Cursed, Soulless Garbage?
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Hi Reader, AI creates cursed, soulless garbage. That’s according to Daniel José Older. He’s an American fantasy author and the lead story architect behind Star Wars: The High Republic. A Slate journalist asked Older for his take on a messy controversy surrounding NaNoWriMo. That writing non-profit released a weird statement about AI being “a useful tool” for those who are disabled or from marginalized communities. Cue a social media firestorm, clarifications, and resignations from the NaNoWriMo Writers Board, including by Older. My gut feeling is Older, like many writers, are angry. Older found AI happily trained itself on 11 of his works. I’d be angry, too. That’s plagiarism. Writers and creators are afraid AI is devaluing and stealing their works. They’re terrified it will put them out of the job. A few weeks ago, I ran a workshop showing how I use AI to repurpose content. While promoting this workshop over email, one reader unsubscribed from my list. She told me she was leaving because I was “supporting AI”. The painful truth? Some AI tools are stealing your work. I get why people are worried. I was, too. A few months ago, I discovered an AI tool trained itself on dozens of articles on my site—articles I spent hours and hundreds of dollars writing and commissioning. In an ideal world, these AI companies will reimburse creators. However, these tools will put some creators out of a job unless they adapt. So, best to consider how to use AI for your business. If you’re not considering using AI for your business, one of your competitors certainly is. Adapt or die. AI tools like Claude, Perplexity, and ChatGPT have changed my business model. Generative AI is a useful tool for creators if you use it correctly. No… that doesn’t mean training it on someone else’s work or spewing out soulless garbage. My mantra is to write and create authentic content that AI can’t generate. Then, use AI for the rest. I’m down with generative AI for mundane parts of my content business. If I need to iterate 10 headlines or email subject lines, AI can help me do that faster. AI can help me analyze an email like this one and identify gaps and areas for improvement. If I need to copyedit my work without sending it to an editor, I’ll happily use generative AI, too. I’ve trained AI on thousands of words of my work and created custom ChatGPT bots and Claude projects. If you train AI correctly, it can become the writing assistant creators need. October 16th was my birthday. So I’m doing something new. I’m giving you a chance to pick up my Pro Creators Only workshops. In one of these 90-minute workshops, I show you how to use AI to repurpose content you already have quickly and easily. You also get access to a series of AI content bots for your business. ​Buy now​ Write on, |