By Lea Altea Winnen November 26th, 2024
It is a touchy subject for most artists, writers, and creators, the ease at which content can be created from prompts. In some ways, AI is a helpful tool for many and can be used to save time and money, but in the same way, it saves time and money, it takes these things away from human creators. I think to some degree we all wish AI was Rosie the Robot, like from the Jetsons. It’s doing your laundry and mopping the floor instead of creating books, artwork, etc, removing the creative process away from individuals. Still, it has become a centerpiece for many small business makers, and side hustlers, trying to improve their financial situation. AI can even be a tool for the creative mind to help build maps and bounce ideas around so that organic ideas can take shape. It is a mark of the modern world, and how to make it more efficient.
Of course, when companies and individuals see money signs, they want to jump on trying the new technology. Most people like the idea of getting more bang for their buck. They don’t realize (or don’t care) how it may impact others. That is the reality for any given situation, how what we are doing is impacting others. As for AI, it is the proverbial double-edged sword, but how is that impact going to be measured? Time is the catalyst we need to find out for sure.
As a creator of children’s books, I do worry about how this
will impact my financial future. I am
the writer and the illustrator of my stories. I have seen a lot of children’s
books being created using AI. I have seen
a writer who can’t afford an illustrator, using AI graphics as a budget-friendly
option, and I have seen the illustrator using AI to create written content to put
to their illustrations. Then you have
the people who may use both options in an attempt to infiltrate the market. This has created a saturation of the children’s
book market, due to all these variations.
I am a member of different organizations and Facebook groups
related to the making of children’s books.
I have seen a rise in the use of AI content creation of children’s stories
by many different individuals. I have
also seen bias against this rise and have noted the worried comments on many
posts within these groups. I am also
worried, to a degree about this rise in the use of AI to create and market children’s
books, but it's not just the creators who take a hit from this phenomenon. It is also the children themselves. How they see the world, and how they choose
to interact with that world, can be shaped by the content of the books they
read. Some of this content, when not sourced
and vetted properly, can give children the wrong impression of the world they
see around them. But again, we have to
understand how different advances have changed our world throughout history. It has changed how people live, work, love,
choose…It can change everything. AI is
just the newest cog in the wheel for humanity.
One may ask, “Is there a way to fight against this tide wave
of AI?” Only time can be the judge and
jury of this process. The pendulum that
is AI is swinging wildly at this moment in time. It needs time to become settled into a
recognizable pattern so that legal and ethical policies can be formed. In the meantime, we as creators and consumers
are going to experience massive changes in how we work, live, and choose within
this time frame.
So here we are on the edge of the wild west of AI with our
guns drawn and our backs exposed. We
need the materials to build our town and the track to lay down the lines for
easier transport of ideas. We need to
build a foundation of community, and ethical standards to live by. Many companies and people are trying to mine
the fertile ground hoping to strike gold.
Many don’t care how they get there, but the ones who do, will be the individuals
to build a measure of law and resources for the proper framework for the use
and distribution of AI. So, stay on your
horse my friends, we are in for a wild ride.
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