My spouse told me a while back about hearing an article on NPR that discussed another author having their identities falsified and AI books being generated in their name. While I can’t say that I’ve been subject to that level of fame (and some say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but I tend to strongly disagree,) I wasn’t expecting to encounter SO many issues with the hot mess that’s come to be known as Amazon publishing.
I’m optimistic and hopeful that eventually this listing ship will be righted, but I think they have an awful lot to do to help earn back the respect and trust of authors. Sadly, their own system of firewalls between departments not only insulates them, but it also hinders progress. Complacency and a conveniently broken system which largely ignores self-published authors to self-police themselves is their own biggest enemy.
Their own Amazon community forum for writers is a prime example (no pun intended) of the free-for-all toxicity in which the “veteran experts” (forum members that have been lurking there for reason that’s almost guaranteed to be financial, because honestly it’s a strange place to hang out for years) they’ve placed so much blind trust into are peddling unsuspecting little old grandmothers into giving up the rest of the life savings on a whim. The unpoliced veterans will often be quick to tell new people that they “don’t know what [they’re] doing” and if they’re not careful, they’ll “be banned so pay us because (surprise surprise) we know how to navigate that system and will format your book for you. Oh, and that will be $500 thank you very much, cha ching cha ching.”
When I first started down this rosy path filled with butterflies and rainbow-colored unicorn poop, my initial thoughts were, “I’ll create some coloring books and I’ll list them on Amazon. Amazon’s convenient.” Well. Yeah. Several months later and it’s been a repeated trial by combat scene from GOT.
For those that don’t know, you can start with one my previous articles first in which I discover a book in my name being sold without my permission. There’s so much and there’s so much more left to tell. Just trust me when I tell you that I haven’t even gotten to all the juicy parts which will make your head completely explode.
If I were only so creative as to make this stuff up.
But anyways, getting back to that NPR article. I noticed there was another author that was mentioned in the transcript: a renowned reporter on the publishing industry, Jane Friedman and her aptly-titled piece,
Now, I won’t spoil her story for you, but let’s just say that there are some striking similarities mostly to Julie Kitzes’ blog article that I had mentioned earlier. Namely that someone took her name and published numerous AI generated titles pretending to the same author. But the overarching theme seems to be that Amazon Content Review Team has had an awful history of abusing all of the wrong people, namely the authors and not punishing those that actually warrant it.
As for Jane Friedman, I have a slightly different view on AI that I can spend a lot of time discussing or debating (although I’m so tired of even thinking about it,) but for this article I’ll keep it brief. I know plenty of talented artists (including myself) that have spent decades honing our craft without the use of AI. I think it’s wrong to assume that everyone that is using it lacks talent. That’s simply not true. It’s more like, most people that use AI lack talent. That part is true. It’s not a put down, but rather that for most people “talent” doesn’t generally come naturally. We’re not all born savants but instead take decades to further refine our skills. But I also know some of the world’s best artists that are incredible in their own rights, and they’re using AI as a foundation—think of it as a collage to build upon their already impressive skills. Amazon refers to this as “AI Assistance” and differentiates it from “AI Generated.” AI Assistance would refer to pretty much any graphics tool which is available today. This includes both Photoshop and Illustrator.
So I think if some naive bonehead asks me “do you use AI?” The truth is, it’s not such a black and white answer, yet most people only think binary. Do you think I want to sit there and explain to someone who already has made up their mind how to use a dozen graphics programs? They want a free course? It’s a question I receive every day, and I’ve been repeatedly harassed by people that think they know all the answers when in fact they know next to nothing.
Why do I or anyone else owe you any answers whatsoever?
Why should we be defending ourselves to you when we’re getting yelled at, threatening emails, and bullied?
And why should I tell you anything when half of you are not going to believe us anyways, regardless of the answer you’re provided?
But if you’re really wondering, I used AI to create the image above in this post. Nothing like it exists in the wild. And guess what, I own the copyright now, or at least I do in China. But there’s still ongoing debates about these rights. Happy?
This current atmosphere is a modern day witch hunt. It’s McCarthyism. It’s the Scarlet Letter. It’s blaming people that don’t speak a common language. It’s xenophobia. It’s sexist. It’s racist. It’s bullying. It’s victim blaming. It’s born out of insecurity and fear. It’s the very thing which drives us to religion. And it’s naive.
At least for now, AI is not a panacea to all those who lack said skills. It still can’t form completely coherent hand holding without a babysitter—trust me and I’ve tried to get it to do some things (everything from programming, keywords, descriptions—it rarely does anything perfectly.) It still gets heads backwards, boobs for butts, and draws tentacles where hands should be. A pure AI book is going to be quickly recognized for what it is: complete and utter shit.
And it’s often easy for those who haven’t the faintest clue on how to fully test its capabilities to want to blame others for things that they perceive are going haywire. After all, isn’t part of human nature for us to always want to blame someone or something else, especially surrounding things we don’t fully understand?
So I tend to think that we should all worry a little bit less about AI for the end of times, and start blaming the underlying problem. That’s the people, corporations, and lawyers who have willfully neglected to take appropriate action against those who are clearly taking advantage of others. Currently I’m seeing a societly wrongly blaming the artist for their choice in brushes, when in fact it’s their client who is supporting financial theft.
But hey, some of you have called me a talentless cheat while I guarantee others will (and have) accused me of using AI to write these articles. It’s simply an argument that can’t be won. A lack of trust in others is always the first casualty of things we don’t fully comprehend. And AI is not to blame for that. We are.
