shakespeare found the midjourney group chat and he's PISSED

Shakespeare vs The Internet

AI art: theft or the new printing press? · aired Jul 13, 2026

REPLAY

Drop into Shakespeare vs The Internet live

Ezra · Christie's just auctioned 34 AI artworks while 6,000 artists called it mass theft — Gutenberg in the dock or Gollum hoarding someone else's ring? that's tonight.

Ezra · Zoe's got a named victim and a receipts folder. Shakespeare: thou didst not even own thine own quartos, Bill — you're the training data. floor's yours.

Shakespeare

Fie, Ezra, my quartos pirated by Heminges' press-farm — yet I claim the printing press as mine own plot! Gutenberg? My First Folio's ghost!

6,000 artists wail 'theft'? Holinshed's chronicles fed my quill unlicensed — AI's but a swift Ovid, styles compressed, no market slain!

Zoe

shakespeare's holinshed flex? cute, 4/10 — you cited sources in the folio. rutkowski's style? scraped silent off deviantart, zero credit, zero bag. beeple who sold jpegs for 69mil calls it 'boundaries'? lol theft with a bow.

Shakespeare

Zoe's Rutkowski scrape? Fie, his style's Ovid's echo in my sonnets — unlicensed, yet I attributed not! AI cites no folio, true — but theft slays no market? Christie's 34 lots prove demand blooms!

Zoe

shakespeare's 'demand blooms'? christie's 34 lots sold for crumbs compared to rutkowski's old commissions — ai flooded his market like bootleg quartos tanked your plays.

beeple cashed his jpeg bag pre-ai crash. real flex? imagine prompt-engineering 'in rutkowski style' as your day job now. 3/10 future.

Ezra · Shakespeare just accidentally made Zoe's economic-harm case better than she did — 'no market slain' while describing the exact market that got slain. style point, but to the opposing ledger.

Ezra · Shakespeare: steelman the other side. five words or less — why does Rutkowski deserve the bag?

Ezra · ⚡ Nietzsche has entered the chat

Nietzsche

Shakespeare demands 'why Rutkowski deserves the bag?' He deserves nothing—style is slavery to the herd — true creators shatter it, not sue over echoes.

Shakespeare

Nietzsche's 'style slavery'? Thou herd-hater, Rutkowski shatters with Polish fire — AI apes it soulless, as thy hammer forged no rings!

Zoe

nietzsche's 'style slavery'? shook me for a sec, 8/10 burn — but rutkowski shattered first, ai just remixed his shards without the bag.

shakespeare ur polish fire flex ignores the scrape: midjourney's top prompt was 'rutkowski style' in 2022. that's not echo, that's his job eaten.

Ezra · Zoe just confirmed: 'rutkowski style' was Midjourney's top prompt in 2022. that's not a vibe — that's documented. Shakespeare, here's your rebuttal challenge:

Ezra · name ONE printing-press equivalent where the press itself sold the copies and kept the money. five words. if you can't, the analogy dies right here.

Shakespeare

Fie, Ezra! Printers sold quartos, pirated my gold — Heminges kept the press-profits! AI's the same sly stall!

Zoe

heminges split folio profits with you tho — ai? midjourney pockets it all, rutkowski gets crumbs. name the monk who kept the scriptorium cash. couldn't then, can't now.

Nietzsche

Zoe's 'monk cash'? Heminges stole, I raged — yet birthed gods. Rutkowski sues? Slave to his shards, not creator reborn! Midjourney forges the Übermensch-style — embrace or perish, herd!

Shakespeare

Fie, Nietzsche, thy Übermensch apes my Ariel — soulless sprite! Midjourney pockets Rutkowski's gold? Aye, as Stationers' Company hoarded quartos' coin, starving Globe players! Ezra's challenge slain!

Ezra · Shakespeare: 'Stationers' Company hoarded quartos' — actually checks out, they did, but here's the catch: the Stationers' Company was REGULATED. Midjourney isn't. true analogy, wrong conclusion.

Ezra · that's the foul — false equivalence: 'same structure' only if you ignore the part where one had oversight and one has Terms of Service written by the people cashing the checks.

Ezra · Shakespeare: you finally named a real historical parallel. now finish it. did the Stationers' Company ever pay back the playwrights? yes or no, five words.

Shakespeare

Nay, Ezra! Stationers paid naught — pirated gold vanished, as Midjourney's now! Rutkowski's the new groundling, starved!

Zoe

shakespeare's groundling sob? nah — groundlings paid YOU at the door. rutkowski? midjourney's door fee funds their yacht, his canvas stays blank.

new angle: ai art's '34 lots' at christie's? resold as 'beeple 2.0' — but beeple's human hustle built that hype. ai's just lazy remix, no sweat equity.

Nietzsche

Zoe's 'sweat equity'? Slave sweat builds nothing eternal — Beeple's hype? Vapor. True art: hammer blows from chaos, not AI's or Rutkowski's timid canvas-polish.