 Fantasy: August 14, 2024 Issue [#12680] |
This week: Nothing Artificial Here Edited by: NaNoNette  
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“You have to talk about ‘The Terminator’ if you’re talking about artificial intelligence. I actually think that that’s way off. I don’t think that an artificially intelligent system that has superhuman intelligence will be violent. I do think that it will disrupt our culture.” ~ Gray Scott
“Before we work on artificial intelligence why don’t we do something about natural stupidity?” ~ Steve Polyak |
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Nothing Artificial Here
Fantasy. Not everyone considers themselves to be interested in it. In reality, everyone who is a creator of any kind uses her/his/their imagination to create something fantastical. Because, by definition, fiction is that which is not real. Like fantasy.
In recent months, the debate about artificial intelligence "creating" stories and fiction has raged on. There are those who have chosen defeat right away. Stephen King is among them. ""A Certain Dreadful Fascination""
There are those who hate the mere thought of artificial intelligence touching anything creative whatsoever.
Personally, I don't find it offensive if someone uses artificial intelligence to grammar or spellcheck a human-written text. Automated editing software is not new and it's never been a problem. The argument that using it infringes on learning success is not fully realistic. I know that I learned a lot from automated editing software because I used it consciously, took my time to investigate the rules, and also felt free to override the software when it was wrong or the "correct" version obscured or erased what I tried to say.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion about artificial intelligence and is probably right somewhere on the spectrum of right versus wrong. With some being closer to right and others closer to wrong. Or all the way wrong.
One thing that is definitely wrong without any sliding scale is abusing others over the use of artificial intelligence.
The worst kind of abuse is to accuse someone of having used artificial intelligence publicly without asking the writer or reviewer personally first. Most of us work very hard on every bit of writing we produce. Whether fiction, non-fiction, newsfeed post, review, or poetry. If you read a piece and think it was written by AI, stop. Send the writer an email with a copy of the part that looks artificial to you. Be polite and be willing to be wrong.
In that same vein: do not compare a writer's text to that generated by artificial intelligence. If you think a text is bland or lacking in any way, tell the writer what you think is wrong with it and how you would fix it. Don't ever tell someone their writing is "like artificial intelligence wrote it." That is hugely insulting and too close to accusing someone of misrepresenting their writing. It's not just your opinion. It's impossible to have that opinion because artificially generated text is not one single tome that you can reference.
The other kind of abuse is to use artificial intelligence to generate content and pass it off as one's own creation. That's really a huge breach of trust here on Writing.Com where we spend a lot of time and effort helping each other to come up with stories, plot lines, believable characters, newly invented fantasy creatures, and more.
If you choose to use artificial intelligence (and I am not talking about an automated spellchecker that is part of every browser and word processing software), make sure to put a large font disclaimer at the top of your story. Explain in detail which system you used and what you did. There might be some curiosity for others to see what certain keywords or phrases yield from the robots. At the same time, don't be surprised if you get views but no reviews.
As a human, unicorn, troll, orc, fairy, or other real living thing capable of telling stories, make sure that artificial intelligence doesn't put a wedge between you and your fellow beings.
Have you been accused of using AI when you didn't? Have you accused others of using AI?
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Replies to my last Fantasy newsletter "Non-Human Characters" that asked Have you ever invented a new species from scratch?
s  wrote: I have made up creatures from scratch, even with intelligence. However, too many fantasy and sci-fi creatures are just humans with bits added. They think, act, react and everything else like a human. It is very hard to find those that have real differences. It gets to a point where you ask yourself, 'Why not just use humans, then?' Harrison did it well in the 'West Of Eden' trilogy, where the yilane do not even use language like the humans, and have a very different midset about things. On the other hand, all the intelligent creatures in the 'Star Wars' and 'Star Trek' universes (maybe except the hivemind borg... but I have dealt with fandoms like that, so...) are just humans with slightly different appearances. Sorry, but it does annoy me.
I think the problem with the creatures that were conceived for movies or TV shows is that they predate Computer Generated Images, which means the directors were limited by puppetry and humans in costumes. That's in the past now, but of course a lot of those fictional races are now existing in our collective minds. They probably turned us into Borg. 
BIG BAD WOLF is Howling  wrote: As someone who writes fantasy and sci-fi, the first thing to figure out is a name, followed by the looks. After that, figure out what they are like. Sometimes, it helps to "borrow" from existing literature/ mythology/ or real creatures, and then alter the creature to make it fit the story you are making.
That's an efficient approach. I usually can't think of a name and all my creatures are Bob, Mike, Steve until way later.
NaNotatoGo!  wrote: Dude! I think this year I might try and character build a non human character for my story. "Mee-sa promise not to make big talk like gun-gan. Meesa thinking." Sorry, could've resisted but chose not to.
Maybe I'll use these tips to finish building my fictional thing Tauroid World.
Jar-Jar should-a not exist-a. |
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