I agree, but the tool is not to blame and never has been. This is not unique. The same thing was said with the advent of digital photo editing. Fakes predate that when people made them with film. In each instance, it is the ethics of the people that are the problem. At the deepest abstract levels, if you play out all of the implications, there is no difference between a tool and the thoughts in your head. Blaming tools is always a problem and only an illusion of a solution.

I have been able to edit photos like this since before AI, but have never done so. When I was a kid in school I drew stuff like this. So the problems is actually intent and social accountability more than anything else.

I don’t like that the issue boils down to this. I think it is ugly, but I think the alternative is far far worse. I think those that are pushing this issue are convenient idiots combined with people that are hell bent on a fascist authoritarian future that is truly horrendous. If posting dubious child nudes of me will stop fascism and WW3, what poses would you like me to strike?