouse. This may include hiring an attorney for legal consultation, an accountant for tax assistance, a marketing pro for marketing copy, and a graphic designer for logo creation. It doesn’t take a genius to add up the costs before the first sale is made, so businesses that are just starting out have to make some decisions.
Twenty-plus years ago, one of these decisions may have been to purchase Turbo Tax or similar software to handle taxes. Today’s decision to utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI) to handle tasks that are not in the artist’s wheelhouse is no different.
AI temper tantrums are not limited to the crafting world. They are taking place across all sectors. Some people are stomping their feet and insisting that AI will “never be able to do” what an experienced (their job title) can do. The big PROBLEM with that position is that history has proven it to be a fallacy. There are over 100 years of examples, but consider Medical Transcriptionists who insisted this same thing as digital voice recognition came onto the scene (~2010). The reality was that once the efficacy of the digital voice recognition software was shown to be at an acceptable level of accuracy, healthcare systems pulled the plug and went with the new technology. It saved time, money and space.
I am not arguing the morality of these things. I am watching as my own profession is being decimated by the advancements of technology, but I will not stand around and pretend that it’s some kind of holy, sacred practice to keep inscribing granite with a hammer and chisel when I can talk into my phone and transcribe multiple paragraphs in less than 2 minutes.
All of us need to learn the skills of evolution, and work at becoming more comfortable with change, because the PACE of change is only accelerating. In the midst of all the societal changes, technologies emerge, and old ways fade into the history books.
Instead of wasting time cosplaying as purity police, people should pay attention to the impact AI is going to have on their lives and see what things they may need to do to take care of their careers, incomes, and families. And if that seems like a lot of extra work, it is. Good thing technology options are around to help all of us maximize the time we have and focus on getting things done in the time available to us.
(C) 2026 Practitioner’s Path
Stitch 'n Dish 