A really good dissertation on the soul of writing. I use AI in my writing after I have written the article for review of grammar and punctuation. As an artist I was terrible at English and took 1A a couple of time before I got my degree. I use it as a tool much like I use a calculator when paying bills. With Midjourney I find it interesting to describe my final painting in as much detail as I can as a prompt and see what it generates. Some times I am surprised and pleased as it gives me a different perspective and opportunity to refine or add to my finished piece. This is the balance between concept and execution. As long as the concept is mine I don’t mind being open to variations in execution. In short it to me is a degree of moderation and taste. Nice long article I enjoyed every idea well presented.
This is so on point! I can feel when something is written by AI. It has an energy to it. Maybe not always, but often I can feel it. I believe people will eventually put quite a high value on artists, writers and musicians who know their craft without AI. There’s no short cuts to people’s soul.
I agree. AI could never replicate my true emotions, my culture, nor who I am . Those who know me would immediately recognize the dissonance, even lack if typos (wink). Nope, not gonna.
Thank you for taking the time to put into words what I already Intuit. In my case, art was the process that I was being tempted by others to delegate to Midjourney...I just arrived to a similar conclusion but couldn't speak it up as eloquently.
I am so with you Clintavo. I have tried to suggest this without saying that those that use AI writers are no writers. But as you articulately pointed out this is the truth. The saddest thing to me is that many of these writers are using AI for their money press and that is so wrong. Oh well, I wanted to send a message to you of unbridled support. Randy.
I apologized this might be long but I see the connection with visual arts as well. I am a painter and see too much Ai popping up. I need to weight on here.
The discussion on use of AI is heating up. I go to art sites online and read the comments. And it is scary to me. People who I believe have limited or no talent, are using or copying AI creations with impunity. And the issues are so new, the rest of the creative community doesn’t even know what the right questions or objections should be.
I read some say their “ copy” is an original because they will never know who or how many “ bits and pieces” belong to other artists.
Or they changed it enough that it does not look like the AI image. Others are wondering if they can sell their AI copies? What is not being considered with AI is even if one element was used from another artists work, they were not asked permission and worse, they did not benefit monetarily.
The issue of AI exists and being it’s use is NOT the issue. It is identifying the original works compiled to make the copy?
We may never know who the originators were unless makers of AI made a “track back” feature to identify what images were used and in what quantity? You see how crazy this becomes. And how many artists did not get paid for their efforts.
We are justifying piracy essentially by nibbling at the edges. The difference between a misdemeanor and felony. Both are crimes.
As Clint states with literature. There has alway been only one story. Good vs. evil. You could say every book from Adam and Eve in the Bible, that followed is plagiarism. Similarly, music, melody, same chords. The whole western musical structure in based on seven notes before an octave occurs.
So every song from Mozart to the Beatles is plagiarism. You see where we are heading?
This is why copyright laws were created. To pay the originator for their work, if the copy uses the original or part thereof, as it’s starting point. Is the law perfect. No! And some look for holes to create copies and not pay for use. Every book, song, artwork is a permutation. BUT, they are originals in their own right.
Every element in the world has been painted, sung or written about. We are all living on the same planet, live similar lives, experience similar things. Experience similar tragedies, successes and experiences. And we write, sing or make art about it.
But they were originals using elements in the world. Creatives make them their own. This is the difference. Yes, we all copy. We copy genres, modes, plots and themes. But they are sufficiently and distinctly from a personal point of view. Will there be similarities, OF COURSE. But they are our OWN. Not bits and pieces of others’ original workspace ideas.
We are playing Symantec’s with peoples creative processes. Even AI companies admit their images are compilation of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of other images. Can comparisons be made. Probably. But they are innocent, without malice and not made deliberately to deceive.
AI is deceiving and manipulating and benefiting those who use it. ON PURPOSE.
In these few paragraphs, you’ve perfectly described my process as an artist!
“We all have many scattered ideas, feelings, and emotions. And, when we write, we may be inspired to begin by a small solitary idea. I’ve often begun writing, inspired by a catchy turn of phrase, having no idea where the piece will go in the end or even if it will go anywhere. I’d say I write that way more often than not.
Once we start writing however, we begin to realize that there are other little kibbles of ideas and bits of stories stuck in the dusty recesses, the forgotten nooks, and secret crannies of our mind. So, we start pulling out those kibbles and bits, holding them up to the light, examining them, and making unseen connections between ideas seen. A writer shines a flashlight into dark corners that terrify most people.
“Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness.” – John 3:19
So, that story that I read last week and this idea that I saw online? They come together! And what a rush when two or more ideas connect! It’s exciting and creative, because, like a marriage, the union of two things into a relationship creates a new, third, thing. As we persist and flesh out these connections, we add some sort of coherence, and perhaps, if we're lucky, our intuition uncovers something unique.
