I quit my Google software engineering job and became a watercolor artist. Here’s how I’m using — and not using — AI.

Watercolor artist Sara Wilczynska explains how she uses AI to help her with her business — and where she draws the line with the technology.

Courtesy of Sara Wilczynska Sara Wilczynska is a Google software engineer turned watercolor artist in San Diego.

She uses AI to help her as a business owner with planning, bookkeeping, copyediting, and coaching.

However, she says she has a clear boundary of not using AI to generate any of her actual artwork.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sara Wilczynska, a 41-year-old watercolor artist and founder of Swil Arts who lives in San Diego.

Prior to her art career, she worked as a software engineer in the finance and tech industries before quitting her job at Google in 2022.

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I started using AI pretty early on.

I founded my art studio in 2023 — after quitting my software engineer job at Google the year prior — which was when generative AI started to become more accessible and powerful.

In a way, I was growing my studio with it, and having a tech background made me more prone to experiment, be excited, and feel less scared of it.

However, I was always very clear that I never wanted AI to replace me at the core and the heart of my business.

I wanted to create and to add value to people's lives through my creativity.

Still, I identified that there are many things involved in running a business that require time, energy, and money, which AI can really help reduce friction with.

I believe there's a way for artists and creatives to work with AI, and it can hopefully help us redefine the value we add as artists and creatives.