Why AI Is Not For Me: Indie Publishing

I knew my stance on AI immediately, but it's not for the reasons you think. AI is not for me. I've seen this debate explode over this past year and I've, for the most part, kept quiet on the subject, but I feel now is the best time to break my silence. 

Most people who are against AI are accused of the following:

• Fear of new technology/ change
• Threatened by those who use AI in their writing/art/audiobook narration
• Not understanding the technology
• In denial that it's here to stay
• Delusions of moral superiority

None of these make up the basis for my decision here. 

Firstly, I don't think AI is a bad thing. It's not. I just don't think it belongs in the Arts. I also don't see it as a threat to my craft AT ALL. 

I can see the appeal. You can print out a new book every day, right? Can you imagine the money you'd save? 

Yes, I can. I spent thousands producing my books; editors, formatting, artists, graphic designers, voice actors, research, and ads promotions, not to mention my time, but let me ask you this, if AI writes your books, what's the point? 

"To make money, of course." 

It's hard for me not to laugh at this. If you've ever self-published a book before, you'll know that writing the book is the easy part. Once you hit publish, that book will sit at the bottom of the Amazon charts without a tiny ounce of success, EVEN IF IT'S AMAZING. (And I highly doubt anything coming out of AI is amazing at this point.)

The only way any book makes it anywhere is if the author, whose passion and love are poured into the project for hundreds of hours, promotes the heck out of it. 
How would you do that with a new book out every day? If you can't put in the time to write your own book, how are you going to believe in it enough to push it until it becomes successful? 

You don't. You won't. 

Side note: I've seen what happens to the Indie Authors who ONLY care about the money, they publish one flop and then start a class on how to publish where they scam people who don't know any better. 

Have I had a book flop? Of course. I have because to get better at something you have to try and fail at it first--but failure makes me want to try more, not less--it makes me want to work harder, not to find a shortcut. 

"Well, it's hard to write a book. AI makes it so much easier."

Maybe, but it also doesn't make you a writer, does it? You climb a mountain, get to the top, and then enjoy the view. That view means something. 
You can't google a picture of Mount Everest and then start telling people how you climbed it and the view was amazing.
Yes, writing a book is hard, but that's what I like about it. It's challenging. You have to practically lose your mind to it. You have to sit inside your own head and hallucinate in great detail for months with no guarantee of a payout at the end. It's solitude. It's insanity. It's art for art's sake. And it breathes life into you. If you don't feel that way about it, go find your real passion in life and do that instead. 

"I only use it when I need ideas or I get stuck."

Then you miss out on what it feels like to be laying in the bathtub, your characters in a heated debate in your head when suddenly one of them tells you exactly how to move forward. 
Sometimes I just sit with the question, what is the most interesting thing that could happen right now, and it takes weeks to come to me, but when it does, I feel alive.

"What about the Digital Art? What about the Voice Acting? Not everyone can afford to hire someone." 

Then don't publish. I'm serious. I think you should wait until you can hire an editor, hire an artist, hire a graphic designer, or hire a voice actor because, without money to promote it, it's not going anywhere anyway. Why not hold onto it until you can launch it the way it deserves? 

Moral ambiguity aside, there's something uncanny valley about AI-produced writing, voice acting, and art. It's... unsettling. Unintentionally creepy and off-putting. It's soulless. 

There's something beautifully human about our quirks and our flaws, about your own unique voice, your crutch phrases, your way of thinking, your way out of a block, your brush strokes, that makes you uniquely you. That's what readers and listeners connect with. 

The people who are going to use AI are going to use it. I'm not trying to sway anyone away from their own decision, but this is mine. 

I may not be able to write more than one book per year but when you read it, you'll share part of my soul. 

I've been surprised to watch some of the creators I admire embrace AI and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed, but at the end of the day, all I can do is focus on my own art and continue to write for the same reasons I did when I scribbled my stories in my notebook and never read them to anyone. 

I don't claim to be a great writer, I write angsty teenage guilty pleasures, but that isn't the point. AI robs the artist of the real pleasures of the craft. I love writing. I love publishing. I love the collaboration with other artists. It's hard. It's expensive. It's time-consuming. That is why it means something. That is what makes it special. 

Anyways, thank you for coming to my TED talk.