Year: 2023

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My Personal AI policy

Prompt: AI as a humanoid

I know some people are eager to throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to AI. And there are others who are just dying to see it take over the world (and maybe replace our incompetent politicians?)

I’m more about using AI as a tool, and I’ve used it several times for world-building. I haven’t used it for my book covers because it actually took longer to get an image just right than my current method.

Then I heard about the developers feeding the AI copyrighted images (bad move) and decided on a personal AI policy.

That was a month ago.

With all the work I had to do with my last short, I hadn’t had time to make one out and now that it’s published, here we are.

  1. No published work on Amazon will have any AI generated anything, unless you count ProWritingAid. This is where the lines get blurred, which is why I don’t understand the all-or-nothing stance against it. If you use a computer or use social media, you are using a form of passive AI that’s been around for ages. Doubly so if you use any form of a grammar editor (Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, Grammarly, ProWritingAid, etc). I can get more into that another day.
  2. If I use AI images for any blog post, it will either have a watermark or I will put the origin in the caption.
  3. If I use AI for text, it will be in a quote format attributed to the original site or a screenshot and the attribution in the image or the Caption
  4. If I use AI in social media, I will also say the origin in the post.

Like everything online, social norms will develop. That is until the fearmonger have their way.

prompt: A bunch of crabs in a pot pulling each other down
Via https://labs.openai.com/ (a.k.a. DALL-E)

How is it possible that we aren’t all still using horse and buggies?

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I screwed up

Elizabet instead of Elizabeth. Exactly how the Natisiens pronounce her name.

So I posted the hardcover, and I realized too late that I had somehow missed the “h” in Elizabeth. So the title is “Elizabet: Heritage Journey: A series Collection.”

Amazon won’t let me change it in KDP or Author Central. The only way I can change it is to unpublish it and try again.

After thinking if it’s worth the trouble, I realize that it might not necessarily be a bad thing. The Natisiens cannot pronounce the TH sound and I intentionally left it out in some of the Natisien’s dialogue.

Maybe that’s why I forgot to put it in. Yeah…. That’s it. That’s why.

See it here:
https://bit.ly/HerJouTra

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Busy. Maybe a little too Busy.

Woman on Laptop

The past few weeks have been crazy-busy, but what else is new? Since it was hot, I had to be out more often, making sure the chickens had water and stay cool.

And I’ve been organizing the kitchen more. It’s nice to not have to look for something to make myself a basic breakfast.

But as much as I haven’t been blogging, I haven’t been writing much, either. It’s partly a form of writer’s block, and life in general.

My husband’s schedule is changing, and it’s for the better, but it will take me a while before I develop a routine that works with it.

In the meantime, I have some drafts I started. I’ll be working on those, soon.

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Under Maintenance

MODx Backend

Not this site, but Zherosha.com is out for a day. It was late by the time I backed everything up and reinstalled the CMS. I need to sleep occasionally.

I should have it up and running sometime tomorrow.

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AI as a Tool

I write a fictional sci-fi story. The Aliens in this story use an energy source that involves Nuclear energy being infused into a crystal using "ingredient X." "Ingredient X" reacts to most radiation, either neutralizing it, or changing its properties to make it easy to infuse into quartz. The energy infused quartz, when powdered, can be manipulated with other types of energy, even made to change colors to produce images, etc. Explain the properties of "ingredient x" and how it works for the science fiction novel.

Yes, I used ChatGPT, this time to help with world building.

Zherosha is built around an energy source that’s created by using what the Inersiens call “stabilizer.” I wanted to see what chatGPT has to say about it, except I used “Ingredient X” instead.

(the chat: https://chat.openai.com/share/130667a6-669a-472d-83d5-5d520f3fc394)

While I still don’t think ChatGPT is a crappy writer, it’s not bad at helping foster ideas, which is what I’ve been using it for.

A few days ago, I needed to write a speech for the Provisional leader of the US in the new short story series. What kind of American speech it would be without mentioning the founding fathers?

