However, if you hop on pubmed and start reading articles, there needs to be an asterisk by that "no."

Some artificial sweeteners can alter cell metabolism in ways similar to sugar.

Overuse of artificial sweeteners can make you crave more sugary things (meaning it desensitizes you to "sweet")

Some artificial sweeteners are not FDA-regulated. . .meaning we really don't know what they're doing to your body.

So, I'd say in general, artificial sweeteners are likely better than sugar, but use as sparingly as you can stand (of both).