I don't know if you've noticed, but the whole world has gone graphics crazy.
AI has some incredible capabilities, and one of them is creating graphics. I feel sorry for the graphic artist who has to compete with this aspect of creativity, but I'm on the side of the AI in this. Its ability to create meaningful images within a few minutes, sometimes seconds, has provided something that simply didn't exist before at this scale. Yes, graphic artists still create meaningful and in-depth artistry, but for the everyday, general-purpose need, AI has finally provided a means to an end. The niche has been filled, and it's an increasingly popular sector of the media marketplace.
Now, I know many of my writer colleagues and their cover designers are going to be a little antsy with me over this, but when you consider that the cost of a good-quality cover for an ebook is often $100 or more, and up to $600 in more upmarket corners, a good-quality AI-generated cover can do an excellent job for a few dollars of tokenized access. I will admit to my covers being generated in this way, and you may find fault with them, but I and my readers don't care, because if they attract new subscribers, and the subscribers like the contents of my novels, then the cover has done its job. In all honesty, creative designers have been using computing power for decades to generate covers. The fact that this job has now been taken over by AI shouldn't come as any great surprise to them.
Covers are only the beginning. The same argument is now moving into the writing itself.
My job as a writer may be coming to an end in the form I've always known it. I've seen the finish line, and AI gets there first. I'm a little sad, but only because there is satisfaction in putting my own words into a book and having it devoured by SF fans all over the world. AI is not as good as most writers, but it is already better than many. In a few years, we'll give the AI the idea, probably a few hints, and off it will go and write a book that isn't yours, and isn't how you would write it, but will probably sell just as many copies.
As a reader, I'm not sure how I feel about that either. I've read a few AI-written books and put them down after a few minutes because they don't quite get there yet. Give it another year and that may change. Emotion-driven AI is developing quickly, and the books may begin to carry more personal interest. If they can grasp the concepts of suspense and mystery well enough to pull the reader along, there won't be much to stop their progress.
In the end, written entertainment becomes an automated commodity. As authors, writers and cover designers, we have to choose between embracing the future or resenting its success. I'm not sure the world will care much when it sees its usual supply of novels continuing to keep it occupied.