And so, where we end up often will be quite different from where we started!”
That’s exactly what I’m doing when I paint! And it is terrifying. Often hard to start, but when I do get started, I have to say, "Did I do that?!"
Here’s what the LewAllen Gallery’s website says about artist Tom Palmore:
“Palmore carefully chooses his subjects’ settings, which may include romantic landscapes or patterned textiles. Often, Palmore incorporates background themes or motifs that can be seen as ironic, such as bird wallpaper in a portrait of a cat, or oddly fitting, like Egyptian Bee Eater Birds in front of hieroglyphic papyrus flowers. These aspects illuminate allegorical meanings that introduce new interpretive possibilities within the work. ‘I realized early on that the background is a critical part of the painting and that it can be the element which creates wit or surprise,’ says Palmore. ‘I’ve also learned that the background possibilities are infinite because they are only limited by my imagination.’”
Carol, my writer wife, loves what you said at the end: “There is no shortcut. To be a ‘real’ writer, you’ve simply have to put the miles on the pen yourself.”
She adds to that, “You have to sharpen the saw by reading great writing.” She also thinks “Grammarly” doesn’t understand writing at all! Well, she says she does use it to look for real mistakes - but usually throws all but a few of its suggestions in the trash.
And if you substitute “artist” for “writer” and “brushes” for “pen,” you nailed it for me, too. And I constantly study tons of other artists’ stuff.
As usual, Clint, you've gathered a bunch of well-placed words!
Being an artist, I feel the same about art. AI can produce some spectacular images, but there's a hollowness to it in knowing that it was done by purely human means.
Here's a rewrite of it by ChatGPT:
"As an artist, I feel the same way about art. While AI can create stunning images, there's an emptiness in knowing they lack the touch of purely human effort and creativity."
Which is better? My raw write, or the AI, more eloquent rewrite?
.
One more thing. If you have a website or a blog, Google now can detect AI produced copy. So, the new SEO rule is to take what AI gives you, and rewrite it in your own words. If not, you will actually be punished by Google in the search rankings.
The only thing I'd disagree with you here on is telling people to use AI. The better way, in my opinion, is to support the other arts and learn illustrating yourself or use other real people to do the work for you. Else, even real writers like us fuel the problem because we're hurting other fields and replacing them with AI. (Money plays a big part of this, doesn't it? That's why I don't hire an illustrator.)
As someone said a few months ago, we don't need content, we need writers. I'd say that AI promotes content, not art, a meaningful expression of its creator.
Hiring an artist to illustrate every free article when writing one a day or week is not realistic in terms of time, money or coordination, and stock photography sucks. This type of use doesn't take anything from existing artists but represents an expansion of the market and a freeing tool for the writers. I am happy that most writers take some time to try and create a relevant illustration to go with their writing. And visual artists can use LLMs to improve their own writings about their works if they don't have good writing skills (just like I don't have good illustration skills). I guess we have to agree to disagree on this point.
Unless it's a fully evolved, sentient machine like Commander Data from Star Trek, I don't think it should even be called a "writer" or "rewriter," let alone "artist." Otherwise, we should call Photoshop Mister or Miss as well, and we don't do that even to Siri or Watson just yet, let alone Midjourney, though it can mimic human artwork pretty well. We're a long, long way from that, but eventually, we'll get there and maybe one day we'll get a Robot President, not to mention VR Surgeons, Holo Teachers, and whatever Palpable Companions ;-) Until then, consider it all sci-fi. That's my 5-cent advice of an SF writer/artist.
WHEW! I had no idea that others felt as I have, in regards to the "process" or "end result" of our creative process. Mine, primarily dealing with painting. But for years I have filled MANY journals with my thoughts, idea...whatever I could express in words, that my paintings barely touched on...and also what my paintings expressed, that NO words could begin to explain!
It was a "good thing" that I found this tonight...not even sure HOW I found this...but as one friend said: "All things that happen, are good and important, because they bring you to where you are supposed to be." Thus, I am in the perfect place, at this exact moment! THANK you, for allowing me to share!!! Hope you will find my art someday, and enjoy the journey!
THANK you Clint... your "journeys" have always blessed me! Betty Billups, artist.
Wonderful essay, Clint. Honored that something I wrote could have been involved in the cross-fertilization of its inspiration. The comparison of Sauron's magic of technology to the Elfin magic of art is brilliant and spot-on. A useful and evocative metaphor for talking about this new challenge and opportunity that now faces all of us who write or otherwise follow the creative call.
A really good dissertation on the soul of writing. I use AI in my writing after I have written the article for review of grammar and punctuation. As an artist I was terrible at English and took 1A a couple of time before I got my degree. I use it as a tool much like I use a calculator when paying bills. With Midjourney I find it interesting to describe my final painting in as much detail as I can as a prompt and see what it generates. Some times I am surprised and pleased as it gives me a different perspective and opportunity to refine or add to my finished piece. This is the balance between concept and execution. As long as the concept is mine I don’t mind being open to variations in execution. In short it to me is a degree of moderation and taste. Nice long article I enjoyed every idea well presented.
