So, NaNoWriMo — the organization behind the official implementation of the challenge of National Novel Writing Month — has come out firmly on the side of generative AI. Further, they’ve gone and suggested that condemning generative AI is classist, ableist, and privileged.
I’ll keep this as short and sweet as I can —
The privileged viewpoint is the viewpoint in favor of generative AI. The intrusion of generative artificial intelligence into art and writing suits one group and one group only: the fucking tech companies that invented this pernicious, insidious shit. They very much want you to relinquish your power in creating art and telling stories to them and their software, none of which are essential or even useful in the process of telling stories or making art but that they really, really want you to believe are essential. It’s a lie, a scam, a con. Generative AI empowers not the artist, not the writer, but the tech industry. It steals content to remake content, graverobbing existing material to staple together its Frankensteinian idea of art and story. And in stealing the material, by making that theft and regurgitation easy and effortless — so easy and so effortless that the essential human component of creation is extracted entirely from the process! — it limits the quality and value of art, watering it all down and turning it all to a soylent slurry. A valueless soylent slurry, which means, conveniently, that companies can pay little to nothing for art and content going forward because they can either just hit a button to have it shit out its gross recombination of stolen material, or, realizing that the stolen material is garbage, they can just say, “Well, we’ll pay you less, because otherwise we’ll just hit this stupid button for free.” The privilege here is on the tech companies and on NaNoWriMo. Art is for humans. Story is for humans. They are its makers, they are its witnesses.
You can be sure if you give NaNoWriMo any of your material, they are going to be feeding it to the artbarf robots to become just more shitty artbarf.
Let them push buttons and have robots tell stories to feed to other robots.
We humans can all stay far the fuck away from it. We can gather around the campfire and tell our stories to each other. True no matter who we are. Though the industry is often unfair (and classist, and ableist, and privileged) the act of telling stories is universal, and has existed as long as we have. (I’m sure Homer would have something to say about all this.)
(Er, the ancient Greek, not the cartoon doofus.)
Anyway.
If you want some good news, it’s that NaNoWriMo and generative AI have one very important thing in common:
You don’t need either of them to tell a good story.
terribleminds says:
Worth noting here too the accusations of child grooming last year —
https://www.reddit.com/r/nanowrimo/comments/19dy3ho/no_more_nanowrimo/
September 2, 2024 — 3:10 PM
bradleyben says:
Thank goodness you mentioned this. I’ve read about these goings-on over the last year or two, and I expected all that to be the downfall of NaNoWriMo. The AI statement(s) is stupid and thoughtless, but I didn’t expect it to blow up like it has. I can only hope it sheds more light on the previous concerns, which really need to be brought to justice.
September 4, 2024 — 11:53 PM
conniejjasperson says:
The recent coup at NaNo HQ shit the bed in my opinion. I was an ML for 12 years, but after the shenanigans – no. No more.
September 2, 2024 — 3:15 PM
Penquillity says:
I hear you. I resigned my ML post of 13 years in 2020 because they were changing from hands-on to hands-out, promoting donations more than literary purposes.
September 2, 2024 — 6:49 PM
V Hartman DiSanto says:
Most NaNoWriMo participants are unaware of the shitstorm of last January through present. Yes, there was the child grooming accusations, but the reaction was to fire everyone, alienate all of the volunteer staff, make new rules and then 180 on them. After 22 years, I’m staying as far away from this organization as possible.
September 2, 2024 — 3:15 PM
Anna says:
Wow. NaNoWriMo just gets better every year doesn’t it.
September 2, 2024 — 9:51 PM
NicholasDavidBrandt says:
What would be the accomplishment of finishing a novel… if you didn’t write it?
The mind boggles.
September 2, 2024 — 3:15 PM
shaynehuxtable says:
Never used anything AI, never will. Never bothered with NaNoWriMo, never will. I write on a tower with no modem.
September 2, 2024 — 3:30 PM
vito says:
Chuck, I have not enough words to say how I agree with you.
September 2, 2024 — 3:38 PM
Sally says:
I just could never get beyond that stupid acronym… NaNoWriMo.
