15/07/2026
Unpopular opinion but...
I find myself getting really annoyed with people constantly having a go at small business owners for using ChatGPT-generated images on their socials.
Obviously, as someone in the creative industry, I don't exactly like them. They're generic, they're soulless, and all the rest of it.
But most people using their platform to swipe at these owners have never walked a yard (let alone a mile) in the shoes of someone working on AND in their small hospitality business. Particularly pub owners.
It's all well and good moaning about AI slop from the comfort of a coffee shop behind your MacBook, but I can't even begin to list the amount of s**t these people wade through every single day just to keep their livelihoods afloat.
They don't have time to learn design. They don't have money to pay creatives. They never did, and they probably never will.
They were never your market. So stop making them feel bad for using a tool that gets information to their followers fast, while they deal with the daily f**kery of broken ice-machines, mysterious staff illness the morning after the football, and a looming extortionate VAT bill they have no idea how they're going to pay.
An AI-generated quiz night poster isn't the "death of creativity" These are actual people doing their best with what they've got.
And when they ARE in a position to invest in some creative work? They'll remember which creatives were rooting for them, and which ones were giving them grief in their hardest moments.
