This issue has been spoken of more and more in the past months. You can call it AI or Machine Learning, or Generative Whatever. Without setting myself up as some sort of expert, I’d like to share my perspective and personal experience in this arena.

I have specifically confronted the issue of AI art in publication of my stories. There’s really only one publisher I work with on a regular basis, and I’ve suspected she was using software to generate images that accompany short stories in her magazine. I wasn’t planning to confront her (that wouldn’t be productive for a future relationship) but I suspected.

When it was time to re-issue my novel, The Seven Exalted Orders, she brought it up herself. I’m glad we got the chance to discuss it. Here’s my position: I very much prefer original art commissioned from humans. That said, I’m well aware of how expensive such art can be. It’s why I purchase art through Shutterstock when I’m self-publishing. However, it is the publisher’s decision where and how to source art. They have to make the numbers add up for their small press. If I couldn’t handle that, it would have been better to self-publish my re-issues.

What we arrived at is to make a statement of the art’s origins in the book’s indicia. (That’s the tiny print behind the first title page.) Where it would normally give the cover artist’s identity, we stated “Cover created by (name) using (program).” The issue of generated art is something readers might want to know about. Making a forthright statement seems like the best approach.

As for AI writing, it’s a hard no from me. I’ve been practicing this craft for more than 30 years and I’ve developed an array of techniques that I trust. In other words, I don’t need help to be creative. It’s also highly objectionable that the developers apparently stole massive amounts of other people’s work in order to “train” their systems. There is a lot of legal and activist work that needs to be done where creators can be protected from such theft. The sooner the better.

If other people want to play around with those programs or use them as a tool in their process, it’s up to them. I just don’t consider generated stories to be writing. Someone who solely generates stories with software is not a writer. As events unfold, it’s possible we will categorize generated works as their own art form (a genre or medium). That is another phase of activist work that needs to be done.

Anyway, my novel, The Seven Exalted Orders, is on sale through Smashwords until July 15th. Use code JL85P to receive this discount.

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