And as with anything. The theft-y Mctheft of artist works seem to be getting worse as the days go on…
You can read the full article here, especially if you care for creative work.
That being said. A chap named Adam Nevill wrote this yesterday and I have automatically become a fan because this is sadly what’s happening in the creative space.
And as someone who punches away at a keyboard or scratches away on pen and paper to form sentences and stories. The sentiment is here for anyone pushing on tech to take over what makes us human.
Here it goes:
So, part two – and this is aimed at people who are using AI, and who intend to use AI, in the creation of books. It’s also for readers.
If you use AI to generate ideas for stories, you are not a writer. Similarly, if you need AI to rewrite your sentences and paragraphs, or restructure your book, or even produce any portion of a written work, then you’re not a writer.
If, by some combination of keywords, the AI produces something that appears competent, you didn’t create it; nor does this make you creative. The technology can only perform this function, at your prompting, because it has been illegally trained on the work of real writers. Tinkering with the output, editing it and rearranging it, doesn’t make you a writer either. Every derivative produced was produced by the software, not you.
If you truly love books but use AI to make them, you are destroying what you love. And once you have destroyed what you love, what then?
Very few people master anything. To master anything, innate ability is required, as well as a significant investment of time and a sense of purpose. To be original, you also need vision. There are no shortcuts. Any other method is cheating. The constant promise of tech companies that their apps will “unleash your creativity” is a shameful lie. It’s a heinous form of neo-Marxist propaganda. What this means is: no one is exceptional, everyone is the same, everyone is not only creative, but equally creative. Which any rational person knows is BS. There has only ever been one Shakespeare.
So, if you are taking shortcuts and cheating and destroying what you profess to love, what is your motivation? Laziness, self-deception, competitiveness, greed, uncertainty about what you are doing with your life? Or is it something malicious, like envy and resentment directed at those who have accomplished something – “look, what I can do too!” Only you’re not creating anything – the software is producing something and you’re cheating. What are you displacing?
Of equal importance to writers, in this catastrophe and in this entire space, are the readers. They’re hard to attract. Their appearance and interest and appreciation is a magical process. Once they appear, they invite other readers to read the same books. To keep readers reading your books, you need to build trust with a readership and you can’t let them down. This can take decades (in my case). It’s a contract and connection so precious, it is sacrosanct. AI produced/part produced books betray and cheat readers and kill all of the magic. Forever.
So, folks, if you are using AI to “produce” books, or part produce books, you and I are done. It’s over.
Every single time that someone cheats and uses AI to provide a story, or provide a character, or rewrite a description, another part of culture withers, another threat to human talent and expression is sent into the world. What we’re then reading will not be truthful, not sincere, not genuine, not even human, and it is a betrayal of human endeavour.
It’s a weird place to be in right now. I have people who ask me if it’s still worth being a writer or a creative of any sort and I’m like “Hell yeah!” the blood sweat and tears of getting good at something that fills your soul is WAY more important than some robo-tech-bullshit that pretends to mimic what it means to be human.
It’s the one thing we can do as people to connect with one another and if you think telling a machine what to do is it, then man do I have a bridge I want to sell you…
Anywho.
Go give Adam Nevill some love. He is a good dude.
Stephen Walker