[Life] Blaugust – and AI

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.