For the New Year Invest in Humans

Tell GenAI to Stuff It

The other day, I got this notification from Facebook:

Meta sent me this notification: “You have anniversaries with your followers. Use GenAI to thank them for their support.”

If it weren’t so pathetic, I would have laughed. Could there be anything less sincere than an AI-generated thank-you message?

The difference between AI-generated stuff and human-created stuff is the difference between a meal that's edible and a meal that's memorable. No computer will ever know how much you need to increase the amount of garlic compared to what the recipe says.

I polled three Grade 11 art classes (sixteen years old), and they were offended at the idea that someone who prompts AI to spit them out something would call themselves an artist. One kid said plainly, "To be an artist, you have to actually do the work!"

I couldn’t agree more. Calling someone who uses GenAI an "artist" is like calling the five-year-old who hands you the wrench a mechanic. I have more respect for a child who spends as much time with a crayon up their nose as they do with one in their hand than I do for anyone using GenAI for creative endeavors.

Inspired by these inquisitive and talented kids, I went home and wrote a poem. As far as poetry goes, it’s not great, but it’s mine, and I’m proud to have my name on it.

AI Artists Don't Exist

You don't create shit
You are not one of us
It's not hard to get the gist
Use a pencil, stylus, or brush

Look out the window, take a walk
Get out of the basement
You're no action, all talk
Not even artist adjacent

You can type in prompts
One step above being dead
Such a cute little Googler
[Pats you gently on head]

You don't toil over
Which word to use
What pixel is which colour
Laziness your muse

And that's at best
But we know it gets worse
Motives, like sex
Are often perverse

It's the way of the future, sit down
Adapt or die, you say
You're a zero value-add clown
Now get out of our way

We'll sing you into submission
Write your last chapter
Your crime is one of omission
It's not happily ever after

That's for us, not you. It is our goal
When you fail, forgive us for being elated
Art feeds the soul
And should only be created

By those with one

In November 2020, I wrote the first 50,000 words of a book, and after being waylaid for various reasons (including writing another book), I finished it in November 2023.

The premise is this:
Katherine Webb lives in the Known Order, where sentient AI controls every decision. Unwilling to accept the status quo, she embarks on a journey of defiance and disobedience and must confront the shadowy elite behind the technology that dominates her existence.

It begins with the following epigraph.

“Whereas the short-term impact of AI depends on who controls it, the long-term impact depends on whether it can be controlled at all.”—Stephen Hawking

At the heart of the book is the desire, nay, the need, for humans to fuck around and find out (ironically, there’s no swearing in the book). It’s how we learn. It’s how we innovate. It’s how we create. It’s how we EXIST. As soon as you remove that from our hands, nothing remains but an empty shell—a dried-up husk. Meanwhile, the ones who brought AI to life are sitting in their ivory towers, watching the inherent humanness drain from humans while the world burns, melts, and suffocates around us.

So, this year, invest in humans. Refuse to use GenAI for creative endeavors. Refuse to give money or pay attention to anyone using GenAI to “create,” and for the love of Alan Turing, pay no attention to the techbros behind the curtain.

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• Known Order Girls (a young woman speaks truth to power and subverts authority)

• Near Death By A Thousand Cuts: A Humorous Memoir of Misfortune (laughs)

• Bent But Not Broken: One Family’s Scoliosis Journey (all royalties go to charity)

• Retribution: The Mogul (if you hate Donald Trump, you’ll love this book)

• Losing Vern (short story, only 99¢)