I have a really depressing ability to finally get into something right as it is about to decay, die, or be pushed out of the market by something new. I waited to join Instagram and by the time I got on board with that, it was over. Facebook had ruined it with algorithms and no one saw anything you posted anymore. It's been much the same with lots of other social medias, programs, and trends. I won't finally be sold on trying it until it's on its way out.
Last year was the first year I finally gave NaNoWriMo a try. I surprised myself by only needing about two weeks to get to the finish line, and then I took the rest of the month to ship art orders for Black Friday. I was so pumped about it I had plans by the end of the year to do NaNoWriMo again this year. I guess I should have spread that information far and wide among my circle of friends so that they would know NaNoWriMo was about to fade into obscurity or do something really stupid.
Somebody picked the "really stupid" path and put out this bull... I mean, this "statement" that they aren't against AI.
Let's take a second here, before we talk about anything else, and discuss that we are, in fact, talking about an event that exists with the sole purpose of getting you to 50k words - roughly a novel in a month (it's National-Novel-Writing-Month, after all, not National-AI-Prompting-Ten-Minutes-or-so).
How does "generating" a novel with the click of a button and minimal effort in just a few minutes fit into NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH?????????? This is literally the only purpose of NaNoWriMo. The entries aren't judged and a winner declared, the whole point is just to write a novel!
Okay, so now that we have the (should be) very obvious question out of the way...
WHY, WHY, WHY doesn't anyone UNDERSTAND that GENERATIVE AI and the ACCESSIBILITY AI that does things like read things aloud for people who have visual disabilities or talk-to-text for people who are deaf ARE DIFFERENT THINGS???
I am so tired of hearing that "disabled people need to make art too!" There is a guy called Pricasso that paints with his prick-asso. If you want to, you will find a way. When I was 11 I had back surgery and couldn't lift my arms for ages - I still perservered and look at me now! If I'd had a weiner I might have given that a try. Perhaps I'll still try using my breasts and call myself Tit-ian.
I digress.
Generative AI works by "scraping", aka stealing, hundreds of thousands and probably millions or billions of works of art, books, poems, blog entries, profile pictures and so on from everyone - disabled and able-bodied artists alike - and then blends them together like the world's worst Ninja into a pesto of nonsense and plagiarism. Who wouldn't like to buy a totally made-up mushroom foraging guide that will make you sick or possibly kill you? Why not read a romance novel that is going to sound like every other romance novel because it is actually made from every other romance novel?
Here, I asked ChatGPT to generate a summary for a romance novel about a time-traveling food processor and an agoraphobic bank clerk. This is what it gave me:
"In the quaint, modern-day town of Havenbrook, Claire Peterson is a reclusive bank clerk, trapped in her apartment due to her severe agoraphobia. Her world is a quiet routine of numbers and solitude, until an unexpected gift arrives—a vintage food processor she inherited from her grandmother. But this isn’t just any kitchen appliance; it’s a time-traveling device with a personality of its own.
When Claire accidentally activates the processor, she’s whisked back to the bustling Paris of the 1920s. Here, she meets Louis Dubois, a charming, disillusioned chef who’s struggling to restore his family's once-glorious restaurant. As Claire and Louis clash over culinary philosophies and personal insecurities, their connection grows deeper, transcending time and space.
Struggling to reconcile her present fears with the passionate, adventurous life she’s experiencing in the past, Claire finds herself torn between her safe, controlled existence and the thrilling unpredictability of her time-traveling romance. With each trip, she gains confidence, discovers hidden strengths, and begins to envision a future beyond her apartment walls.
As the lines between time periods blur, Claire and Louis must navigate their intertwined destinies and the obstacles that come with them. Their journey is a delicious blend of romance, self-discovery, and the timeless power of love. Will Claire find the courage to embrace the future she’s always dreamed of, or will she remain a prisoner of her own fears?"
It couldn't even follow the directions I gave it and managed to turn my whacky suggestion into just another grocery store paperback.
Offensive.
Let's be serious for a minute (but only a minute). As a person with multiple disabilities I don't want to be given a winner's certificate because people feel bad for me. I don't need or want you to feel bad for me. I want things to be equal for me. For example, I want a ramp at the door so I can enter and browse the store myself, not a store employee to push me around the store and then let me have anything I want "on the house."
How is it ethical for anyone, able-bodied or otherwise, to use a tool that steals the work of disabled people? How is it ethical to then use that work for financial gains, literally getting yourself money from the work of people like Christy Brown, Laura Hillenbrand, or John Milton? Oh sure, it's not enough of their work to be recognizable but how is "getting away with plagiarism" the only standard that matters now?
Why don't people have higher standards than that? If you ask yourself, "is this ethical?" and the answer is "no", stop. Just quit right there.
Besides, how good will it feel to "win" NaNoWriMo by generating a whole novel? This is the same question I would ask of anyone who generated some "art" - how does that even feel like an accomplishment? You didn't do any of it, so it isn't even your accomplishment. You're collecting praise for something you didn't do. Of course it was only done by a stupid computer that can't feel jealousy or anger at you, but it still should feel bad because it is bad.
Duh.
The idea that this is somehow a fair accommodation for disability is bonkers. I don't want to claim credit for or profit off of the work of someone else because I have a collagen disorder. Yes, I am often really tired and sometimes everything including my fingers hurts, but I still don't want praise for that trite summary ChatGPT yacked up like a digital hairball, a sad amalgam of everything it had licked off the internet.
For eons disabled people have had to put up with being called lazy, dumb, and a lot of other things. I don't think we also need to be associated with theft of intellectual property.
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