AI Slop and You

The other day, we were talking on the official Media Magpies Discord (a fun and happening place you can join by just giving us a buck or more a month on the Patreon) about AI tells. I suggested that perhaps you could have my writing tics when you pried them from my cold, dead hands. One of our other members posted a video about semicolons, and I felt called out by this needless attack. Nevertheless, it is true that some of my specific habits are now seen as AI tells, which is deeply frustrating. The em-dash is my beloved, and I refuse to surrender it just because some people might think that it proves I’m actually a bot.

Even before there was a site, we here at Media Magpies had a serious conversation about AI. And how we weren’t going to use it, and how anyone caught doing so was getting kicked out of the writers’ group and not letting them back. And I’ve actually had to explain the problem to someone I know, because frankly he works in STEM and he doesn’t truly get how hard it is out there for actual human writers. Multiple of our members have had their work stolen by bots scraping for training data, and it’s increasingly true that outlets would rather have a bot do something mindless than pay a human.

“Well, which is your problem?” said my friend. And the answer, of course, is both. I have this vague dream of making real money from my writing; I make about fifty bucks a month on my personal Patreon. The Magpies one makes well under that, basically enough to pay the bills but not enough to do more than that. But AI writing is everywhere, and of course my YouTuber acquaintances are dealing with their own AI slop rivals, because those videos are doing big business while the kind of intelligent, carefully researched stuff my friends do is not.

AI is a huge conversation in the entertainment industry right now. AI actors. AI musicians. AI writers. And the thing is, AI’s never going to drive Tom Hanks or Beyonce out of business. The bigger problem is that these things are putting a damper on finding the next Tom Hanks or Beyonce. There is currently no room for a new Roger Ebert in a lot of places, because they’re not hiring. They’re trusting AI to do the writing. And can AI produce the soaring heights or brutal takedowns of Roger and his great love of film?

I feel as though, if you’re here, you’re probably choir. You know. You understand. But it is a thing I worry about, because all of us do. There’s a definite unease about AI in the US; apparently the easiest thing to do in order to get people to stop using your product is to announce loudly that you’re involving AI. We’re seeing it screw up people’s work in coding and in law. Two of the regular livestreams I watch frequently involve laughing at horrific AI videos. Still, you have to worry—especially if you’re hoping to actually make money in the arts.