artificial intelligence | Rami Ungar The Writer

Posts Tagged ‘artificial intelligence’

The Problem with the AI Revolution

Posted: November 30, 2024 in Reflections
Tags: AI, AI generated art, AI writing, artificial intelligence, authors, ballet, ballet art, editing, entertainment, HarperCollins, living and life, NaNoWriMo, publishing, reflections, writing

AI is everywhere these days. And unfortunately, it’s making inroads into the creative industries.

In September, the organization behind National Novel Writing Month announced they would allow participants to use AI programs to write their novels for them (you can see my post about that here). Then HarperCollins, following some academic presses, announced it would be offering some of its non-fiction titles to Microsoft for training their language-learning models (LLMs), AKA the same programs that “write” fiction for people, provided the author consents. And earlier this week, Bookseller reported that AI publishing company Spine would be using AI to publish up to 8000 titles a year, while also charging authors $5000 to use their programs to proofread, publish, and distribute books. You can read both articles on this subject here and here.

This is only confirming many creatives’ worst fears about how AI may be used by companies to make money. After all, you don’t have to pay a program for their work, which means the company keeps all the profit. This could potentially make it harder for creatives to make a living or even a side hustle by writing, making art, editing, make music, or a hundred other things. And after the writers and actors guilds fought so hard last year to keep AI from cutting in on their work!

Now, I’m not necessarily against AI. I think AI has plenty of useful applications. For example, Google’s AlphaFold program is apparently predicting proteins and coming up with new ways to treat some of our worst diseases. And I think many people would be happy if AI made certain aspects of life, such as cleaning our homes, easier. (God knows I would love it if a program could clean my bathtub, rather than me.) However, I don’t think AI should be in the entertainment business!

For one thing, there’s the issue that often, the literature and art used to train the programs is used without the creator’s permission. I’ve heard from plenty of creators who found out their work was being used without permission, which they considered theft (and I can’t disagree). And it’s not just authors and artists dealing with this; some voice actors are actually suing a company for using their voices without their permission (you can watch a news report about it here).

Then there’s the problem with AI trying to create literature or art. It doesn’t actually create anything new. Unlike humans, who can learn from other creators and then learn to subvert tropes or play with ideas to try new things, AI programs can only look for patterns and then apply those patterns. It’s essentially paint-by-the-numbers. And it’s hardly perfect. In fact, it rarely is!

I’ve played around with AI (if I’m going to criticize it, I might as well). This includes writing programs. And they’re difficult to keep on track. You’re constantly having to get the writing back on track because the program forgets something it wrote before. And from what I’ve seen, the language is hardly that deep. It’s pretty barebones. No inner monologues about character feelings or philosophical discussions in-text about the nature of good and evil, love, death, etc. It can get the actions and maybe the conversations, but it can’t do anything like Stephen King’s musings on goings-on in the Lot in Salem’s Lot, or the Savage Garden in the Vampire Chronicles.

AI art is worse, including WordPress’s new AI art generator. (Yeah, that’s a thing now.) I played around with it recently, and while it is fun, it’s still problematic. Sometimes, you get some good stuff, like this image of Batman taking a kid trick-or-treating (something I could see happening in the right comic storyline).

But then you get this Spider-Man art I made.

Don’t see the problems? Spider-Man’s spider symbol looks more like a stain on his top, his neck looks like it was twisted around a hundred and eighty degrees, the webbing looks more like chains than webbing (and on the left arm is coming out of the wrong place), and the bus has an extra twenty feet on it that’s being kept up by magic.

And that’s just one example. I did a bunch of ballet-themed pictures because AI-generated ballet art shows the issues with AI programs about fifty percent of the time (and I like ballet). Half the time, the dancers had extra limbs or missing limbs. And sometimes, the program couldn’t properly reproduce something I input into the prompt. Look at this picture of Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers and Leatherface skipping through a field.

Yeah, that’s not what I was going for. Jason is wearing Michael’s boilersuit, and the other two look like a masked warrior wearing weird make-up holding a sword and…I don’t know. A random guy with a machete? I tried this prompt four different times, and not one got close to what I was looking for.

