This post might be a bit of a rambling mess, I’m trying to string a bunch of thoughts together and it’s hard for me to make sense of it all in my mind as it is,
I don’t know all of the ins and outs about the drama that’s going on re: Blaugust and AI. I’ve stayed out of it and away from it because it (the discord) always started to come across as a club where people were judged for their methods – and as much as I AM against AI (and don’t let this post fool you, I am not a fan of it in any way) I am even less of a fan of telling people what to do with their personal space on the internet – especially when it comes to a made up event that is supposed to be inspirational and motivational and boost people up, not tear them down.
I’m not OK with judging people for their use of AI in their own spaces. I do not think they need to be disqualified for a fictional event where no money or ‘prize’ is on the line except our own personal back pats. If someone writes something interesting it will get read, and if it’s not interesting, it won’t. If you want to take a personal stance against reading or not reading articles that are written by AI then I think that is absolutely viable and I fully respect that – but I do not think we need to focus on the negative and judge people. Maybe after making 5 AI written posts they give it a try and decide they love it, and then they continue writing themselves. Wouldn’t that be great? That will never happen if we just say “NO AI!” right at the gates. The community has already spoken and excluded those people.
What I’d like to see is people taking those perceived negatives and turning them into positives. Being supportive, educating, and being friendly to one another. Why am I against AI? Well that’s simple, I’m an artist and I think people deserve to be fairly compensated. I’m a fan of living on this planet, and I want the environment to prosper. These are my own personal views and morals and it would not be fair of me to judge others by those same views. Do I wish people did the right thing? Of course, absolutely – but at the end of the day, I am in charge of *me* doing the right thing, and that is it. So yes, I can be against the use of AI, and also against the idea of ‘banning’ people from participating if they use AI. We are not better or worse than one another. Blaugust is not a creative writing project. That might be one facet, it might be what it is for you – but it has been about inspiration, motivation, and community, more than anything else. I think it would be better to just leave it open to anyone who wants to participate, in whatever method they choose to participate, and then if YOU want to read their stuff, do it, and if you do not – then don’t. We need to pay more care and attention to what we are personally doing and less care and attention to what random Joe is doing. If anything, hold accountable the huge rich companies passing the buck around – and not your fellow down in the trenches, because that is not where the blame lays.
A Pixel Nomad 
I could write a huge screed as I did on Tipa’s post about this matter. But I won’t. I’m too tired.
What I see is a lot of people arguing, cogently but also tangentially to the main point. Good points are being made but ultimately, it is dragging the long term positive of benefits of Blaugust down.
It is also causing a great deal of ill feeling among people who should be friends and allies.
I find this saddening.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this years event now folds.
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I’d just mention, as I did on Tipa’s post, that as far as I know, you can participate in Blaugust using AI as much as you like. I’m going to use as much or as little as I always do and I rarely go a whole month without at least one post about AI, which will then feature some AI generated examples.
It’s only in respect of the awards that it matters and as Peiroka pointed out, if anyone’s that fussed about getting the awards, all you have to do is post one word and it counts as a post for the purposes of the tally. You could just post the date each day and you’d qualify for the 31 days of posting achievement. The guidelines are only there because a lot of people got unhappy about it last time and it seemed like some clarity might be helpful but apparently not…
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There is a paragraph at the start of signing up that says you shouldn’t submit it as Blaugust content if you’re using AI, and that’s the part that I disagree with. It mentions both for rewards, and as Blaugust content at all.
“Use of AI as a Blaugust Participant
Blaugust celebrates human creativity, personal expression and the shared experience of making and publishing something of your own. Participants are welcome to use AI tools for assistance, but the substantive creative contribution to a Blaugust post must come from the participant.
Posts that are wholly or substantially generated by AI should not be submitted as Blaugust content or counted towards Blaugust awards. This includes supplying an AI system with a prompt, notes or bullet points and asking it to produce, substantially rewrite or expand them into a finished post. Lightly editing an AI-generated article does not make it human-written.
A simple rule of thumb is – AI may assist your creative work, but it should not replace your creative contribution.“
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Yes, that’s true. I tend to overlook that part. It also goes on to say “content that clearly conflicts with this guidance may be excluded from Blaugust listings or awards“, which suggests a degree of inclusion/exclusion I don’t entirely understand, let alone accept.
If you don’t care about the rewards and you say you’re “doing Blaugust”, I don’t see you have to sign up in the first place. I did it my first year without signing up and most years since I’ve followed a couple of people who were “doing Blaugust” without filling in the form. I know two bloggers who’ve already said they’re going to do that this year, and that was before any of the AI fuss blew up. I think we’re all starting to get bogged down in the idea of Blaugust being something that has to be centrally organised and quantified, when really it’s just a month when, by tradition, a lot of people do more blogging than perhaps they normally would and everyone talks about it.
Basically, if you say you’re doing Blaugust, you’re doing Blaugust and that’s all there is to it… unless you actually want someone to give you an award. And since the awards are just freely downloadable images, no-one even has to give it to you. If you think you’re entitled to one you can just take it. But then, I’ve always been slightly uncomfortable about there being awards in the first place…
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