08/23/2026
Think you're saving money making AI graphics for your posts? You probably are. And that's the problem.
Yeah, it's cheaper than hiring someone real. Takes 30 seconds. Looks fine. So you pump out 5 posts a day with AI trash because why not, right? Why pay a designer when the machine does it free?
But it isn't free. It's never free. You're just not paying for it directly.
Those data centers running AI are massive energy hogs. By 2030 they'll use as much power as entire countries. Your electric bill keeps going up? That's part of it. We're having more droughts and water restrictions? Yeah, data centers use 1.8 billion gallons of water a year just for cooling. A single one. That's what a city of 50,000 people uses. You're helping drain the water supply so you can save 30 seconds making a graphic.
But here's the part that effects us artists: those AI images were trained on millions of artists' work. Stolen. No permission, no payment. When you choose AI over a real person, you're telling your community you'd rather pay nothing than pay a local artist. You look cheap as hell.
I'm not saying you're evil. You probably just don't know. But if you're not even curious enough to spend 5 minutes learning what this costs, then you're choosing not to care.
Want to learn more? I LOVE to talk about this stuff.
Don't act surprised when they build a data center next door to you and your water bill doubles.
