Tag: AI

My soul is worth more than $205

It was bound to happen sooner or later.

Photo of a robot using a laptop computer
Photo by Andrea De Santis on Unsplash

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is all the rage now. It is the latest shiny object. All kinds of businesses want to jump on the bandwagon and use it to either make more money or replace employees with it. Either way, it promises to increase their profits.

Proponents tell us that AI will streamline our lives. We will accomplish more by doing less work.

Opponents tell us that AI will eventually be so much smarter than humans that it will have the ability to kill us.

My hunch is that there is some truth at both ends of the AI spectrum.

AI has the potential to organize certain aspects of our lives. It has the potential of making medical breakthroughs happen faster than would otherwise be possible.

AI in the hands of the wrong people has the potential of turning into a technology Frankenstein.

What about AI and literature?

I have noticed over the last month my inbox has been bombarded with emails about webinars promising to make my life as a writer oh so simple. The ads promise that the webinars and courses will teach me how to save time. Some of them promise that AI can write my blogs for me. AI can plot a novel for me. AI can write the novel for me. AI will free up all my time and load up my bank account with money.

The best part? I won’t have to write any more. No, actually, that’s the worst part. I won’t get to write any more.

I read the first couple of those emails, just to see what they were claiming. Now, I just hit the “delete” button. If it is from a formerly-reputable source, I then hit the “unsubscribe” button.

These people and companies that used to offer webinars and courses — some of them for free – have helped me become a better writer. Some of them have made me aware of practices or software that I have benefitted from. But now they have crossed over to “the dark side” and lost my respect.

There is a problem with the promise made by many of these emails I have received. The sources of those emails have lost sight of the heart of creativity. I am a writer. I want to write. I don’t want AI to write my blog posts. I don’t want AI to write my historical novel or short stories.

Going a step further, I don’t want AI taking the words I have painstakingly written after I did tedious research. As I said in my opening sentence today, “It was bound to happen sooner or later.”

The stress of last week leading up to my AI experience on Friday

Last week was busy and stressful. I finished the final proofread of the 188-page devotional book I have written, I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter.

It has taken more than a year to write it, format it for publication by IngramSpark and Amazon, create the cover on Bookbrush.io, and complete countless proofreads and edits. But last week, I downloaded the manuscript and the cover and hit the “submit” button on the IngramSpark website. Hitting the “submit” button was a freeing exercise. A weight was lifted off my shoulders!

By the way, I had to state to IngramSpark that I had not used AI or any AI content in the writing of my devotional book.

A bleed problem was identified on the first cover I submitted, which created 48 hours of panic in me. The second time I submitted it, it passed muster. Whew! I approved the e-proof I received two days later, and I ordered a paperback copy to inspect before I move forward seeking Advanced Review Copy readers.

That’s just a little of what I dealt with last Monday through Thursday.

Then, I opened my email inbox on Friday…. But first here’s a little background.

My publishing experience with Arcadia Publishing

In 2014, Arcadia Publishing published my vintage postcard book, The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina as part of the company’s Postcard History Series. Writing that book was a labor of love and a crash course in dealing with a publishing company.

Arcadia Publishing has strict guidelines governing word count and character count for every postcard the author chooses to include in the book. I did a great amount of research so I could write the best caption possible for each postcard. You wouldn’t believe how tedious it is to rewrite a paragraph umpteen times to try to decrease the character count by one or two or twenty-five.

The history buff in me tried to pack as much history into the book as possible. When I asked for a little leeway, I was sternly informed that it was a postcard book and not a history book. Lesson learned. My vision for the book did not quite line up with Arcadia’s vision.

My postcard book is still available from Arcadia Publishing and on Amazon in paperback and e-book. Occasionally, it can be found at an independent bookstore. Every year or two I receive a small royalty check. I am proud of the book.

Then, I opened my email inbox on Friday….

The email I received from Arcadia Publishing last Friday

With my devotional book manuscript submitted to IngramSpark and my galley proof ordered, I looked forward to having a day on Friday to catch up on some things and turning my energy to marketing I Need The Light!

But then I opened my inbox and found an email from Arcadia Publishing. The subject line, “Royalty Opportunity” immediately grabbed my attention, but the first sentence took the smile off my face.

“Arcadia has been presented with an opportunity to provide content to a major technology company involved in AI development. The request is to use the content of your title(s) for AI training purposes.”

I did not like the sound of that. The next sentence was in bold font and tried to entice me with a $205 royalty at the end of 2025. I live on a tight budget, so $205 was tempting. It will take me upwards of ten years to receive $205 in royalties from Arcadia from the sales of my book.

I read on as the letter indicated that such “opportunities could be very limited in the future. Recently, two courts ruled that AI training is ‘fair use’ of copyrighted content, for which tech firms need not compensate authors. If future cases result in similar rulings, it will be increasingly difficult to secure payment for content.”

The letter went on to say that Arcadia has the right to let this undisclosed technology company have access to my copyrighted words under the contract I signed in 2014, but out of the goodness of their hearts they are giving me the chance to opt out of this one arrangement.

I opted out and then I wrote Arcadia Publishing an email

I was tempted to take the $205 at the end of the year. I could really use that money, so I had to take some time to decide what to do.

I thought about some of the well-known authors who have stood up against their publishers and nefarious AI schemes. They had more to lose than I do. What difference would it make, especially if the next time a tech company makes a deal with Arcadia Publishing the company doesn’t bother to let me opt out?

