I go away for a couple of weeks to volunteer at Dragon Con, returning to yet another disappointment.
I’ve participated in National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) since 2003. Twenty years, y’all. And here’s where I hang up my hat and say I won’t be participating any longer, thanks to their stance on using AI.
Listen, y’all – I work with AI, and have for years for the day job. I understand its uses and limitations and think it can be a helpful tool in many cases. I have one main stopping point when using AI, though.
I cannot abide by AI in the creative fields. That’s not where it belongs.
To be this completely tone-deaf (at best) by attempting to say that not supporting the use of AI in a creative field like writing. Chuck Wendig says it much more succinctly than I can:
The privileged viewpoint is the viewpoint in favor of generative AI. The intrusion of generative artificial intelligence into art and writing suits one group and one group only: the fucking tech companies that invented this pernicious, insidious shit. They very much want you to relinquish your power in creating art and telling stories to them and their software, none of which are essential or even useful in the process of telling stories or making art but that they really, really want you to believe are essential. It’s a lie, a scam, a con.
Chuck Wendig – NaNoWriMo Shits The Bed On Artificial Intelligence
Chuck really breaks down all of the ways that this use of generative AI in particular harms the creative fields in particular – go ahead and give it a read.
It really does hurt my heart to say goodbye to Nanowrimo, as it really did change me, allowed me to play in genres and worlds that I wouldn’t have had the confidence to do. I also WROTE, without care or letting in the inner editor, winning over half of the nanos that I participated in.
So long, Nanowrimo…. it was so good for so long.
