If you like this writing and want to support it become a member. Members get all my book notes.

AI Issues for Creators

So Arc search was released recently and it seems to be like much of AI, not good for creators.

All these AI tools that summarise websites steal traffic from the source. Sure, Arc Search credits where it got its content from, but let‘s be honest: who clicks through when they got all the information in a summary? – On Arc Search

This does create a dilemma for many creators as their work is “summarized” by AI companies that insist they can only survive if they do not pay for content and get to scrape it for free. Let’s be clear, few of us are The New York Times and can sue OpenAI to pay for the data they took without permission.

My site lives on memberships, so every time someone doesn’t click through to read what I’ve written that’s a possible member that I don’t get to engage with. While I have another job and source of income, if I don’t have members I will have less time to spend writing and reading to provide book notes for members.

I feel like the galling part is that OpenAI took content from the web which they say they need for free, but they want to charge everyone on the web for a product that would not exist without the data the web provided.

Oh let’s not forget that all AI image generators are powered by child sexual abuse material and there is no way to fix AI models once they’re trained on bad data.

Platforms Aren’t Forever Homes

Mike wrote a good piece on personal bloggging. I remember a social network called Blellow that was a big thing for a bit. Twitter was huge, as was GeoCities and MySpace. Remember when Substack didn’t love Nazi’s and openly support them?

The only platform that you can control and keep around is a site you own. If you want a space online, make sure you own it and control it.

Don’t get Smug About Your Reading

We are not one-percenters, those of us who read a lot. We’re just readers. We don’t need to be set apart by the language of capitalism, described using the language of the ultra-wealthy, as if books make you a billionaire. – Reactor Mag

I like this look at reading. It’s far to easy to feel superior about your reading and society encourages us to find reasons we are better than our fellow humans.

Years ago I had someone annoyed that I counted reading comic books and graphic novels in my list of books read for the year. They were even a bit reluctant to include authors like Tom Clancy as a book that should be included in a reading list.

I say, read what you want. If you like comics read them. If you have the desire to read romance, or “dude” books like Tom Clancy or Lee Child…enjoy it proudly. As my friend Matt often says, there is nothing wrong with simply liking something and you need no excuse to like it.