I'm sure that's a really inflammatory title right now, but I do have an argument to make. I know there will be some who glance at this, feel like I'm overreacting, and I need to get over it, because AI is the future, and shut their brains off. While I agree AI is not likely going to disappear, I do have issues with the ways it is being used and trained and I am going to cover some of those here. Before I do that though, I want to start at what I think is the beginning for me as far as posting my work online, period.
When I first posted some of my work online it was strictly fan fiction. I knew I'd never be able to publish it anyway and I also knew that it might be a good way to gain a following of people who liked my work. So, I started out doing that on Figment (for those of you who remember that site). I did get some good feedback; enough that I dared to post the first part of one of my novels that I'd been working on for a while. But I didn't really get anyone interested in reading that. Maybe because of my writing, maybe because I don't feel like there were as many readers on Figment as there were writers.
Anyway, the site shut down and I wasn't going to post online again until I heard of Wattpad. I got the sense that there were more readers there and once again that it might be a good place to get eyes on my work and feedback for it so I could continue to improve. I have wanted to be an author since I was twelve and that has been my secret dream since then. I am in my thirties now and still haven't made it and that will become relevant soon.
Once again, I mostly posted my fan fictions because I couldn't publish them anyway and it would be a good way to get eyeballs on the things that I am working on. I put a short story up, but I don't think anyone really read that, and I've since taken it down. The reason that I've taken it down is because I know that my work posted here is being used without my consent to train AI. Some of those AI are then also being sold for money. Money I am never seeing and credit I am not receiving for the work I did in my writing. That means people are profiting off of my work and other people's intellectual property without having to pay anything in royalties or compensation.
While I thought about deleting my account entirely, I realized that is very much a knee jerk reaction and the only people I would really be hurting are my fans, who I love and cherish more than you could imagine. It is because of my readers and my fans that I have held out hope that I may still one day achieve my dream. It is because of my innate desire to write and the validation I've received from simply having fans and reading their wonderful messages of encouragement that I have fought through the hell of trauma therapy to try to get myself to a better mental state so I can write more for you and eventually achieve my dream. It is because of you that I have been able to endure some of the difficulties of my family life and home.
I had hoped that people would have gotten to the point that they knew better than to steal other's work. I mean they go over things like this in every ethics class I've ever attended and most English classes (plagiarism, *cough, cough*) yet somehow there are still people willing to start a business and steal the work of thousands of artists and not even bat an eye. I mean, when your response is, "Well you can't prove it," I want to throw up on you. You know what you did, you know what you're doing and even when it's pointed out to you, you don't care.
Again, I feel the worst for the fans because they are the ones who will suffer for this. I'm sure I'm not the only artist who is jaded by this, I'm sure I'm not the only person who is wondering if it's even worth it to continue to try to create because if AI is going to steal whatever I create, what's the point? But I believe that somehow things will be better. Somehow this will all get sorted out. I will finish Raised Reaper because I want to, and I hope my fans can be patient with me trying to make my life work as well as following my passion.
That is why I've decided to start a Patreon. I didn't for a long time because I didn't know what I could offer my fans, but I do want to try to make this work. So, if you can donate, I will be eternally grateful. Don't force yourself, and don't put yourself in a difficult financial situation for me, but if you can and you want to, I thank you!
-To all my lovely fans! I couldn't have got this far without you. <3 <3 <3
Another video related to the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xJCzKdPyCo
My Patreon:
https://patreon.com/ChristineStuart?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink
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