So, to reiterate, while companies are going all in on AI in the hope that it can make them a profit, they’re working with programs that are flawed, can only copy, and sometimes rely on stealing to get trained. All while threatening the livelihoods of authors and artists.

Well, the good news is, while AI is making leaps and bounds, it may eventually implode. In one scenario, AI will eventually begin to copy itself, flaws and all, leading to the programs producing increasingly subpar creations. In another, such as this video seems to suggest, the facilities needed to store data for AI programs will start to consume tons of water and electricity. Water and electricity that, more often than not, comes from the same sources as regular people’s water and electricity. That competition will eventually move in favor of people unless a compromise or solution presents itself, and may eventually lead to limitations on AI facilities.

Still, it’s a fucking pain that the real creators have to compete with ones and zeros to prove we’re the superior creators. Hell, sometimes we have to go on strike to get the message across! In addition, some creators don’t seem to see the issue. I spoke recently to a creator who didn’t see what the big deal was and even welcomed the challenge from AI. Let me tell you, she was exhausting.

So, what can we do? Well, if you work with publishers, check with them on their AI policies. I asked both the ones I’ve worked with, and one’s already gotten back to me with a definite No. Just simply ask what their policy is on AI-generated material is, so it doesn’t sound accusatory. You can also reach out to your elected representatives and ask them to support legislation that protects creatives over programming.

You should also support creators who don’t use AI. Buy their book and artwork, leave reviews online, and make sure to let people know that those you support don’t use AI. (For the record, no AI beyond spellcheck is used in my work.)

And, as always, make your voices heard. If we aren’t silent, people will notice. And if they notice, they may be swayed to help us.

On the NaNoWriMo AI Controversy

Posted: September 3, 2024 in Reflections, Writing
Tags: AI, AI writing, artificial intelligence, authors, disability, disability advocacy, disabled writers, editing, Halloween, Halloween season, living and life, NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, novel, publishing, reflections, Snake, social media, spooky season, Threads, Threads app, writing

It’s a damn shame when something that’s supposed to be pro-writers turns out to be exactly the opposite.

Now, for those of you who don’t know, National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short, is both an annual event and a non-profit organization. The former takes place in November every year, during which participating authors try to write a fifty-thousand word novel in 30 days (that’s about 1,667 words per day if you’re curious). If you actually manage to write that many words, you get bragging rights and a printable certificate (it’s a self-challenge, so that should be enough. Besides, previous attempts at “prize packages” have not gone well). The non-profit of the same name runs the annual event, as well as connects writers in the same area and other services and programs.

Sounds great, right? And for a while, it was. In fact, I even participated while writing the first draft of my novel Snake, and hoped to do so again someday. However, the organization’s statement on AI writing, which I’ve included as a photo below, has now made that impossible.

So, to summarize, not only is NaNoWriMo going to allow people to use AI to write their novels for them, but they claim that people who condemn use of AI writing are classist and ableist.

Um, excuse me?

I’m going to quickly respond to that last part first, as it’s outrageous. It’s not classist to ask writers, who span the whole range of socioeconomic backgrounds, to write a novel themselves. You know, like they’ve been doing for hundreds of years? Besides, AI use isn’t restricted to any particular class, let alone those living in poverty. If it was, and writing the whole novel yourself was restricted to those above the poverty line, then it would be classist.

And ableist? I have disabilities! I’ve managed to publish five books and write many more stories despite that! And so have many other authors, such as Octavia Butler (dyslexia), Fyodor Dostoyevsky (epilepsy), Flannery O’Connor (Lupus), as well as many writers who I consider not just colleagues, but friends. If anything, saying a disabled person can’t write a novel without the use of AI is what’s ableist!

But let’s get back to the fact that NaNoWriMo is willing to accept AI writing. I’m going to let you in on a little secret: AI writing isn’t even writing! AI writing is a computer program studying hundreds or even thousands of pieces of work, often without the original authors’ permission or even knowledge, looking for patterns, and then putting out something that has patterns like the ones found in the works studied. The results are usually full of contradictions, unimaginative characters, little mystery (because how could a program grasp mystery or secret-keeping for later payoff), and a lack of love.