This is so on point! I can feel when something is written by AI. It has an energy to it. Maybe not always, but often I can feel it. I believe people will eventually put quite a high value on artists, writers and musicians who know their craft without AI. There’s no short cuts to people’s soul.
This is my secret belief - that AI will not make human interaction less valuable, it will make it more valuable.
I agree. AI could never replicate my true emotions, my culture, nor who I am . Those who know me would immediately recognize the dissonance, even lack if typos (wink). Nope, not gonna.
Thank you for taking the time to put into words what I already Intuit. In my case, art was the process that I was being tempted by others to delegate to Midjourney...I just arrived to a similar conclusion but couldn't speak it up as eloquently.
I am so with you Clintavo. I have tried to suggest this without saying that those that use AI writers are no writers. But as you articulately pointed out this is the truth. The saddest thing to me is that many of these writers are using AI for their money press and that is so wrong. Oh well, I wanted to send a message to you of unbridled support. Randy.
I apologized this might be long but I see the connection with visual arts as well. I am a painter and see too much Ai popping up. I need to weight on here.
The discussion on use of AI is heating up. I go to art sites online and read the comments. And it is scary to me. People who I believe have limited or no talent, are using or copying AI creations with impunity. And the issues are so new, the rest of the creative community doesn’t even know what the right questions or objections should be.
I read some say their “ copy” is an original because they will never know who or how many “ bits and pieces” belong to other artists.
Or they changed it enough that it does not look like the AI image. Others are wondering if they can sell their AI copies? What is not being considered with AI is even if one element was used from another artists work, they were not asked permission and worse, they did not benefit monetarily.
The issue of AI exists and being it’s use is NOT the issue. It is identifying the original works compiled to make the copy?
We may never know who the originators were unless makers of AI made a “track back” feature to identify what images were used and in what quantity? You see how crazy this becomes. And how many artists did not get paid for their efforts.
We are justifying piracy essentially by nibbling at the edges. The difference between a misdemeanor and felony. Both are crimes.
As Clint states with literature. There has alway been only one story. Good vs. evil. You could say every book from Adam and Eve in the Bible, that followed is plagiarism. Similarly, music, melody, same chords. The whole western musical structure in based on seven notes before an octave occurs.
So every song from Mozart to the Beatles is plagiarism. You see where we are heading?
This is why copyright laws were created. To pay the originator for their work, if the copy uses the original or part thereof, as it’s starting point. Is the law perfect. No! And some look for holes to create copies and not pay for use. Every book, song, artwork is a permutation. BUT, they are originals in their own right.
Every element in the world has been painted, sung or written about. We are all living on the same planet, live similar lives, experience similar things. Experience similar tragedies, successes and experiences. And we write, sing or make art about it.
But they were originals using elements in the world. Creatives make them their own. This is the difference. Yes, we all copy. We copy genres, modes, plots and themes. But they are sufficiently and distinctly from a personal point of view. Will there be similarities, OF COURSE. But they are our OWN. Not bits and pieces of others’ original workspace ideas.
We are playing Symantec’s with peoples creative processes. Even AI companies admit their images are compilation of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of other images. Can comparisons be made. Probably. But they are innocent, without malice and not made deliberately to deceive.
AI is deceiving and manipulating and benefiting those who use it. ON PURPOSE.
This is the issue.
Clint,
In these few paragraphs, you’ve perfectly described my process as an artist!
“We all have many scattered ideas, feelings, and emotions. And, when we write, we may be inspired to begin by a small solitary idea. I’ve often begun writing, inspired by a catchy turn of phrase, having no idea where the piece will go in the end or even if it will go anywhere. I’d say I write that way more often than not.
Once we start writing however, we begin to realize that there are other little kibbles of ideas and bits of stories stuck in the dusty recesses, the forgotten nooks, and secret crannies of our mind. So, we start pulling out those kibbles and bits, holding them up to the light, examining them, and making unseen connections between ideas seen. A writer shines a flashlight into dark corners that terrify most people.
“Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness.” – John 3:19
So, that story that I read last week and this idea that I saw online? They come together! And what a rush when two or more ideas connect! It’s exciting and creative, because, like a marriage, the union of two things into a relationship creates a new, third, thing. As we persist and flesh out these connections, we add some sort of coherence, and perhaps, if we're lucky, our intuition uncovers something unique.
And so, where we end up often will be quite different from where we started!”
That’s exactly what I’m doing when I paint! And it is terrifying. Often hard to start, but when I do get started, I have to say, "Did I do that?!"
