It feels wonderful to revitalize this blog!
Before
I linked it to my Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) reader profile on BookSirens,
I revisited both posted and draft works. They gave me such heartwarming
nostalgia. Although it can be cringy to remember who I used to be, it also
gives me pride to see my writing skills during a time where I needed more
guidance.
As
I looked through my draft posts, one was advice to Indie authors as a reviewer
and freelance writer from 2015. It inspired me to write a modernized version of
what frustrated me so many years ago: unrefined writing.
I
believe artists and authors should put their work out into the world. But many
don’t undergo the process of beta reading and editing.
Unrefined
writing has snowballed into a worse problem because either authors or aspiring
authors take shortcuts via generative artificial intelligence (A.I).
Although A.I. can be a useful tool, unethical and corrupt human behaviour
overtakes prompts and produces questionable outcomes. Questionable in this
context means using A.I. to generate writing or art, and claiming the work is
solely the user’s.
A.I.
assistance, however, is different. It’s specifically used for non-generative
use, such as research, or planning. There’s a general acceptance for A.I.
assistance, whereas a smaller sect of the population refuses to have anything to
do with it. All reasons are valid, from irreversible climate damage to unethical
training methodologies.
My stance on A.I. generated work
I will not ARC read and review novels that use A.I. art and writing. At
this time, I will ARC read and review novels that have only used A.I.
assistance. Of course, there are reasonable exceptions, such as Accessibility, so please reach out if you
believe your story fits as such.
Because
I use social media, I believe it would be hypocritical to swear off all A.I.
use. Human behaviour has caused the problems throughout history, with A.I. exacerbating
those same problems.
Snapshot: the indie publishing world in 2014 – 15
In this era, many articles listed ways to get passive income, inclusive of novellas.
Ghost
writers were in great demand to draft stories in a short timeframe. Some people
only got as far as conceptual, needing to hire someone with the skillset to
finish the work, then take credit for said work.
Naturally,
the cost-effective bids got the opportunities, and in the surge of Indie
novels, a lot of low-quality, terrible executions of good concepts entered the
fray.
The
ethics of ghostwriting went understated.
It
took awhile to sift through the bad to find gems. I came across a higher volume
of bad than good. Whether voice or grammatically unrefined, I became so
aggravated since aspiring authors refused to edit their work.
So,
I made the decision to step away and restart in another industry.
A.I. as a tool
Wide-scale
A.I. has been coming for a long, long time. The 1950s, in fact. “A Brief
History of Generative A.I.” by Keith D. Foote gives an overview of early
versions of A.I.
For
myself, being in tech, I saw the early signs of it years ago. Then ChatGPT launched.
The
fascination came. The problems grew.
My
perception of A.I. in 2022 was that it was a tool, and human nature determined
which way it would go. Many authors and artists took a harsh stance against it,
with some engaging in a class-action lawsuit about their work being used to
teach ChatGPT.
There’s
also copyright infringement with A.I. “art”. Studio
Ghibli, among others, want OpenAI to stop using their art for training.
On
the flip side, when research prompts are well-written, and mitigate bias, then
it can be a good starting point for research. But it can produce inaccurate
answers due to a concept called hallucinations. Sometimes, it’s easier for
someone who works in isolation to leverage A.I.
If
A.I. code is clean, and data used for training is either content created
specifically for it, or used with trauma-informed consent in a framework of
ethics, then it can be a great tool.
However,
that’s not the current reality.
A.I.
in the bigger picture: capitalism
Amid many motivators, one huge motivator for those who use A.I. for content and art is to generate income quickly. It can take more than a year for authors to publish a book, and days for an artist to create. Naturally, using A.I. reduces that time. It’s one of the top selling points.
But it defeats the purpose of written and drawn art. Capitalism ruins a person, a community and an environment for the sake of profits.
One of the ways to resist cultural and political atrocities is to invest in art. Art makes us feel, reminds us of the natural state of our being. Art galleries, art shows, online and physical bookstores, even music, all of it fulfills a need for humans.
The unfortunate part is that A.I. users won’t always disclose their use of it. There are zealot individuals out in the world that accuse people of using A.I. Sometimes they’re right, sometimes they’re not. It leads to tarnished reputation if someone didn’t use A.I. and I hope that those wrongfully accused pursue defamation lawsuits.
Returning to my stance on A.I., I do not wish to ARC read any novel that uses A.I. generated content or art. However, I can’t always claim use without hard evidence. Therefore, if you are reading my ARCs and know that what I’ve reviewed has used A.I., please let me know.
I will work towards recanting my review.