A Series of Observations

Hello Observers, today I want to talk about something important. Something that cannot be ignored.

Generative AI.

It’s an amazing tool, artificial intelligence, but how far is too far?

There’s been a lot of discussion surrounding its usage in the publishing and other creative spheres. More and more authors are revealing they use it in their creative process, and many more are unaware of the harmful effects that AI can have for creatives like myself, perhaps creatives like you too.

Let’s talk about what it is, how it is used, why it is a problem for the publishing industry and other creative spaces, and what we can do about it.

Generative AI vs Predictive/Traditional AI

Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that creates new content, such text, images, or music, using existing data.

Predictive/Traditional AI is a type of artificial intelligence that focuses on tasks such as pattern recognition, prediction, and decision-making based on existing data.

How Is It Used?

Generative AI can be found in videos of scenes from books on TikTok, certain pictures of characters, and the Character AI program. Generative AI can be used to make social media posts, audio posts, and ad generation. It can also be used to proofread and edit. In truth, the list goes on, and it can be very difficult to identify when it’s being used at all.

Predictive AI can be found in things like Google or Apple maps suggesting a frequented location, streaming platforms recommending shows and movies based on what you like to watch, fraud detection for banking, healthcare predictions from worn devices, supply chain optimization, home devices such as Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant, and more.

Why Is It A Problem?

Generative AI is dangerous because it takes in materials and intellectual property created by individuals that did NOT give permission for it to do so.

What that means is that the documents we keep, the things that we post, the books that are published, anything that is put on the internet, can be used to feed these growing models to then regurgitate the information when someone inputs a question or prompt into ChatGPT for example.

Simply put, generative AI is theft.

Generative AI is allowing companies to profit off the work of other creators, without compensation to those creators, and there is very little anyone can truly do to stop it.

Not to mention, generative AI is enabling us to become less reliant on our own creative power. Weakening the mental muscles that fuel us in more ways than one.

The purpose of creating, in any medium, is to create something new.

The intention of creating is to go on a journey, to evoke emotion, to create dialogue, to contribute to our culture, and we hope that what we create is able to make a connection with someone else.

All of which a computer or robot could never truly do, even if its sole purpose is to replicate what it learns from us.

Art, writing, whatever it is that you create, should be genuine.

Generative AI, no matter how small the use or in what stage of the process, is not genuine.

How We Can Do Better

The most important and impactful thing that you can do is to not engage with the generative AI content in any form. To not give it a single like, comment, or follow.

Yes, that includes not supporting certain creators or authors.

There are many ways across many industries where AI is a powerful tool, but it doesn’t belong in the creative space. Not just because it steals from hard-working creatives, but because it steals opportunities from them, from us. It aims to push us out of a space we created, to make us insignificant.

Since regulation for AI is non-existent at the moment, we can encourage a few things, at every available opportunity.

• Sign petitions to encourage legislation to regulate AI
• Compensation to creatives whose work is being stolen from them
• A way to better identify generative AI content, such as pop-ups or watermarks that would be required to be present on all published AI work
• Research into making AI more environmentally efficient

Our most powerful tool is our voice and our vote!

This is just one post that contributes to a very large, and very important conversation. There is so much more to study, to learn, and I encourage you to do so, for there are far more whole and eloquent contributions than my own.

It’s not about starting drama or click bait, at least it shouldn’t be.

It’s about staying informed, when the world around us grows and moves more quickly than we do.

It’s about protecting the beautiful things that we work tirelessly to create. It’s about supporting the authors, artists, and other creatives that we love.

It’s about honoring and preserving what is genuine.

Our creativity, our voice, our culture.