How would you feel
if you could no longer read
a book from your favorite author?
I don't mean an AI facsimile.
I mean something that sprang from the wonderful mind of someone whose author's voice resonates with you.
An author who backs up the lyricism of their phrases with memories of an event, or research of a place or an era.
I ask this because in my email this morning, I received a survey sent by an author trade association of which I'm a member.
It asked whether I would consider licensing my books to teach Artificial Intelligence to emulate my author's voice.
Um… NO.
F*ck THAT sh!te!
As a creator, why the heck would I, or anyone
want some algorithmic stew of zeros and ones to even attempt to emulate the one thing that makes me different from every other author: to characters I create, the subjects I write about, and the process—the essence—
in which I make my stories?
This goes for anyone who weaves tales
or beautiful tapestries, or makes music or sings songs
or write poetry, or plays, or act in them
or put paint on paper or canvas or walls
or sculpt stone or fuse glass or ceramics into something that stops someone somewhere in their tracks, awestruck by what they read, or see, or hear.
Those who want to monetize AI must do it with our words. And our faces. And our visions of different worlds—
Ones of our making.
I would not sell my soul.
Nor would I sell my words.
I mean, come on already—
my writing comes from my soul.
Authors are creators.
Readers buy our books because
they fall in love with our author’s voices.
They appreciate that a human created
something that touched them.
If you take away the human,
you take away the reason
the reader wants our stories.
It’s why we have favorite authors
and go to their book signings.
It’s why we cry when we hear they have passed.
It’s why we hold onto their books for a lifetime.
Readers keep writers alive.
AI can't do that.
So, here's what I wrote back:
"We write from our imaginations,
which was formed by our personal knowledge, memories, hopes, dreams, fears, and vision of a world,
be it beautiful, scary, sad, or happy.
AI can't kill the reason we writers exist.
All it'll do is minimize our income for making it.
I pray humanity rejects AI works in all forms:
books, art, music, whatever.
We creators won’t go away.
You won’t stop humans from creating stories.
We’ll keep telling them—
but without those who wish to steal them from us."
The authors pictured above, are just a few of my favorites.
I've fallen in love with each one's unique characters
and storytelling style.
If you haven't already checked them out,
I strongly recommend them..
From top left to bottom left:
John Grisham, Martin Cruz Smith,
John Le Carré, and Maggie Shipstead.
