[RIMR]

Yes, it was easy. Just because AI is "easier" doesn't mean that photoshopping a dog into a picture was ever particularly hard.

[culi]

Making it convincing certainly was. Being able to generate an image in 30 seconds is completely different from having to dedicate an hour of your day to it.

In the gun debate, there's something called "Weapon Instrumentality Effect"

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1088767907306507