My stance on AI
I’ve been writing since I was probably about ten years old. My first manuscripts—if you can call the ramblings of a ten year old “manuscripts”—were saved across a series of floppy disks (note: a series of them was required, because the storage on an individual disk was not enough to hold an entire document).
I don’t say this to age myself, or to reference “my years in the game” — I say this because I feel it’s the best way to convey that I have always loved writing. The act of storytelling—of immersing myself in a new world, and hanging around with new characters—brings a joy that I, somewhat ironically, don’t have the words to properly articulate.
So let this preface my stance on the use of Artificial Intelligence. I am against AI. It has no place in writing and will only have a detrimental effect on books, on authors, and—ultimately—on readers. As a reader myself, I hate that I now have to have my guard up when perusing new authors or titles, just in case the book in question is actually some pale imitation of an actual story.
I believe that the training of LLMs is unethical and amoral. I believe that the environmental impact of running the data centres required for LLMs to exist is appalling. I believe AI will have dire consequences for the spread of misinformation, and for the reduction of critical thinking skills across the world. These are all reasons enough to be against this technology in the writing space. But my primary reason for being against the use of AI is actually much more simple, and much more personal.
Even the idea of using AI to tell a story—the very notion of using something other than your own mind and your own imagination—hollows out the joy of writing. It genuinely chills me that anyone could find pleasure in such an approach.
I have not, and will never, use AI in any of my writing. Not even as an “aide” — once again, that would diminish the joy of actually writing a story, which is the part I love the most.
I will also not entertain the use of AI in the production of any artwork to promote my books. Be that on the covers themselves, or in any promotional material for them. I am, as well as an author, also a graphic designer. So I am acutely aware of the tools available, and the many, many pitfalls surrounding this area (even stock libraries have now been infected by a surge of AI-produced material, making it even more difficult to discern what is human-made). At times this will mean I have to trust that future partners and suppliers (artists, other designers etc) also don’t use AI in their own process. I will do what I can to ensure this is the case.
I will also not use AI in the production of any audiobooks or associated materials. The only entity capable of narrating a story written by a human, is another human. Everything else might as well be lifted straight from an episode of Black Mirror.
Finally, I won’t engage in any discourse surrounding this subject. The statement above reflects my position, wholly and completely. I believe many of the pro-AI arguments to be paper-thin, or made in bad faith. In particular I reject the idea that AI has somehow lowered the barrier-to-entry for writers who face more challenges in penning and publishing their book: while I appreciate that everyone’s circumstances are different, this is a spit-in-the-face to every writer who put in the hard yards to realise their dream of telling a story that they—a human—came up with.
Simply put: AI does not belong anywhere near books.
SP ✌🏻📚
