so, background, I’m currently workshopping a Disco Elysium/Touhou Project fusion fanfic (Disco concept, Gensokyo setting) and, since I already pay for NovelAI for recreational purposes, I figured I’d generate some character/skill portraits for it to accentuate the presentation of it.
Here's some of the better ones as of yet, alongside the one in the thumbnail.
However, I am conflicted on actually using them.
I figured I’d outsource the question because I’ve been thinking about it for a week and am no closer to resolving the internal contradiction. Here’s what I’ve been thinking thus far:
Concerns: I have moral concerns about the scraping and the ‘ask-for-forgiveness-not-permission’ philosophy that is central to these major generative models. I also think, in the context of it’s use within the hands of the bourgeoisie, AI is used as a tool of displacement and discipline. I also know that there is generally a negative perception of people who use AI image generation, for mostly valid reasons as most self-proclaimed ‘AI artists’ are coomers/techbros who make it a mission to discredit and disparage human artists. Even though I don’t fall into this category, I’m worried that I’d open up a vector of harassment where there otherwise wouldn’t be one if I include them, and I don’t want to deal with that.
Benefits: It adds to the vibes of the fic, and I think there’s a tangible enhancement with adding visuals to it. I also like what I’ve output so far.
Caveats: I don’t plan to make money off of this. I don’t have the disposable income to commission portraits for what ultimately is a fanwork that I don’t plan to profit off of and don’t have enough investment in to sink money into. The concerns are specifically what are holding me back in adding them, because it would be nice to add a visual component.
I just wanted to get a vibe check on here for this use case. Want to see if it will help me resolve the internal contradiction I’ve tangled myself in 
edit: I’ll err on the side of caution and drop the visual aspect of it, thanks for the feedback
OP already said that there is no budget to pay an artist to draw all the portraits. The choice isn’t between generative AI or human artist, the choice is between generative AI or nothing.
NovelAI starts at $10 per month, while a human artist would charge hundreds of dollars for all the portraits. There is no budget for that, so it was never an option in the first place.