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work with my hands, at my pace and stay present — this is how i push back against the proprietary, the predatory, and the puerile.
Mar 3, 2025
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I don't want to read books and essays written by AI.
I don't want to watch films made by AI.
I don't want to look at art and photos made or modified by AI.
I don't want to see messy preschooler drawings refined and interpreted by AI.
etc.
But I avoid it especially because I don't want to lose myself.
Creating is hard: I struggle. I sweat. I weep. I doubt myself and wrestle with insecurity and hate my parents and family and friends and I'm going to die on the streets and think that I'd never get it right and gloom and I'm an imposter and a fraud and the gaping chasm of despair gnawing fear and —
and from that pit of struggle emerges a diamond, something precious and glistening that I didn't know could be found
Then I see that through the pain of hammering for that diamond, I've changed and grown, and this beauty that I'm now beholding, I know what it took to get to that! I paid for that, and everything I lost was gained back.
AI lets me skip all that.
All of the process and pain and growth can be bypassed.
Instead I can get really good at prompting. Whenever I get stuck and the muse is silent, AI will get me moving again. I never need to struggle. I never need to grow. My skills never need to evolve.
It's easier, it's faster, everyone else is doing it, blah blah blah, I'll fall behind if I don't use it, accelerate! more! be more efficient. We worship the god of efficiency here! bigger! FEED THE MACHINE. faster! insane beserker growth! why? because we are thirsty for more. produce! produce! produce!
No thanks. Even if it means others are producing more and louder and flashier better tighter, no thanks.
I'll fall behind if I have to.
Fall behind with me.
2d ago
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as if ai taking over jobs wasn’t enough, it must hijack creativity too. im approaching the last year of my college in what feels like a (losing) race against the development of ai, with the knowledge that in a year not so distant my degree will become obsolete. in times like that art is all we have left- but with the rise of (incredibly soulless and tacky) ai advertisement and design- i’m not so sure about the stability of literally anything anymore.
May 20, 2025
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When the smartphone revolution began about 20 years ago you knew when you were using a smartphone or not. You knew when you were sitting down at a computer or not, when you were opening up a social media app or not, etc.
I think the big difference here is that AI is everywhere and in everything, almost without user consent. No industry is safe. Education isn't safe. Childhood isn't safe. Religious communities aren't safe. Text exchanges with family members aren't safe.
For months now I've recognized the need to establish a set of personal values and safeguards around AI. These apply primarily to me and in my domains of oversight. But also they will shape who and what I engage with and consume from.
In many ways I think this will be the issue of our time. What does it mean to be a human? Is there value in creating or only in the completed product? What do we gain from the struggle of the creative process?
Also I see opportunity everywhere.
As generative AI overtakes and as we realize that we can't trust anything that comes through a screen, even, soon, the person on the other side of a Zoom video chat (it could be their AI avatar authorized to speak on their behalf), then real life and real world interactions become so much more poignant and beautiful.
Right now I lead a community writing workshop on weekly basis. IT IS REAL. No one is using AI. We write together with pens in notebooks. We read our work aloud together. This will remain a safe space.
I can see other safe spaces springing up too. For instance: we gather and paint or make art, together and in realtime. Then we walk next door and hang our art immediately in a gallery and have a show. It's real. It's human. And we can trust it.
Also I see communities forming of people who choose to opt out of the generative AI devolution. There's a lot of thoughtful writing about this out there already.
May 15, 2025