That little voice in the back of my head kept saying, “Don’t take the money,” and that little voice prevailed. I opted out.

I did not leave it at that. This is the letter I sent to Arcadia Publishing:

“I am disappointed in Arcadia Publishing for cooperating with an undisclosed company to assist in their AI training. Your decision was, no doubt, made solely on money and how Arcadia Publishing can benefit financially from such a scheme. 

“The fact that you did not disclose the name of the AI company you have made a deal with indicates a lack of transparency.

“Your decision shows a lack of respect for the creative work of the writers who have entrusted you with their intellectual property. I appreciate the fact that you did the ethical thing by asking for my permission. 

“I would have much preferred to have received a letter from you informing me that you had been approached about such a business arrangement but you had declined to participate. Such a communication from you would have made me proud to be an Arcadia Publishing author.”

That was my first brush with AI wanting to use my intellectual property for “training purposes” and it is just the beginning.

I thought my work was safe. After all, I own the copyright to each of the books and short stories I have published. That copyright is in effect for 70 years after my death.

The email I received on Friday served as a stark reminder that just because I own the copyright, my work is still vulnerable to unscrupulous tech companies that want to use my hard work to their advantage and profit.

As if we did not have enough to worry about in 2025, along comes AI.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read. If it is a good book, it was written by a human being and not by a computer.

Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

Janet

My Take on AI

I receive spam emails almost daily from people wanting to tell me how I can greatly improve my website by using Artificial Intelligence. Trust me. I will never let Artificial Intelligence write content on my website or write my blog posts. Furthermore, I will never let artificial intelligence write a short story or novel and then put my name on it as the author. 

Photo by Andrea De Santis on Unsplash

Here’s an example of the emails I receive offering to help me write: “I have just took an in depth look on your  janetmorrisonbooks.com for the current search visibility and saw that your website could use a boost. We will improve your ranks organically and safely, using state of the art AI and whitehat methods, while providing monthly reports and outstanding support.”

Yikes!

It took me a minute or two to get past, “I have just took…” so I could glance over the rest of the email. I continued to read out of curiosity to see if there were additional grammatical errors. The only thing that would have made this email worse would have been if it had gone on to say, “I had saw….”

Thank you, but I think I’ll just keep plodding along and doing my own writing.

Fortunately, almost 100% of such emails are identified as spam. They don’t clutter up my inbox, but I have to skim over the subject lines before I delete them from the spam box.

Writers Guild of America Strike

On April 18, 2023, the vast majority of members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) voted to go on strike. Yay for them! They’re striking to get higher pay and guaranteed residuals from the streaming of the TV shows and movies they wrote. I applaud their courage in drawing attention to the way their work is undervalued. They’re being taken advantage of and this was their only choice after negotiations broke down.

Writers never have gotten the respect they deserve because their faces are what people see when they watch a TV show or movie. But make the actors ad lib and see how entertaining that is.

WGA members also don’t want their writing talents replaced by narrative and scripts being written by AI.

Granted, some shows I see advertised don’t appear to have any substance. Maybe the writers of such pitiful TV programming will find another way to make a living during the strike. They should.

Screen Actors Guild Strike

On July 13, 2023, members of the Screen Actors Guild in the United States voted to go on strike for several reasons. One of the reasons was they wanted better protection against AI. They don’t want their images to be hijacked and used in movies or videos without their permission. I’m glad to see the actors standing up against AI.

Another example of AI

I have a new email account with another company since the Windstream data breach fiasco around June 1. One thing I’ve noticed is that it tries to write email content for me. It’s very irritating. It starts throwing out the next three or four words it thinks I want to say. It’s worse than the words my iPhone thinks I want to say next when I’m texting.

The good things about AI

I would be remiss if I didn’t include the other side of the debate. The most promising thing about AI is the ability it will give researchers and medical professionals the ability to access information instantaneously that will potentially lead to new drugs and cures. Of course, how they will keep (or already are keeping) the hackers out of that process remains to be seen.

We all know there are unscrupulous people jumping on the bandwagon to perpetrate harm in other areas of our lives. The MOVEit and Windstream data breaches this summer are proof of that.

AI and the future of writing

Artificial Intelligence writing doctoral theses. Artificial Intelligence writing textbooks. Artificial Intelligence writing term papers. Artificial Intelligence writing essays for university applicants. Artificial Intelligence writing a novel.

Where will it end?

Worse than that, though

These are uncertain times and we haven’t even seen the tip of the iceberg. Just wait until the 2024 US Presidential Election campaign ads are running 24/7 on your TV and you will not be able to tell truth from fiction. You will see and hear candidates for political office doing and saying things they didn’t do and never said. It will all be smoke and mirrors and our very democracy will be at stake. That’s much more serious and dangerous than AI writing novels. It is our democracy being overcome by AI that should have every American’s attention.

Until my next blog post

I hope you’re reading a book that’s so good you didn’t want to put it down to read my blog post! But you did – so thank you! That book, no doubt, was written by a real human being who worked many years to learn and hone their craft so you could hold that book in your hand and be transported to another place and time.

Enjoy your friends and family, even if they don’t agree with you when it comes to politics.

Remember the people of Ukraine and the people on the island of Maui in Hawaii.

Janet