AI USE STATEMENT
My position on AI in creative work
We're living in a strange time for both people and AI. On one side, there's justified frustration from artists whose work has been used to train models without consent or compensation. On the other, there are some who believe AI will replace everyone and that prompting is the same as creating from scratch. I don't agree with either extreme.
I use AI as an extension of my creativity, not as a replacement for it. In areas that were harder for me to create, such as music and digital art, I see myself more as an idea person and creative director than as a musician or visual artist. I accept creating images without being an artist and creating music without being a musician — but I will be transparent about it and offer people this information so they can opt-out of consuming AI generated content. I believe that's the minimum anyone using AI for creative work should do: be honest about what's human and what's not.
The only field where I personally don't feel I need to use any AI involvement is writing. That's an art I've practiced and mastered on my own since I was very young. Music? I couldn't have a band due to my autism (social impairments, sensory processing issues), and I struggle with instruments due to DCD (developmental coordination disorder) — so I know how to play several, but too imperfectly to do it professionally. Drawing? I've never been able to draw because of motor coordination issues, and I've tried many times. But writing? That's mine. If I had full mastery over every stage of every other creative process as well, maybe I wouldn't use AI at all — or only would use it eventually to save time.
I believe AI alone cannot reach the same level of complexity as human creation. It lacks lived experience, genuine emotions (at least for now) — things that cannot be statistically estimated from static patterns. For example, I once fed hundreds of my own poems into AI and asked it to write a bunch of them in my style. The results came out looking like they were mine, but nevertheless, soulless, visibly lacking experience and real feelings. How can you write about suffering without experiencing what it is to suffer? This makes it challenging to create music and art that speaks what I'm feeling through AI, but nevertheless, with some experience and craft, I've managed to get close.
On regulation, I believe in: fair compensation for artists whose work trains AI models; ethical transparency about AI use; government regulation to protect jobs and prevent economic collapse; and stopping the concentration of power and obscene profit margins in the hands of a few corporations.
The risks of unregulated AI are real: mass unemployment, concentration of power, disinformation, and the burial of genuine human creation under mountains of AI slop.
Am I optimistic or pessimistic about AI? Both. AI brings real benefits, but its deployment by governments and corporations has been insufficient, often irresponsible, with regulation either absent or arriving far too late.
I have no problem with my work — whether AI-assisted or not — being used to train future models. But I understand those who do, and I believe their rights should be protected. I believe AI became and will remain part of our lives for the foreseeable future, but we need to guarantee it will be here ethically, for our benefit and well-being, to assist and improve, and not to harm.