Pushing back against AI opposition
How an exchange on Facebook clarified my thinking
A few days ago, I posted an AI-generated video promoting Indie Bookstore Day, which is April 25. Its message was simple: Order my vampire novel, Fiona’s Guardians, from your local independent bookstore. I also dropped a link in the comments to Bookshop.org, which conveniently offers online shopping while allowing you to direct profits from the sale to your favorite bookshop.
When I shared the video in a vampire-themed Facebook group, I received this comment:
Yet you use AI, which steals from artists and writers to make corporations richer to make your advert? Maybe use a real video editor and a real artist to be taken seriously?
My reply was simple:
I like to think of it as turning the weapon being used against us. If one AI generated video or image can change book buying habits, I'd call that a victory for human endeavors.
He answered:
I respect your opinion, but wholeheartedly disagree.
Those who say I should hire a human to create promotional images or videos should know something. I post a lot of images promoting my books. Every day on multiple platforms, I might share half a dozen separate images. Some are AI, others I found “in the wild” that I turn into memes. If I hired a human to create a handful of images for each day of posting, I’d quickly run out of money.
If you can afford to hire a human, please do. However, if you can afford to hire a human, and criticize my budget-driven use of AI, allow me to suggest that you check your privilege.
The other common argument against AI is that it steals from human artists. My counter argument is this: Everything humans have created — visual art, literature, music — is built on someone else’s creation. The old saying “Good artists copy, great artists steal” exists for a reason. Everything we create inspires someone else to do something similar (ish). If that inspiration crosses over into plagiarism or a copyright violation, we have laws to address this. As for when AI goes too far, I’ll let our elected representatives write those laws.
In the meantime, I have promoting to do. I’ll leave you with a meme I created using “real” images. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading.
Dan K
