New generations of artists grew up with AI tools. They used them skillfully, but they also learned the value of human creativity. The debate that David had helped start continued, evolving with each new technology.

Some artists embraced AI fully, creating hybrid works that blended human and machine creativity. Others rejected it entirely, working with traditional tools and techniques. Most fell somewhere in between, using AI as one tool among many while maintaining their human voice.

David watched from retirement, pleased that the conversation continued. He had never wanted to stop progress; he had wanted to ensure that human creativity had a place in the future. And it did. The world had not chosen between human and machine art - it had made room for both.

"The last human portrait will never be painted," he said in a final interview. "As long as humans have faces and souls, there will be artists who want to capture them. And as long as there are artists who care, there will be portraits that only they can create. AI can simulate, but it cannot care. It can imitate, but it cannot love. That distinction will always matter to some people. And those people will always be my audience."

He smiled at the interviewer. "I am not worried about the future. Humans have been painting portraits for tens of thousands of years. We painted on cave walls before we had canvas. We used charcoal before we had oil paints. Art is not something we do - it is something we are. Technology can change how we create, but it cannot change that fundamental truth."

The interview aired, and David's words were shared widely. They became a touchstone for a new generation of artists who were trying to find their way in a world where the boundaries between human and machine were increasingly blurred.