AI USAGE STATEMENT

Generative AI and AI in general is a controversial topic to say the least. Some people see the end of human civilization hiding within it, others see the dawning of a new age.

I see the potential for both, depending entirely on us. Thus far, I'm leaning more nihilistic than optimistic, but that is not the point of this statement.

Ultimately, I do not believe it will go away, and so, I, as one in the creative field which is seeing a great deal of disruption, must see to it that I know where I stand on it, and what, if anything, I will do with it.

1st: I do not believe that AI should be used to replace human creativity. What I mean by this is I do not think that telling an AI program to 'write a cool story about dragons' is the same as actually writing a cool story about dragons. I have played with it to see what it can do, and while it was amusing, and while I don't delude myself into thinking that what it can do now represents the its ultimate limits, I just don't think that it should be used in this manner. Can it be used to help someone spit ball ideas, edit their work, or otherwise enhance the creative process? Sure. I don't know exactly where the line lays in this regard, but I categorically reject the wholesale creation of a work of fiction or entertainment entirely by AI. That said, I don't know what the ratio is, or where it becomes more machine than man made. I am nevertheless made entirely uncomfortable by the thought of 'give prompt get product'. I think creativity must not be surrendered. It's something that is made more valuable because of the struggle of it.

2nd: I acknowledge and approve of the ability of AI to enhance human creativity. As specific and interesting example of this would be voice manipulation. I dislike, rather vehemently, AI voice creation, as in the ability to generate a voice to read the lines given it in a reasonable manner. Again, I harbour no illusions that what we have now will be the best there is. This part of it will get better, to the point where it will almost become indistinguishable to flesh and blood vocal cords. I simply feel that to use AI wholly for that is to rob us of the use of heart and passion for this sort of thing. Now, as to the enhancement part, I accept, and am willing to even experiment using AI to modify my own voice into other voices, so that I can play more roles in my audio dramas and get the inflections and pauses just right. I think that's a potentially exciting use for it, and uses like it seem like they could be a good thing over all, allowing creatives and artists to shore up what might otherwise be weaknesses in their skill set to make something that otherwise would be out of their reach.

3rd: I believe and hope that all creative projects that use AI in any part of their production will disclose that fact. I don't think we should be slowly inoculated to AI by having it forced upon us without us being aware. While it is currently possible to identify, with reasonable accuracy, what is AI generated and what is not, it is rapidly becoming more difficult, and will continue to become more difficult. I think that we must voluntarily disclose what has and has not been helped along by AI. But this is a complicated division, because even a simple spell checker from years ago was still made on the same principles. We've already been accepting it into our lives for years without being aware, and so, it may be too late honestly. But for those of us who care, myself among them, we must be open about our usage.

4th: I accept AI usage as a means to flesh out a work in absence of resources to do it otherwise. I readily expect that I will use AI to get a product into a 'finished' state while I am unable to muster resources to do it any other way. I reserve the right to use it to form place holder assets, like art, voice modification, images, ext. In most cases I will do this until such a time as said asset can be replaced by something human made. Unfortunately, as I full expect other humans to be using AI to enhance their work, I cannot claim that I will ever be truly AI free. I hope to have some projects that will be exactly that, but it will require a level of trust between collaborators that will have to be earned. In all cases though, I will state what has had AI used in it. If I don't say anything, then it was likely done entirely by me or another flesh and blood human.

These points by no means address the larger issues stemming from AI and it's adoption in society. That's a much bigger topic for a bigger place. I wanted this to be entirely about it and it's use in and around my art. Any questions can be sent through my contact form.

Thank you. Now go read a story or something.