Write a paragraph summary of the founding fathers of the US's vision

And I wrote this:

“I was never much for speeches, and I’m sure you’re all eager to go about your day, so I’ll make this short.” He said.  “The founding fathers had a vision based on the ideals of Enlightenment, brought on by a democratic system, and unhindered by a limited government. Unfortunately, their vision of the protection of natural rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness did not extend to women or certain classes of people. It was time to start fresh and become the America that was truly about equality and freedom.” A smattering of applause came from the room. “Regardless of how you handle your local government in this city, I ask that you consider voting for your representative. Each registered city or town can have one, and until the states settle their borders again.” Murmurs rose from the crowd. “Some former states want to change borders and…” He took a moment to look over the entire room. “It is possible that some states may not want to come back into the Union.” More harsh whispers continued until Ezekiel put up his hand. “I did say ‘may,’” he said. “The purpose of this trip is for me to educate my successor and share information, as well as persuade people to give the United States another chance.” Applause rose from the Auditorium. Ezekiel waited until it died down before continuing. “After your chairperson dismisses us, I would like to talk to the heads of the council.”

While I sort of understand why people are concerned about AI, but I believe if used properly, it can help do so much. Use it like a tool, like how we use robots for manufacturing, or cars instead of horses.

How many missed opportunities are due to fear?

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A quick change

I’ve had some trouble with the blog’s backend. So I had to change to an overly simple theme for now.

It’s frustrating, but after I publish “The Gathering” I’ll come back to this and fix it once and for all.

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From: The Gathering

“Elizabeth!” Patricia slid into the room and closed the door behind her. “There’s a council emergency meeting.”
“What kind of emergency?” I asked. “The one where I can go home, get dressed, pick up a coffee or the ‘Drop everything now!’ variety.”
“Closer to the last one.” Patricia brushed her freshly dyed hair over her shoulder. The iridescent rainbow colors glittered as the strands fell back into place. “The ‘not-president’ is going to make an announcement.”
“Well then,” I said and grabbed my bag. “Another day it is.”

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ChatGPT Ghostwriting

cthulhu is coming

After the last post, I had a thought. ChatGPT isn’t that great at coming up with a story, but what if you gave it an outline?

I wanted a story that had an open ending. Mostly I decided that anything I use AI for I’ll put it up for free (details, including link below).

So I used my CLOSAT game to come up with a writing prompt. Then I used ChatGPT to come up with two characters: The Main Character and a secondary one. As in the image above, it was Jaxon and his sister, Scarlett.

After I used a short story outline for a basic plot. It’s one of many plot outlines and this one is great for open-ended short stories.

Then I had some trouble with ChatGPT. As you can see, my saved chat history is missing. As (almost) predicted, the page crashed, and I wasn’t able to access this conversation. After a couple of days, I could finally access the history and continued the project.

It’s interesting to note, ChatGPT wrote exactly 1500 characters, cutting it off mid-sentence.

I put it in the Google doc anyway, for context.

 

The Result (click to see the Google Doc)

 

There’s no dialogue, and it’s certainly better than the last one, but again, it seems so generic. I prefer dialogue, even if there’s a little, because it humanizes the characters. This looks more like an expanded plot. Something some writer or movie maker can expand into a book. Since I used OpenAI’s ChatGPT to make the story, I’m giving it away for free. You don’t even have to give me credit, although I wouldn’t mind a review for Elizabeth: Heritage Journey.

—

Image created in Artbreeder Collage Maker

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Is this the Beginning of the End for Writers?

I’ve had ChatGPT play CLOSAT.

If you never heard of CLOSAT (acronym for Character, Location, Object (of contention) Situation (triggering) Action, Theme), it’s a game that could help encourage writing, especially if you are struggling to come up with any new ideas.

You can check out my first post on the game here.

A few days ago, I wanted to see what ChatGPT would come up with, feeding it the results of a CLOSAT draw.

You can read the result here.

I have to say… Eh.

The story is interesting, but it’s so generic, making me think that as writers, we are safe from losing our jobs, but not for long. The downside is that it’s a little more difficult to tell that a bot wrote it. If someone would have handed it to me with no context, I would have thought it was a writing assignment for school or writing class.

But that’s the problem. If I were to give it more details or guide it more, ChatGPT could be a ghostwriter. Imagine how much time one could save, but how ethical would it be?

What do you think?

Note about the document: Feel free to do as you please with it, but I would like a link back to this post. Even if you don’t, I’m not coming after you for it, but I trust you’ll do the right thing.

 

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That Took Long Enough

A snapshot of a laptop with the raw files of The Gathering and a YouTube video tiled on the screen

I finally finished the edits to “The Gathering.” My daughter is currently working on the cover, and I’m taking a couple of days off before rereading it to do another slew of minor edits before formatting it.

Remember when a week seemed like forever? We are already at the end of the first month of the year and I’ll only have “The Gathering” ready for publishing.

Fortunately, the followup stories are going to be less than 6,000 words. The goal will be to publish at least once a month.