December 17th, 2022
Exactly zero people have asked me what I think about AI, and I am indignant.
This is a post about AI, written by a terribly flawed human being.
Most of the responses I have seen to emerging AI technology have come from artists. I’m an artist, too, but I have always identified most as a writer specifically, so I want to offer my viewpoints from that branch.
Quick aside: if you’re choosing to remain completely ignorant on AI, giving money to companies that are literally stealing from artists, that is 100% on you; then again, society has had no problem stealing from artists again and again and again (illegal downloading, content pirating, password sharing, you see yourself somewhere here, don’t you, thief?). So don’t worry about it. Just think about it the next time you want to stand on any moral high ground against any kind of lawbreaking, lawbreaker.
As a writer of human words, AI does not terrify me.
If anything, it just strengthens my resolve on what art is and what art should be.
There are many books in the world.
Most of them are bad.
Not bad in their quality.
They’re well-written, well-edited, contain consistent characterization, tell coherent stories.
No, they’re bad in their lack of individuality. They’re bad for their conformity. It’s art in bad faith; that makes it bad art.
Anyone could have written them, and with AI, literally anyone could.
That’s kind of the way it’s always been.
I want writers to sit down with their notebook, or at a typewriter, or a screen, and say: “I want to say something nobody else — human or otherwise — could say.”
And then say it. Uncompromised. Furiously and compassionately.
Do what technology cannot.
They tried robot bartenders. Machines that make perfect drinks in record time. Genius.
But robots don’t listen like your human bartender does. They don’t feel and offer personal wisdom and make bad jokes that come from the heart of the hardships of being alive.
Which is why humans will always have the jobs that require us to be human to perform them.
This is a post about AI, written by a terribly flawed human being.
One who believes that as long as he’s true to who he is and what he believes, he’ll always have at least one reader who believes, too.
P.S. Stop paying for that stupid AI image app. It is literally the least you can do if you have an artist you love in your life. In fact: hire the artist you love to do a portrait of you instead. And see how fucking magical art is and how fucking magical supporting people you love is.
The Den 