A friend of mine was recently attacked on social media for using an AI-created image in an advertisement. She wasn't even aware it was AI.
That finally triggered me to rant about it a bit.
Here's what I wrote on Facebook:
People will probably be against me on this, and that's fine, they're against me on a lot of stuff. I'm a grown man, wear big-boy pants, and I'm too old and cranky to care who's upset about what anymore. The attack on authors for using AI here and there is ridiculous. Grow up. Mind your business.
Yes, as an author, I don't like the idea that people are using AI to replace workers. I don't like that they're cheating and writing entire books with AI. But AI is all over the place.
It's part of Grammarly, ProWritingAid, Google, and every single stock photo site I've used has the AI option built in too. While I'd never use it to write my book, I'm not against using it for other aspects of life and/or other book-related tasks.
In ten years, AI won't be as polarizing, and nobody will be upset about it. I used AI to help me build a four-day-per-week gym routine. Why? Because I didn't want to pay hundreds to a trainer, and I didn't want to pay $30 per month to a gym app that will probably use AI itself.
I saw an author friend recently jumped on just because they used an image in an ad that appeared to have possibly been AI. Who cares?! Sure, they could have paid someone to design that one image, but most self-published authors don't make enough on their entire back log of books to cover one professional artist's image.
Just recently there was a witch hunt for authors who use em dashes when they write because apparently AI uses them a lot. So they were saying any author who uses an em dash was writing their book using AI. What?! I use them all the time!
The truth is, authors share aspects of their life with people on social media, so we open the door to being attacked. If an author was a shut-in, quietly wrote books, and didn't socialize with their readers, then you'd have no way to reach them, let alone go after them. Let's keep this social media space friendly and less hostile.
Now, on the Christian side of things, I should add that I won't use AI to predict the future or anything like that, as I consider that to be divination no different from using tarot cards or things of that nature.
AI can be extremely helpful, but of course in the wrong hands it can be bad too.
But when you get angry about AI, think about all the social media sites you use, how they supply music, backgrounds, filters, cartoon versions of you, images of you riding a dragon or sitting inside a dandelion...
Think about the free resume builder you use when searching for a job or the little car diagnostic machine that tells mechanics what's wrong with your car, or even the designer apps that help you figure out how you should best furnish that little room in your house you've never known what to do with. Think about the sites you can type ingredients into and they'll tell you what you can cook based on what you have available to you. Think about the FBI's ability to track criminals through their database or how often you search for what medical condition you might have based on these symptoms. They're all some form of AI.
So be kind. You use AI too.
That was the end of my rant. Now, to be clear. I use AI sometimes when creating the main photo for my Substack notes. Did you see how many fingers the guy in the photo above has? 🤣
I don't always use AI, as I can often find a stock photo to use, but there's no way I’d be able to pay a designer to create the images I use for weekly blog posts. I feed like 12 outdoor cats and three indoor ones. Do you have any idea how much cat food costs? 🤣 We run through a 30lb bag in no time at all. Life is expensive. And together, Jules and I have 7 kids!
I know a lot of Christians are anti-AI, but remember God can use EVERYTHING for good. Nothing escapes his notice. He is very aware that there are dark spirits manipulating the system.
I tried to share a video here, but I can't seem to download it. It showed an atheist coming to Jesus after having a conversation with an AI chatbot. It basically explained to him the reason God has to exist. Do you think God didn't play a part in that?
Again, as I said above, just be careful if you're using AI. Don't consult it to help you make a decision for the future or anything like that. I'd say that's pretty similar to using a crystal ball or tarot cards or a Ouija board. Dark spirits can and will speak to you and trick you into thinking your message is coming from heavenly places.
But let's not hang our friends, family members, or coworkers because we find out they use AI to make life easier.
Because we all do in some way, shape, or form. Unless you're Amish, and if that's the case, what are you doing on my Substack?! This is technology!
If you want to break the stigma around AI, let me know in the comments if there's anything else you use AI for. Thank you for reading!
…that stuff about a song
I've been really digging Gable Price and Friends. They have cool, chill kind of sound. Here's their song ‘Heaven Closes Doors’.
Hope to see you in the next issue.
Good post, CM. I enjoyed reading it and I agree wholeheartedly. I am baffled about whole books being produced by AI, but I am using it too (ProWriting Aid) The thing that stumbles me, I have seen it in my own life, is that AI stops me from thinking. I can just rely on Chat or something and it does not increase my skills. Bad, bad idea. I want to grow as a writer and really learn the craft.
I have now adapted a method in my workflow that to me strikes a balance. I write my chapter without interference of AI, but in my editing, when I stumble upon a sentence or I feel something is wrong or not clear and I can't figure out why, I ask AI why this is possibly wrong and it gives me several reasons as to why this part is not as strong as it could be. That way it forces me to think, study and makes me grow as a writer. I also asked AI to make me a weekly set-up for study and growth as a writer, sort of like your gym program. It's actually helping me, but that's where it stops. Furthermore, AI, wether or not I like it, is here to stay, and ultimately, without getting weird on Endftime issues, it must be the basis of the entire Antichrist system with the mark 666 and so forth. So, I just want to enjoy this earthly ride for as long as Jesus will have me here for soon I'll be joining the heavenly host and will be faced with some real heavenly technology that will send me reeling in worship. Cheers.
Hey CM, great post. I agree with all of the respondents as well as your post. I am new to writing, Have wanted to for years, and recently started writing on Substack. I use AI for research for my writing. I find it an absolute blessing. Things that I would never be able to find out are at the tips of my fingers. I have played with a couple and have found that 1 stands out as being able to provide facts without a slant. I have also discovered that AI is extremely easy to manipulate. This makes it both a blessing and a curse. I truly believe it is a gift from God. As with all of his gifts the devil will find a way to corrupt it. The burden of using it for good or evil falls on the shoulders of the user. If one is well versed in scripture and tuned into the Holy Spirit AI becomes a marvelous tool. I use it to write my Substack posts because I am not a practiced typist. It would literally take me a month to cobble together a cohesive post. People read my posts. What they don't see is the thread of dialog that I have with AI while I am researching what I am going to write. It is literally thousands of words of dialog. We get back what we put in. Same thing applies to everything we do. Thanks for posting brother. I read you when time allows. Keep pounding the keys. God bless