Here’s what the LewAllen Gallery’s website says about artist Tom Palmore:
“Palmore carefully chooses his subjects’ settings, which may include romantic landscapes or patterned textiles. Often, Palmore incorporates background themes or motifs that can be seen as ironic, such as bird wallpaper in a portrait of a cat, or oddly fitting, like Egyptian Bee Eater Birds in front of hieroglyphic papyrus flowers. These aspects illuminate allegorical meanings that introduce new interpretive possibilities within the work. ‘I realized early on that the background is a critical part of the painting and that it can be the element which creates wit or surprise,’ says Palmore. ‘I’ve also learned that the background possibilities are infinite because they are only limited by my imagination.’”
Carol, my writer wife, loves what you said at the end: “There is no shortcut. To be a ‘real’ writer, you’ve simply have to put the miles on the pen yourself.”
She adds to that, “You have to sharpen the saw by reading great writing.” She also thinks “Grammarly” doesn’t understand writing at all! Well, she says she does use it to look for real mistakes - but usually throws all but a few of its suggestions in the trash.
And if you substitute “artist” for “writer” and “brushes” for “pen,” you nailed it for me, too. And I constantly study tons of other artists’ stuff.
As usual, Clint, you've gathered a bunch of well-placed words!
Being an artist, I feel the same about art. AI can produce some spectacular images, but there's a hollowness to it in knowing that it was done by purely human means.
Here's a rewrite of it by ChatGPT:
"As an artist, I feel the same way about art. While AI can create stunning images, there's an emptiness in knowing they lack the touch of purely human effort and creativity."
Which is better? My raw write, or the AI, more eloquent rewrite?
.
One more thing. If you have a website or a blog, Google now can detect AI produced copy. So, the new SEO rule is to take what AI gives you, and rewrite it in your own words. If not, you will actually be punished by Google in the search rankings.
I don’t use AI to write, so no worries about google but, increasingly, I block google too because I don’t want what I write being used to train AIs.
How do you block google?
Awesome. Right on point.
The only thing I'd disagree with you here on is telling people to use AI. The better way, in my opinion, is to support the other arts and learn illustrating yourself or use other real people to do the work for you. Else, even real writers like us fuel the problem because we're hurting other fields and replacing them with AI. (Money plays a big part of this, doesn't it? That's why I don't hire an illustrator.)
As someone said a few months ago, we don't need content, we need writers. I'd say that AI promotes content, not art, a meaningful expression of its creator.
Hiring an artist to illustrate every free article when writing one a day or week is not realistic in terms of time, money or coordination, and stock photography sucks. This type of use doesn't take anything from existing artists but represents an expansion of the market and a freeing tool for the writers. I am happy that most writers take some time to try and create a relevant illustration to go with their writing. And visual artists can use LLMs to improve their own writings about their works if they don't have good writing skills (just like I don't have good illustration skills). I guess we have to agree to disagree on this point.
Unless it's a fully evolved, sentient machine like Commander Data from Star Trek, I don't think it should even be called a "writer" or "rewriter," let alone "artist." Otherwise, we should call Photoshop Mister or Miss as well, and we don't do that even to Siri or Watson just yet, let alone Midjourney, though it can mimic human artwork pretty well. We're a long, long way from that, but eventually, we'll get there and maybe one day we'll get a Robot President, not to mention VR Surgeons, Holo Teachers, and whatever Palpable Companions ;-) Until then, consider it all sci-fi. That's my 5-cent advice of an SF writer/artist.
So true!! I could not agree more!! Thank you so much for putting into words my thoughts!
Well said !
How might we share your article to other platforms?
I guess just post the URL to those platforms though many of them de-prioritize linking out but that's about all that can be done. I appreciate it: https://clintavo.substack.com/p/an-ai-writer-is-no-writer-at-all
Found you from Paolo's recommendation. I'm looking forward to reading more!
WHEW! I had no idea that others felt as I have, in regards to the "process" or "end result" of our creative process. Mine, primarily dealing with painting. But for years I have filled MANY journals with my thoughts, idea...whatever I could express in words, that my paintings barely touched on...and also what my paintings expressed, that NO words could begin to explain!
It was a "good thing" that I found this tonight...not even sure HOW I found this...but as one friend said: "All things that happen, are good and important, because they bring you to where you are supposed to be." Thus, I am in the perfect place, at this exact moment! THANK you, for allowing me to share!!! Hope you will find my art someday, and enjoy the journey!
THANK you Clint... your "journeys" have always blessed me! Betty Billups, artist.
Wonderful essay, Clint. Honored that something I wrote could have been involved in the cross-fertilization of its inspiration. The comparison of Sauron's magic of technology to the Elfin magic of art is brilliant and spot-on. A useful and evocative metaphor for talking about this new challenge and opportunity that now faces all of us who write or otherwise follow the creative call.
Thank you!