Using an AI image as the reference is brilliant.

An artist needs to be attentive to any copyrights and restrictions on images.

An artist who uses a copyrighted image as a reference could be subject to lawsuits from copyright holders.

It is possible to use a creative commons style image as a reference. However, some licenses are "copyleft." That means that the artist can't hold a copyright on the image that contains any elements of the "copyleft" image.

Sadly, many of the platforms that list creative commons images do a poor job of checking the copyright status of the imsges. So, miscreant could list an image as creative commons when they do not have rights to the image.

When this happens, they artist is still liable for the copyright.

AI images are based on a coposite of creative commons images. This puts an additional step between the artist and any copyright claims.

AI images are especially valuable for portraits.

Artists are supposed to pay a modeling fee for the people in the image. There are cases where photographers put images on a creative commons web site. But, since they did not pay the modeling fee, the model can sue anyone who used the image as a reference.

AI puts an additional step between the artist and copyright challenges. So, if you need something like a face of a boy for a reference, then AI is a better source for the reference than a creative commons site.