Thank you for making these connections. You have inspired me to revisit Pygmalion and My Fair Lady 🙂
I only recently subscribed and this is my first email from you but I see other interesting titles there, which I intend to read.
I am also delighted to hear that you are pushing back against AI, which is threatening imagination, creativity and therefore, in my opinion, what it means to really live.
In fact, it was a post of yours (a note I think) about mobile phones and the Ring of Power with an image of Gollum cradling a mobile phone, that piqued my interest in your writing in the first place. I restacked that note at the time and when I came across it recently, I wrote a poem entitled 'My Precious', based on it. I assumed it was an AI generated image you used but I wonder now, having read your piece about pushing back against AI, if it was in fact, an illustration by a real, live being?
Sure! You can use the image. It’s just an AI prompt. I’m starting to believe that just as the law protects humans with copyright, anything created with AI should disqualify for copyright protection and immediately enter the public domain. Those companies stole from us to train their models, so the output should belong to all of us.
Thank you for your comment! I feel honored to have written something that inspired poetry! Is your poetry posted online somewhere? I'd love to read it! If you didn't see it I eventually worked that Note into a longer short story of sorts also titled "Your Precious:" https://clintavo.substack.com/p/your-precious
Your question about the image is a good one. The image you saw was made with AI. I made the image for the Notes post last fall, prior to my stance hardening into what it is today. I strive today to not use AI at all for images but in a few rare cases with fiction, sometimes it's hard to find what I have in mind. In the extremely rare case I do use an AI image I strive to also include a human artist image in the piece (In the linked piece I use both the image of Gollum you saw and a human made painting of Sauron). If I do use an AI image only, I will donate free service to one of our visual artist customers of our SaaS service faso.com. Other than the short story, Your Precious, for which I used the image made months earlier for the Note that went viral, I have not used any AI images on my Substack since instituting this new policy about seven months ago. I've doubled down on human creativity!
Thank you again for subscribing. I truly appreciate it.
I just read your short story. It's brilliant and very chilling because true. I was listening to a podcast on Crrow777 the other day and it was eerily on point about the darkness seeping in from below, as a false, synthetic reflection, dark forces using a digital simulation to gain access to the new creation.
I haven't actually published ‘My Precious’ yet because, like so many other things I write, I haven't got around to typing it up 🙈🙉🙊 I write in pencil, on paper. My scribblings are voluminous but only a fraction are actually typed up and make it out into the world, especially at this time of year. I live in Ireland and unless it's actually raining, i just want to be outdoors when it's bright and warm enough. The last thing I want is to be sat in front of a screen when there's even a hint of sunshine out there 🙃🤣
However, if you would be willing to give me permission to use your Gollum image (with credit of course), I shall type up the poem ‘My Precious' and share it with a link to your brilliant short story ‘Your Precious’.
Thank you for making these connections. You have inspired me to revisit Pygmalion and My Fair Lady 🙂
I only recently subscribed and this is my first email from you but I see other interesting titles there, which I intend to read.
I am also delighted to hear that you are pushing back against AI, which is threatening imagination, creativity and therefore, in my opinion, what it means to really live.
In fact, it was a post of yours (a note I think) about mobile phones and the Ring of Power with an image of Gollum cradling a mobile phone, that piqued my interest in your writing in the first place. I restacked that note at the time and when I came across it recently, I wrote a poem entitled 'My Precious', based on it. I assumed it was an AI generated image you used but I wonder now, having read your piece about pushing back against AI, if it was in fact, an illustration by a real, live being?
Sure! You can use the image. It’s just an AI prompt. I’m starting to believe that just as the law protects humans with copyright, anything created with AI should disqualify for copyright protection and immediately enter the public domain. Those companies stole from us to train their models, so the output should belong to all of us.
I like that take on it! Thank you 🙂
Thank you for your comment! I feel honored to have written something that inspired poetry! Is your poetry posted online somewhere? I'd love to read it! If you didn't see it I eventually worked that Note into a longer short story of sorts also titled "Your Precious:" https://clintavo.substack.com/p/your-precious
Your question about the image is a good one. The image you saw was made with AI. I made the image for the Notes post last fall, prior to my stance hardening into what it is today. I strive today to not use AI at all for images but in a few rare cases with fiction, sometimes it's hard to find what I have in mind. In the extremely rare case I do use an AI image I strive to also include a human artist image in the piece (In the linked piece I use both the image of Gollum you saw and a human made painting of Sauron). If I do use an AI image only, I will donate free service to one of our visual artist customers of our SaaS service faso.com. Other than the short story, Your Precious, for which I used the image made months earlier for the Note that went viral, I have not used any AI images on my Substack since instituting this new policy about seven months ago. I've doubled down on human creativity!
Thank you again for subscribing. I truly appreciate it.
I just read your short story. It's brilliant and very chilling because true. I was listening to a podcast on Crrow777 the other day and it was eerily on point about the darkness seeping in from below, as a false, synthetic reflection, dark forces using a digital simulation to gain access to the new creation.
I haven't actually published ‘My Precious’ yet because, like so many other things I write, I haven't got around to typing it up 🙈🙉🙊 I write in pencil, on paper. My scribblings are voluminous but only a fraction are actually typed up and make it out into the world, especially at this time of year. I live in Ireland and unless it's actually raining, i just want to be outdoors when it's bright and warm enough. The last thing I want is to be sat in front of a screen when there's even a hint of sunshine out there 🙃🤣
However, if you would be willing to give me permission to use your Gollum image (with credit of course), I shall type up the poem ‘My Precious' and share it with a link to your brilliant short story ‘Your Precious’.
Reading this felt like watching alabaster turn warm. The way you carry Pygmalion into prayer and purpose lands deep.
Blessed be the ones who let beauty breathe them back to life.
Very nice. I enjoyed this, Clintavo!