I often find myself of the more quieter opinion when a controversial subject arises. I never wish to debate. I like reading many sides to a situation and deciding where I fall. I am overall pro-AI and to be transparent, I would like to expand on what that means for me and my work. TL;DR’s are in bold below.

AI as a writing tool
My main work currently is writing. The use of AI has been wonderful in managing to get my books that were locked inside of me, out there. I definitely have forms of neurodivergence that I am awaiting testing and confirmation of. Whatever I have, makes life harder to navigate and be productive in. I have always wanted to write books. I’ve started many and got lost, only to abandon them. The only reason I am now a published author, is because of AI support.

I explained to AI what I wanted to write about, and asked it to suggest a chapter list based on those details. I took that chapter list, changed it, rewrote it, shifted bits up and down and then when it made sense to the book I wanted to write. Then I began writing.

During the writing phase, when I wanted to explain things in a different way, I would ask AI again, how can I accomplish this? The suggestions would be considered, possibly implemented, possibly rejected. Always restricted to the changes of a word or two here and there. I am the author of my books. I use AI much like I would use a more intelligent thesaurus.

I also use AI for spell checking. It does this task very badly! However when it makes a suggestion I ask it, why did you suggest that? I take on those explanations to improve my writing style. I’ve realised that I am prone to leaving out context and creating incomplete sentences. AI has helped me to become a better writer. It continues to remind me how to make a complete sentence so that my readers can understand me better. It helps me to be heard, so that I am no longer locked inside a body that struggles to communicate.

TL;DR: I create human writing, I do not create, nor sell AI writing.

AI artwork
The subject of art finds me in a different stance. I am quite terrible at drawing and painting. I love creating images though this is also something I have trouble with. I have a lot of vision! I envy those that can put that on paper. I have tried to use AI to create my visions for me. However it can’t see what I see in my mind’s eye. So that doesn’t work either.

Giving instructions to produce AI art that you want isn’t all that easy. You are the one formulating the instructions, and AI is trying to make sense of it. You have to be descriptive and understand the mechanism of AI. It’s like an emotional and visual Excel formula. To create that formula, you have to be creative yourself. You have to have the end goal and try different ways of getting the machine to give you that end goal. Most often, just like with Excel, we receive the AI version of !ERROR, in the form of an animal with 3 legs, or a unicorn with a horn sticking out of the wrong place, and often an animal with no head at all. It’s funny, and also confusing and frustrating.

So long as what you create isn’t meant to pretend to be another artist, I see no issue with AI art. It can never and will never replace human created art. I love working with a human because of the connection we have during the process and the fact that we create magic together. I have bought art for my beloved as a gift and I love the process of that being created and personalised especially for him. The whole experience holds deep meaning for me, and that artist forever resides in my heart as being a part of something beautiful in my life.

TL;DR: I create AI art, I also buy and create human art.

Graphic design, AI and other
As a business we also work with graphics. Most stock photography we use is AI generated. I’m usually looking for something very specific, and it speeds up my ability to get work done when the exact image I need can be created in seconds. Other graphics are created by humans and part of a paid package that we have. I’ll style them myself into whatever it is we need. We likely will always use a mixture of both, and I do love that we can create an image quickly that we may only need to use once.

TL;DR: I create AI graphics, I also buy human created graphics.

Conclusion
AI is a great tool of our times. It is essentially the Primark Excel version of design. We will hold onto a human creation for many years, proud of the artist and smug because we own a piece of their work. With AI, it’s quick, throwaway and complicated. It’s here to make life a bit easier, not to cause war between us all.

Written on 20th of June 2023 by Belle DreamCatcher