September 2, 2024 — 3:40 PM
Mary says:
Thank you for this, Chuck. I have read all your posts on AI and have learned a lot and become even more convinced to do all I can to avoid it. After reading this article, I deleted my NANOWRIMO account. I participated for years, and donated to them. I’m sorry about that, but no more!
September 2, 2024 — 3:44 PM
Heather says:
I did the the same. My NaNo account is deleted. I dont think there is anything to be sorry about 10 years ago they were a good supportive community. In the last few a lot has changed behind the scenes and out in the open that has driven them to the ground. This last year was apparently a catastrophic mess in NaNo HQ and here we are. Its okay to have once enjoyed something when it was good and walk away when it becomes bad.
September 3, 2024 — 11:27 AM
Laura says:
AMEN AMEN AMEN! I am battling this now with clients who do not understand what it is doing to language, people’s brains, communication, etc etc. One day when the power goes out, a group of employees will all be standing in the hall looking at one another…unable to form sentences or have original thoughts….because their AI pal is silent. Thank you for your comments, spot on. I don’t want a world where Yertle the Turtle has been reduced to how a computer would write it anymore than I want to read a website, brochure, business letter, manuscript, novel, poem, or movie from the same lifeless source.
September 2, 2024 — 3:45 PM
Rebecca M. Douglass says:
Looks like it’s time to go with my gut, which has been saying NaNo has lost its usefulness for me anyway. THe only thing I really like is the daily word count tracker (which is fun when I’m doing my word-barf first draft) and I think I can manage that without them. Certainly I disagree with their take on AI in art.
September 2, 2024 — 3:46 PM
Murphy says:
There are other trackers out there, people have been sharing them on social media! I like trackbear!
September 3, 2024 — 11:45 AM
almakatsu says:
I’ve not dealt with the NaNoWriMo overlords, but I am a tech futurist and have spent a lot of time on generative AI, and folks should be aware that OpenAI and their competitors are trying to make deals with content generators and creators, like Conde Nast and yes, even NaNiWriMo (which is comparatively, tiny), because they’ve got a big enough problem on their hands re: copyright infringement. The ore of the big dogs they can sign up & placate, the easier it will be to make the rest of us (Authors Guild) go away.
September 2, 2024 — 3:50 PM
Amy Ayres says:
Keep screaming it from the rooftops. They need to go away but they won’t if we keep looking the other way.
September 2, 2024 — 4:08 PM
Susan Gourley says:
Amen, amen.
September 2, 2024 — 4:11 PM
Archer says:
What did they get bought out by Elon Musk or something? JFC
September 2, 2024 — 6:21 PM
Rebecca Douglass says:
I think the NaNo statement on AI reflects a failure to distinguish between AI (which is everywhere, and is a label that could be applied to things like voice-to-text software) and *generative* AI, which is evil and unnecessary (and hell, isn’t that an unacceptable level of ignorance for the leadership of a huge non-profit dedicated to encouraging people to write?). Ultimately, the truth about NaNo is that the only thing I get out of it is a cool graph showing word count, which is kind of fun and helpful when I’m doing my word-barf approach to creating a first draft. But yeah, I’m done with them.
September 2, 2024 — 4:11 PM
TKS says:
Unfollowing. I’ve been a writer my whole life and I’ve also had MS since 1974. It makes it impossible for me to read sometimes. AI assistance tools allow me to maintain my writing life, one I’ve had for 50+ years. You want to condemn assistive AI for the visually impaired? You can kiss my ass. You use spellcheck? Hypocrite. Unfollowing. Go the fuk away, asswhole.
September 2, 2024 — 4:23 PM
Murphy says:
He rightly condemned genAI, not any of the things you’re fired up about.
September 3, 2024 — 11:47 AM
Amp says:
Tech giants call everything AI now because it muddies the waters in discussions about it. They /hope/ you will get pissed at people thinking they want to take useful tools away when that’s not the case at all. This article and other artists/writers condemn specifically generative AI – like chatGPT, midjourney and other slop machines. Those bring nothing useful to anyone but giant corporations, use stolen content to generate their stuff, and use up a ton of electricity while they’re at it.
September 4, 2024 — 1:36 PM
Emi says:
how the mighty nanowrimo hath fallen in mine eyes.