Because that’s what AI writing really is. A cold calculation by a computer program based on analysis of so-called patterns gleaned from stolen works, rather than a labor of love by an author who wanted to share their stories with people who enjoy similar stories.

And the people calling themselves writers who are using AI, like the guy on Threads who said I was jealous that he was going to reach fifty-thousand words in one day (he’s been blocked)? They’re not writing. At best, they’re checking the finished project to fix the algorithm’s mistake. Other than that, they’re probably playing video games or making sandwiches or otherwise finding other ways to not write!

And that’s the saddest thing about this. NaNoWriMo started out as a fun challenge, and the organization was meant to help authors reach their dreams. Both were to encourage authors to push themselves and see what they could do in a month’s time. In short, it was to encourage writing. For NaNoWriMo to embrace AI writing and enable this laziness, rather than supporting the writers who insist on genuine hard work and practice, is a slap in the face to real writers everywhere.

I’m not saying it all has to be handwritten, but it should actually be, you know, written!

So, what can you do, both as a writer and a reader? Well, I’ve heard some people say they want to form a new organization and event, but whether or not that leads to anything, we’ll have to see. In the meantime, the most popular reaction seems to be people are boycotting both the NaNoWriMo event and the non-profit. Personally, in addition to the boycott, I would encourage authors to continue writing one word at the time. You know, actual writing?*

I would also encourage you to support other authors, especially lesser known ones, who continue to put real effort into writing, and leaving reviews, as well as refusing to support the works of authors who use AI, or the organizations who support them. Together, we can work to ensure writing and storytelling isn’t corrupted by algorithms, piracy, and laziness.

*And it doesn’t need to be fifty-thousand words in a month. Great work takes time, so take all the time you need.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. If you would like to help this non-AI using writer, especially with spooky season just starting, I’ll include a button below to lead you to my catalog. From plant/human hybrids and strange gods to Mafia-hunting serial killers and carnivorous horses, I got something for every horror fan. And if you like what you read, please leave a review so I know what you thought.

And until next time, my Followers of Fear, good night, pleasant nightmares, and only 58 days till Halloween!

Book Links & Excerpts

Looking Back at 2023, Looking Forward to 2024

Posted: December 1, 2023 in Living and Life, Reflections
Tags: "The Face of Horror" contest, 2023, 2023 Actors Strike, 2023 events, 2023 Israel-Hamas conflict, 2023 Writers Strike, 2024, anti-Semitism, artificial intelligence, authors, Broadway shows, Cracked Skull Press, Crawler, editing, entertainment, Hannah and Other Stories, Happy Hellidays, horror, Israel, living and life, marijuana legalizations, mass shootings, novel, Ohio, publishing, reflections, reproductive rights, StokerCon, StokerCon 2023, The Wild Hunt, theater, Ukraine, War in Ukraine, writing

Photo by Minhazur Rahman and downloaded from Vecteezy.

I do this post every year, and you guys seem to like it, so I’m doing it again. Let’s talk about 2023 and what we hope will happen in 2024.

I think everyone will agree with me that 2023 was a mixed bag. Not the rollercoaster out of hell that 2022 was, but definitely a mixed bag. Among the good things that happened, the pandemic was declared mostly over and we are getting back to some degree of normal now; my home state of Ohio voted to enshrine reproductive rights in our state constitution and legalized marijuana, which was a big deal; the Hollywood writers and actors strike were successful, allowing both groups to earn more money for their work and putting protections in against AI; an AI Safety Summit was held to discuss how nations should approach AI as it develops; Doctor Who returned with a bang (check it out, it’s awesome); and more.

Unfortunately, a lot of bad stuff happened this year as well. There was a massive train derailment in Ohio earlier this year that released a lot of chemicals into the area, and who knows how long that will take to clear up; the war between Russia and Ukraine continues, and Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, leading to a war that’s still ongoing today; anti-Semitism has risen in record numbers around the world, leaving many of my people feeling scared and alone; multiple mass shootings occurred throughout the year, leaving many dead who shouldn’t have died; the prices of gas and food have risen like crazy, which has made affording necessities more difficult than it already was; and more.

Like I said, mixed bag.

