Absent Integrity

The world today has got me in thoughtful mode. There's a lot not to like and I do feel like we are bombarded with what is wrong rather than what is right, probably because the "wrong" stuff is so much more potent and jaw-dropping than the "right".

However, I'm not here to write a political diatribe or a "woe is me" type article. I want to talk about AI, part of the new fakery.

Artificial Intelligence.

Seen as one of the things that is "wrong".

No! Don't go! Hear me out! I know that this is the thing on this platform at the moment but as with all things that piss us off, I think that it's good to talk about them, make sense of them, find a way to deal with them - because unfortunately, I don't think it's going to go away.

Actually, I don't have a problem with AI

You know, I say, unfortunately but I don't really have a problem with AI. As with all technological advances, I can see the merit of it. We humans do like to make our lives easier, don't we? I can remember the first time I used GPS. What a revelation that was! Bloody marvellous! Paper maps? Who needs maps! Out the window with those! All to save us time. (But where does that time made disappear to? That's what I want to know but that's a discussion for another, ahem, time.)

And now, AI. It is a wondrous thing, this putting an idea into something and having it conjure up your vision for you without any of the effort. It's like magic without the flourish of a wand or the wearing of a pointy hat and robe.

The first time I used an image generator, I loved the process and the results that Nightcafé produced. It really was a revelation and I will continue to use AI to generate pictures to complement my stories as long as Unsplash doesn't have anything suitable.

More importantly, what I will do too is attribute it as an AI image made by me using Nightcafé because I believe in showing integrity in any artistic endeavour and I don't have a problem with holding my hands up and saying "I used AI here, people!"

Is AI the problem here?

However, there are others who use Vocal and, I dare say, other platforms who don't attribute AI on their creations and I have to admit, readers, this pisses me off.

Not the using of the AI but the lack of admitting to the using of the AI.

Yes, it is not AI that is the problem: it is the humans deploying it.

When I read a piece, I can generally detect when AI has been used. There's just something about the tone of it that makes it read in a soulless, perfunctory way that leaves me with no flavour - a bit like eating a piece of cardboard. You're chewing, you're chewing but, ugh, there's just nothing there. Bleugh! I'm guessing here about the taste. Cardboard? Not generally in my diet.

AI generated pieces feel contrived. There's something about the cadence of them that's off, in the syntax...it's different. I can also tell when people use it in their comments. Ah, they might drop in a sentence to make it seem a little more personable, that there's a personality behind it, but it reads insincerely to me, like the essence of my article/story/whatever has been put into a generator with the instruction to summarise and then whatever AI has chosen to say about it is then plonked in the comment box and tada! A ready made comment is there without any of the effort of trying to engage with the text.

I wrote about it here in this recent drabble:

I wrote the above piece off the back of challenging someone on this platform about whether they used AI in their comments. I was polite but direct. They denied it. I told them why I thought they were probably not telling me the truth although did not call them out directly - I pointed out the evidence as I saw it from the tone, their syntax, etc. They defended themselves and then deleted all of the comments they had made in the thread including the original one and unsubscribed from me.

Gutted.

They use AI. I have no doubt about that. In their comments, for sure.

However, they also use it in their work and would you believe never attribute it?

And they are not alone in this.

This, my friends, is my point.

Why?

Why don't they attribute AI, users of AI?

Why don't users of AI generated material tell us readers that their writing has been generated rather than persevered over and tweaked and crafted?

Well, it's precisely for that reason, isn't it? Like a charlatan peddling his "Miracle Tonic" at a travelling fair, they don't want us to know what the content is or how it's been made because it's in the not-knowing that the hoodwinking can take place.

And this is what I hate. Strong word but it's true. It really irks me that people peddle this "written" fakery without the integrity to put their hands up and add the label provided, which is part of the terms and conditions of this website (as I understand it), and pass off their stories as their own true creations.

I HATE it.

Artistic integrity is important

Integrity? Whatever happened to that? Because it's in short supply and never has that been made more apparent than in the "Creators" on this platform that hide that they use AI.

Shame on you. Shame on you for being so lacking. Shame on you for presenting your stuff without being transparent.

What I find particularly irritating about this is when I see plaudits being delivered to those who use this without admitting to it. This leaves a very, very sour taste in my mouth. It's not from the grapes. It's annoyance, injustice, disappointment - all very strong flavours that when sent to the gut percolate and mix to make anger.

You've just been conned.

I'm not an angry person but I don't like to be taken for a fool and as I've got older, I'm less frightened of confrontation. People need to be called out. Not rudely but challenging bullshit should be done where possible.

So. Know this, unattributed AI users: I will call you out in the comments and if I read your work and think that you use AI, I will put your work in a checker to validate my suspicions and I will report it. I might not tell you but I'll do it.

This isn't a witchhunt. I'm not going looking for it. But if my AI-dar goes off, I will report you.

My reasoning? You want to use it? Fine. But don't bullshit by pretending you haven't. This world is full of bullshit at the moment and we're drowning in it.

I'm going to be the flower that feeds off it. I may not be able to get rid of it totally but you want to keep it coming, then I'm going to use it to my benefit. I will be the bloom that rises from it wherever it lands to indicate where it is. That's right - I'm going to feed off it.

Because integrity is important and not just in writing but in everything and if I can promote it in my small corner, then that's what I'm going to do.

And with all that said, here's a motto for life if ever there was one and I'm off to get the motivational posters printed now:

Be the flower, not the shit.