How Creatives Can Use ChatGPT Without Feeling Like a Sellout
You're not sacrificing values—you're buying back your time, sanity, and creative spark
The ethical quagmire of AI proliferation
Holy crap, that sounds like the title of a thesis, but I promise this isn’t some academic esoterica; it’s still the truth—AI is a divisive topic, and some (myself included) are unsure whether the benefits outweigh the potential harm.
Between the models trained on stolen art, the corporations pretending it’s all innovation and not exploitation, and the discourse that shifts hourly on who’s being lifted up or left behind. It's messy, and if you’re a creative person with a conscience, you’ve probably asked yourself…
Am I contributing to the problem by using this at all?
The answer, unfortunately, isn’t binary. It lives in the tension. And the only way through is with a little more critical thinking and a lot less blind adoption. I know, because I’ve been on both sides of it.
My first experience with AI creation tools was in early 2022 with Midjourney, but I didn’t go into it thinking it would make me better in any way. I started because Midjourney was fun. Like, dangerously fun.
It felt like creative sorcery—type in a prompt, get something weird and beautiful back. I wasn’t making work, just playing around, but eventually, the external vibes got murky. Artists I respected started raising the alarm: this wasn’t just fun—it was theft, and built on the backs of other people’s work without permission or credit.
I recall when an artist found the list of artists that Stable Diffusion used to train its AI, and at the time, the process was: if you found your name on the list (mine was not), you had to opt out in writing. This is not the way it should be.
Honestly, I’d suspected as much, because I would run prompts in Midjourney using phrases like “create a party scene in the style of Robert McGinnis,” and the AI would spit out something reminiscent of McGinnis’ illustrations from the ’60s and ’70s.
But there’s a difference between knowing and acknowledging, and my conscience got the better of me because I recognized how this software was hurting my peers and colleagues. I canceled my Midjourney account and stepped away, feeling remorse for participating in someone else’s heist.
So when ChatGPT started gaining traction, I was hesitant but willing to test it out. Version 2 felt like talking to a robot who hated their job, and v3 was better, but more like a middle-management HR director hearing my claims of misappropriation while also making a mental note to report me to my boss (sorry for the tangential post-trauma flashback).
But by v4, something clicked. This wasn’t a shortcut, but more of a sounding board—a co-conspirator. I wasn’t using the AI to replace my ideas, but instead to get to them faster, cleaner, and with less existential dread in the process.
Still, that creeping guilt is real. For a lot of creatives, the struggle is the story, and if something is too easy, it must be fake. The artist’s trope is: if you didn’t suffer for it, it doesn’t count. If you’re using AI, well, don’t let the door hit your soul on the way out, you sellout!
But here’s the thing… using new tools to make different work isn’t selling out. It’s forgetting why you started making things, or pursuing an outcome that doesn’t align with your values. I didn’t start writing creatively just to waste half my energy formatting bullet points or untangling a first draft I hate.
There is some value in the grind from a critical thinking standpoint, but when you’ve been at it as long as I have, struggling over the tedious tasks is more likely to keep me from the work.
While others see AI as either the hero or the villain, for me, it’s the sidekick or partner I never had nor could afford—and it never gets upset when I make changes to its replies or ask for corrections.
Over time, I’ve come to rely on it for a handful of key roles:
Organizing messy ideas into something usable
Offering clear, unbiased feedback when I’m too close to the work
Speeding up repetitive or tedious tasks that drain my creative energy
Helping me push past blocks when my brain stalls out
Holding me accountable by reflecting my own goals and process back at me
But even with all that support, there are still moments where I hesitate, some tasks too sacred, too me to hand over. That’s what this week’s prompt is about untangling the tension between integrity and assistance.
Prompt: Using AI Without Selling Out
This prompt isn’t here to convince you. It’s here to help you think more clearly about the lines you're drawing—and whether they still serve you.
Copy all the text between the lines below, paste it into your AI of choice (I use ChatGPT v4o), and replace all the areas in brackets with your information.
Here is a list of creative tasks or processes I hesitate to use AI for because it feels like cheating or a betrayal of my creative values.
[Insert your list of creative tasks]
For each task:
Write a short, honest explanation of how AI could support or improve that process—without diminishing your role or compromising the integrity of your work.
Then interrogate your own answer by asking:
Am I being objective in this reasoning, or am I just justifying what I want to believe?
Would I judge another creator for using AI in this way?
If the AI did help here, what would success look like—and would I still feel ownership over the result?
Finally, note any tasks where you still feel resistant. Ask yourself: is that resistance based on principle, fear, or identity?
There’s no purity test for creativity, no gold star for doing things the hard way just because. The goal isn’t to outsource your voice, but to clear away enough mental junk to actually hear it. Use the tool, but don’t become it.
If something still feels off, trust that itch. That’s your creative compass, and I always recommend leaning into it.
Sunday prompts are typically reserved for member, but this one is on the house to help you find clarity in using these tools as exactly that, tools. If you want to make sure to get more in-depth prompts like this, consider becoming a member today.