Your Hate for AI Makes You Look Like a Clown

If your defense of “human soul” involves telling strangers to kill themselves over a JPEG, you aren’t an activist. You’re just a bully.

Let’s get the nuance out of the way first, because I know the comments section is already sharpening its pitchforks.

There are valid, terrifying reasons to be wary of generative AI. I get it. The unauthorized scraping of artist data is a legal nightmare that needs to be solved. The energy consumption of massive data centers is a legitimate environmental crisis. The corporate desire to replace writers and artists with cheaper, inferior automation is real and it is gross.

If you are fighting those battles—if you are lobbying for legislation, pushing for ethical datasets, or demanding transparency from tech giants—I respect you.

But that is not what is happening on social media right now.

If you open Threads, X, or Reddit today, you won’t see a high-minded debate about copyright law. You will see a mob of self-righteous bullies descending on teenagers, hobbyists, and excited amateurs with a toxicity that makes the early 2000s Xbox Live lobbies look like a therapy session.

Kys clanker

— Alex the Wizard (@AlextheWizard5) November 10, 2025

Here is the cold, hard truth: If you are commenting “KYS” (kill yourself) under a post because someone used a tool you don’t like, you aren’t saving art. You are just acting like a clown.

The “Pick Up a Pencil” Mob

The current discourse on platforms like Threads has devolved into a performative moral panic. It follows a predictable, exhausting script.

A user posts an image. Maybe it’s an innocuous sci-fi landscape or a fan-art portrait. They mention they used AI. Immediately, the swarm arrives. They don’t offer critique. They don’t discuss the composition. They copy-paste the same tired slogans: “Pick up a pencil,” “Soulless slop,” and the ever-charming “I hope you die.”

I saw a thread recently where a user—clearly young, clearly not a professional artist—was proud of a comic strip they made using AI tools to help visualize a story they had written. They weren’t selling it. They weren’t claiming to be the next Rembrant. They were just… creating.

The response? Hundreds of replies attacking their character, their intelligence, and their right to exist.

View on Threads

This isn’t activism. It’s a power trip. It is bullying disguised as a moral crusade. It allows people to feel like they are fighting “The Machine” when all they are actually doing is harassing a random person who just wanted to make something cool.

The Hypocrisy of the Platform

The irony, of course, is that these anti-AI crusaders are often screaming into the void on platforms that are entirely powered by the very technology they claim to hate.

View on Threads

You are posting your hate on Threads or TikTok? Great. You are feeding an algorithmic recommendation engine (AI) that curates your feed based on behavioral data (AI) to maximize your engagement so the platform can serve you targeted ads (AI).

You aren’t escaping the algorithm; you are its favorite customer. Your outrage is the fuel.

Furthermore, attacking the end-user for the sins of the corporation is cowardly. It is easy to dunk on a hobbyist with 50 followers. It is much harder to take on Adobe, Google, or OpenAI. So the mob goes for the low-hanging fruit. They bully the little guy because it feels like a victory, even though it changes absolutely nothing about the trajectory of the technology.

You Are the Villain of This Story

Here is the reality check that the “anti-AI” crowd desperately needs to hear: Art is about empathy. It is about the human experience. It is about connection.

If your reaction to a piece of software is to tell a human being to end their life, you have failed the very test you claim to be proctoring. You cannot claim to be the defender of the “human soul” while acting completely heartless.

When you bully someone off the internet because they used a tool you don’t like, you aren’t a hero protecting the sanctity of creativity. You are the villain. You are the gatekeeper slamming the door on people who—perhaps for reasons of disability, time, or skill—finally found a way to visualize the ideas in their heads.

AI is a tool. It is a powerful, dangerous, messy, and incredible tool. We need to talk about how we use it. We need to regulate it. We need to ensure creators are paid.

But if your contribution to that conversation is harassment?

Log off.

You’re making the rest of us look bad.