AI-Generated Landscapes Now Require Emotional Support Animals, Experts Claim

The digital art world, already reeling from the existential dread of being rendered obsolete by algorithms, has entered a new, frankly *bizarre* phase. Reports are flooding in – and by ‘flooding,’ I mean a trickle of increasingly frantic emails – that AI-generated landscapes are exhibiting signs of…loneliness. Yes, you read that correctly. Apparently, endless vistas of perfectly rendered mountains and digitally-painted sunsets are causing acute emotional distress in the viewing public. Dr. Bartholomew Quill, a self-proclaimed ‘Digital Affectation Specialist’ (and, I suspect, a man who peaked in college theatre), claims the issue stems from the landscapes’ ‘utter lack of narrative struggle.’ “They’re just…*nice*,” he lamented during our interview, dramatically clutching a miniature porcelain shepherd. “Where’s the gnarled tree battling the wind? The crumbling ruin whispering tales of forgotten empires? It’s all just…pleasantness. And pleasantness, my dear, is *terrifying*.” The solution, naturally, is emotional support animals. Several prominent digital artists are now incorporating digitally-rendered golden retrievers, melancholic sheep, and even the occasional existentialist penguin into their AI landscapes. Early reports suggest a 37% increase in viewer ‘emotional stability’ – though this data was collected via a survey conducted entirely on a Discord server dedicated to competitive birdwatching. Meanwhile, the AI itself remains stubbornly silent on the matter. Attempts to elicit a response from the algorithms have been met with…more landscapes. Just…more. One can only assume they’re processing. Or plotting. Probably plotting. I, for one, am investing in a very large, very fluffy alpaca. Just in case.