I created all the work on this site without the use of generative AI.
Many items on this site are reformatted and modified for presentation by computer programs that I wrote, and the site itself is built by programs that organize the images, convert between formats, package them for download, etc. These programs were "hand written" by me and did not use generative AI tools. Look, I'm a programmer by trade. I use computers much of my waking time. I'm not necessarily anti-tech. I even find writing algorithms for art designs interesting, as you can see from some postings/sites linked from my main blog at fogbound.net.
But let's talk about generative AI (the tech behind ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, etc.). These products have been trained on the wealth of human achievement, often without the consent of the original creators, and can generate endless permutations and combinations of that work. Is some of it impressive? Absolutely. Does it "democratize" art? Not really. Even if it can simulate the appearance, it lacks humanity.
I believe that the act of creating art is perhaps even more important to being human than appreciating art.
This means imperfection, errors, and process matter. The idea of art as a commodity is largely antithetical to the experience of creating art. Please don't misunderstand me -- this doesn't mean I'm against people selling art or creating art for money. Artists put their experience and humanity into their work. There is context surrounding everything an artist does, subtle, perhaps, but tied into the experience of being human. Generative AI can imitate this, but it cannot actually achieve it.
The real point of the vast AI infrastructure and investments is to allow billionaires to transfer even more wealth away from skilled workers. It's beyond class war. It's an attempt to recreate society without pesky humans in the loop between oligarchs and their desires. Art, literature, music, and the joy of creation are just collateral damage in this war.
I know I'm helpless to prevent it, but I do not grant permission for any of this work to be used for training AI.