And on a personal level, 2023 was a mixed bag as well. On the down side, work was hellish this year, with multiple problems cropping up throughout the year that required my coworkers and I to work long hours and try to find ways to deal with it. We’re still working through problems, some old and some newer. Some of us, myself included, even have to go into the office three days a week before the rest of the workforce just to keep up. Oh yeah, we’re going from one just one day a week in the office to three in the new year. Another downside.

Also, I got in an accident and had to replace my car (that was awful); I had to find a new insurance company after the accident (that was annoying); my friends and I had to close Cracked Skull Press, which sucked; I underperformed at a lot of events I usually do well at; my anxiety and a bit of depression went to work on me, thanks to the Israel-Hamas conflict and the resulting anti-Semitism; and quite a few other things happened that really brought down my enjoyment.

Getting this out earlier this year was definitely a highlight of 2023.

Still, there were some good things. On the writing front, I was able to release Hannah and Other Stories, and while the reviews have been coming slower than I would like, they’ve all been very positive, and even in major publications; I also released “The Wild Hunt” in the Happy Hellidays anthology, which people have been LOVING; I got to go to StokerCon, which was a dream come true and a ton of fun; despite not doing as well at certain events as usual, I’ve been doing really well financially on the writing front, thanks in part to a grant and certain events; and I wrote what I think is some really good work, and I’m still writing some of that work.

(Some other stuff happened on this front too, but I can’t get into them until certain things are made official.)

Outside of writing, I turned thirty, and celebrated it with a blast, as well as found being thirty wasn’t as awful as I’d worried; I got to see some amazing Broadway shows and got addicted to their soundtracks (if you ever have the chance, go see SIX and Beetlejuice live); I got my full-back tattoo, which I’ve been working on since last year, finished; I had some big firsts in my condo, including my first Passover seder and first overnight guest; I made it quite far through the Face of Horror contest, and got plenty of side benefits from it as well; and a bunch of other stuff happened.

So yeah, mixed bag. But at least I can end the year saying that there was more good than bad, at least on a personal level.

So, what’s next for 2024? Well, I hope I can write, edit, and publish more stories, including finishing my mummy novel Crawler; I’d like to take a long, two-week vacation at some point and just spend it between totally lazy and writing my brains out; I look forward to traveling to some of my favorite haunted locations and maybe catching some weird shit on camera (more on that later); I hope to do more renovations to my condo as I build up my savings towards them; and perhaps, if God is kind, I can get that much closer to writing full time.

I also hope on the world stage things calm down and we can go through a year without losing any respect for humanity as a whole. But with two wars and an upcoming presidential election, I’ll call this hope a long shot.

Anyway, I hope that this post didn’t bum you out. Perhaps it gave you something to think about, or made you grateful for your 2023. Or even hopeful for 2024. I’m certainly trying to be hopeful, despite all the shit that goes on daily.

And with about 30 days left of 2023, I hope we all have a decent end to the year and enter the new year on a strong note.

How was your 2023, Followers of Fear? Anything good happen that you want to share? What about your hopes and plans for 2024? Let’s discuss.

Some Thoughts on AI-Produced Art

Posted: September 1, 2022 in Living and Life, Reflections
Tags: A Nightmare on Elm Street, AI generated art, Alice in Wonderland, Anne Rice, Anubis, art, artificial intelligence, artists, authors, Azathoth, ballerinas, ballet, ballet art, Cthulhu, Deep Ones, entertainment, Freddy Krueger, Friday the 13th franchise, horror, horror art, horror artists, HP Lovecraft, Jack the Ripper, Jason Voorhees, John Oliver, Las Vegas, Last Week Tonight, living and life, Lizzie Borden, Lovecraftian horror, Necronomicon, Nyarlathotep, reflections, scary stuff, Shub-niggurath, Stephen King, Support Artists, Support Creators, The Colour out of Space, The King in Yellow, Yog-sothoth, YouTube, YouTube video

Hello, Followers of Fear. There are sixty days till Halloween. What have you done to prepare?

Artwork produced by artificial intelligence, or AI art, has become kind of a thing as the technology has advanced. In fact, some months back, there was an app that became a fad for horror writers to generate images and even book covers. And earlier this week, John Oliver featured it on his TV show, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Here’s the video, if you’re interested. It’s hysterical.

