The Shad M. Brooks 'AI Art Supposedly Takes No Effort' meme originated in early 2024 when YouTuber Shadiversity (Shad M. Brooks) defended his use of AI generation for a piece titled 'Girl Beheading Dragon.' After critics claimed AI art was low-effort, Shad responded with a detailed video and post showing the 'thousands' of manual edits and prompts required to fix the AI's anatomical errors. The internet quickly turned this into a meme, mocking the perceived irony of spending hours 'fixing' AI generations instead of simply drawing or hiring an artist. The template is now widely used to satirize the 'craftsmanship' of AI users or to highlight the absurdity of over-explaining a simple task.