AI Policy
Generative AI is a new tool that artists and writers have been integrating into the creative process. While I have concerns and hesitations, I view this as just another tool to be used for creative purposes. At the moment, most people don’t have a good feel for how to use it ethically or successfully, including me, so I’m always trying to learn about the subject.
The Basic Policy
All of the writing on this site will be done by me. I do not use generative AI for writing.
I do use AI generated images and music, but they will always be clearly marked. Any art that is not marked as AI is created by a human. The covers and promotional images are designed and created by Anna Spies at AtraLuna Design. Profile pictures and everything on the Digital Art page are designed and created by me, Anne Winchell.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me! I’m always open to hearing what other people think about using AI, and I’m open to adjusting my policy as I learn more.
AI Writing and Large Language Models
When it comes to writing, AI like ChatGPT can write a decent essay, but knowing how Large Language Models work really reveals their limitations. Vivian Sayan does a great job explaining generative AI in this post on AI and Worldbuilding, especially the explanation of how it works. At the moment, AI just can’t match human creativity. However, it can complete basic tasks quite well.
This impacts me in two ways. First, in terms of my teaching, I’m dealing with an influx of papers and assignments written by ChatGPT. This is an automatic fail from me, because my classes are writing classes and the purpose is to learn how to write, not how to get AI to write it for you. I also teach critical thinking, which can’t occur when AI does the thinking for you. So in my class, AI is unacceptable. However, there are classes where AI is perfectly fine and even desirable, such as a lot of coding classes. We need to learn how to teach AI so that students have a clear idea of when it is acceptable, and when it falls under plagiarism.
Since ChatGPT can now write a perfectly decent essay on basic subject, I believe it’s up to us as academics to shift what we’re looking for. It’s no longer enough to simply test whether student know the basic information. We need to focus on the human element. What is the student’s personal connection to the subject? What do they personally get out of it? What interests them? How can they as a person come out in the assignments? This is what we need to be focusing on, and I think education will have to make a drastic change if we want to continue to be relevant in a world where AI can easily write the types of basic essays so many classes rely on.
Generative AI is also an issue when it comes to the creative process. I have a lot of concerns using it for brainstorming, which are addressed in Vivian’s blogpost, because once you see ideas, many people tend to focus on those ideas and are unable to think outside of the box beyond the suggestions provided by AI. And the suggestions from AI will be, by the nature of its training, the most predictable, standard answers, with a few cases of bizarre answers due to the occasional random nature of LLMs and also the tendency of AI to hallucinate.
AI Art and Music
When it comes to art and music, I think AI can be fun to play with because it isn’t something that I’m then going to create. I don’t like working with writing with AI because I want to do it myself, but with art and music, I don’t plan on doing it myself. Well, in the case of art, I do create my own art, which you can see here, but I have limited abilities and a single style since I rely on DAZ Studio. When I want other styles, I would either have to hire an artist or use AI.
Image and lyrics by ChatGPT. Music by Suno. Arranged by Vivian Sayan.
I believe that if a piece of art is something that will be used for promotional purposes or as a canon image for the series, it should be created by a human artist, and probably one with more skills than me. However, if the art is just going to be used for fun and to give a loose impression of the characters or scenes, and as long as it’s clearly marked as AI, I believe that using generative AI is perfectly fine. I take this view with AI music as well. If I want to make an official version, I’ll absolutely hire humans. AI just isn’t good enough, and even when it is, I’ll want that human touch. But for now, for fun, I think using clearly marked AI images and music can be a fun and quick way to give an impression of the story.
AI Tools
I use a few different generative AIs for various purposes. AI is fun to play with, and it’s good to get used to it, because AI isn’t going away! It’s good to learn how to use it successfully now so that you’re ready to face the future.
ChatGPT is the first generative AI I was really aware of, and it exploded onto the scene. For many people, this was the first indication that a new type of AI was here. It sparked panic, fascination, and, of course, the unethical uses were highlighted. However, it’s now commonly used for all sorts of things.
Pros
- Great at identifying main points
- Great at summarizing texts
- And more!
Cons
- Makes up sources
- Not accurate with facts
- Speaks with an unwarranted authoritative tone
- And more!
I love Suno, a music generative AI. At the moment, there’s a glitch that makes the starts of songs abrupt and not great, but it’s still worth checking out.
There are a few ways to use Suno depending on if you want instrumental or lyrics, and if you want to write lyrics or have them generated. I use lyrics that either I write or ChatGPT writes. After the lyrics, you choose the genre, which can be extremely tricky. You give it a title, and you’re ready to create! Suno will give you two song starts that are the first 2 minutes of the song. Some songs are over in 2 minutes, and you can just download them at that point if you like them. However, most songs take more than 2 minutes, meaning it gets cut off. You might not like either start, in which case you can adjust the genre perhaps, or just try again.
If you like one of the song starts, you then determine a cut off point where you want to extend the song, basically stopping the existing song and generating a new section from that point. Make sure to update the lyrics to reflect what you want in the next section, and go! You’ll again get two options, but this time they’re only 1 minute long.
Some songs have to be extended multiple times, and sometimes the two options you get are terrible. You can choose a different cut off point to extend from, or just keep trying to generate a good one. It’s fun to play with, and I recommend trying it out!