John Oliver’s wife and children must have such a blast telling people who don’t know who he is what he does for a living. “Oh, my husband/dad? He sexually harasses Adam Driver and marries cabbages on TV once a week.”

Anyway, it got me interested enough to want to play around with AI art, so I made an account with one of the recommended companies, Midjourney, and went to work. The results were not only fascinating, but gave me some thoughts on the nascent AI art industry.

First, here are some of my successes. As it turns out, Midjourney’s AI program does very well with Lovecraftian/cosmic horror entities. For example, here’s Cthulhu destroying Las Vegas because I’m not a big Vegas fan (though under the right circumstances I’d visit again).

Then, in order, we have Yog-Sothoth, Shub-niggurath, Nyarlathotep, Azathoth, two pictures of the Deep Ones, the Color from Outer Space, and the King in Yellow.

And portraits of famous people tended to go well with the program. Here are Stephen King, Anne Rice, and HP Lovecraft, three of my biggest influences as a writer, as well as one of Lizzie Borden with an axe. Because why not?

And because I love ballet and try to put dancers in my stories when I can, I made a series of ballet posts, with their titles in the captions.

Pretty cool, right? Most of them look really good. However, those were success stories, like I said. Here’s what happened when I tried to create Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th films.

Yeah, I know. None of those come close to looking like Jason! He’s arguably more famous than Cthulhu, but these were the results. And then there was my attempt at Freddy Kreuger from A Nightmare on Elm Street. Oy freaking vey!

Yeah, who is that? Not Freddy Kreuger, who is definitely more famous than Cthulhu! Honestly, it looks more like my conception of Leland Gaunt, the antagonist from Needful Things by Stephen King. How could the AI get our favorite subconscious serial killer so wrong?

And those are just a few examples. I went through several failures trying to get anywhere close to a specific idea or image, only to give up when I realized the program just couldn’t create it. I couldn’t even create a decent Sailor Moon or an accurate tiger image, and both those prompts have enough references out there that they should have been easy to create something accurate.

Even some of the successes took a lot of work and experimentation, such as The King in Yellow or Little Dancer and Anubis. I won’t even go into detail about how hard it was to get a good Alice in Wonderland pic that wasn’t too trippy. I mean, I know the source material is plenty weird, but not all art based on it has to be super-surreal!

And while I call some of them successes, they aren’t perfect. You can especially see it in the ballerina series, where features like the head and limbs look odd or bent in ways you wouldn’t see on a normal dancer or a Degas painting. Only the tutus and bodices come out well. The rest of their bodies can be a mixed bag.

It kind of reminds me of that scene in 1986’s The Fly, where Jeff Goldblum puts steak through the teleporter and it comes out tasting weird. He figures out that the computer hasn’t learned how to move organic materials, and is instead creating an interpretation or bad imitation of what it thinks steak is. That’s what we have here: the AI has learned how to mimic and create, but it’s still leagues away from making certain things.

And honestly, I’m glad. Art is art because there’s someone behind it with a vision or a passion. You can program a computer to recreate famous art pieces or original pieces, including Batman comics and scripts or horror screenplays. And the computer might even do a good job at times. But there won’t be any passion or soul behind it. Art is art because we’re putting our love and soul into our creations.

And getting to work with a creator? That’s even more special. Believe me, I’ve done it before, and it’s amazing to see your vision come to life with their help. Especially when working on art pieces like book covers. That truly is something special.

That being said, I can see AI-generated art being used for cheap book covers as the technology improves, and the services of artists becoming more expensive. This could especially apply for small presses or independent publishers who need to lower costs while maximizing profits. The only time publishers may use a real artist is if the author is big enough to warrant it.

Hopefully that doesn’t happen, because it would mean we wouldn’t get to see some really amazing collaborations. So, for the meantime, I’ll stop with the AI art (I’ve scratched that itch and I don’t want to pay a subscription for Midjourney, anyway), and continue supporting the artists who create amazing art. Especially horror art.

And now, here are some more pieces I created. Except for a few I’m waiting to reveal till the time is right, here are my other successes. You can ask what was going through my mind when I created these in the comments below. Enjoy, and until next time, my Followers of Fear, pleasant nightmares!