Raw LLM Responses

I want to have an honest discussion. Not something messy. Personally I use Fiverr a lot since I do not have the talent to produce the results I want and simply do not want to invest time to be better at that. Also I can support artists by this life decision as a prefer a traditional career that goes back to the artists. A lot of artists said that they liked working with me because I give them lots of references and am very specific about details and the results of a product. I commission artists so they can do what I can not do. Now where AI comes in for me personally. I use AI Art (NovelAI) to make incredibly accurate references to the pictures. Since my OC's have a lot of very small details it is not possible to make them perfectly anyway. Those pictures are sent to artists so they can envision what I like much faster which benefits both of us since less chatting is required and we have a faster process. The point about the references in the video sounds very fair, but from my point, I personally do not look into the copyrights of every piece of reference I use. And the thought process of "use the reference and create a new illustration" for me as a buyer is irrelevant, or rather annoying as it sometimes takes several weeks until an artists understand what change you want. My final question: Is it unethical to produce reference material to ensure the quality and expectation of the art from the artists in order to save both of us time. Because I want to be ethical, but I see it as a very efficient tool (btw I do not use AI Art as a stand alone "piece of art". It's just a visualisation and reference tool for me thinking of concepts or the artist for better understanding). Please keep it respectful! Also please annotate if you are consumer or artist in this discussion. Thanks!