September 2, 2024 — 4:24 PM
Tim Gatewood says:
Thank you for saying this and saying it so well.
September 2, 2024 — 4:34 PM
laurieboris says:
Bravo. Holy cats. I’d been done with them for a while–one of my best novels came out of the word-barf I expelled a bunch of years ago–but I’m definitely not going back now.
September 2, 2024 — 5:17 PM
Ila in Maine says:
What, if anything, can consumers do to support authors who take the correct stance on this as you have?
It was with very deep regret that I stopped purchasing books from an author who decided to use AI to narrate their books, both their back catalog and, current books and offer them for sale.
This author was all about how much they would save, yet the pricing of the audiobooks was the same as their audiobooks where a living, breathing human had narrated them.
Will authors who feel the same way eventually have to band together and make an AI free publishing platform? Is this something authors, artists and narrators can afford to do?
September 2, 2024 — 5:39 PM
Anne Dougherty says:
Well…that seals it for me. NaNoWriMo is a useful framework for me. It forces me to write and to meet a word target. It gets me out of my head. But never again will I feed my first draft, no matter how shitty, into their word counting machine for the privilege of getting a winner graphic.
September 2, 2024 — 5:41 PM
Penquillity says:
Before this AI shit came into prominence, NaNoWriMo really didn’t care what anyone wrote, only that: 1) people spread the word; 2) people donated to the cause; and, 3) people bought their merchandise. Oh sure, the word count mattered. Sort of. All work and no play make Jack a good boy. Type that over and over until you reach 50,000 words or end up frozen in a maze.
I feel sorry for NaNoWriMo. They lost sight of their original purpose: to encourage writers to write.
Jeannie Leighton
September 2, 2024 — 6:45 PM
benpanced says:
I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt during the grooming episode but with each declaration of True Transparency™, they became more opaque. I was questioning my intent on participating this year; this told me everything I need to make up my mind. Hasty winnebago, NaNo. It was a great 19 years whilst it lasted.
September 2, 2024 — 6:52 PM
deb L says:
AI and NaNobano can boff each other in the dirt.
I’ll pass. I’ve long subscribed to the campfire notion. Bring me a bag of apples, or some eggs. Here’s your spot on the log. Nothing to bring? Do you play a fiddle or guitar? No? Nevermind. Hush now. The story starts when we see the first star.
September 2, 2024 — 7:48 PM
Jacey Bedford says:
Yes, I’ve just written a blog post on this, too. Their reasoning for allowing AI is utterly bonkers.
September 2, 2024 — 7:51 PM
Thomas McKelvey Cleaver says:
Fucking pPeople who use words like “classist” and “ableist” are fucking morons to begin with. Fuck their fucking Bourgois Bolshievik asses and the fucking horse they rode in on. I’ll bet not one of them is a published writer.
September 2, 2024 — 10:21 PM
Del Howison says:
Preach it! I agree wholeheartedly
September 2, 2024 — 11:33 PM
Del Howison says:
Preach it. I agree wholeheartedly that their half-assed stance is reason to not be connected to them
September 2, 2024 — 11:36 PM
awordfromsolo says:
I participated in NANO for 12 years or so, and enjoyed the challenge of writing, not a novel, but certainly the bones, ideas, and sometimes the first half of a novel, in thirty days. It made me realise how much I COULD write in a given time, and I did learn to become more disciplined in my approach to writing time.
But that was then . . . I find it sad that NaNo will be allowing – nay, supporting, even encouraging, by the sound of it, the use of AI.
Adios, amigos, I’ll be setting my own goals from now on.
September 3, 2024 — 1:39 AM
Judith says:
Wow! Really shocked that something I thought was all about encouraging creativity has fallen into the AI hole
September 3, 2024 — 2:28 AM
Cassandra says:
Worth noting that NaNo is sponsored by Prowritingaid, who recently introduced their chatbot, Sparks. That’s why they support it: they’re sellouts.
September 3, 2024 — 6:05 AM
Evelyn Marentette says:
Thank you for that! Otherwise, I would have joined NaNoWriMo again this year! I’m done with them.
September 3, 2024 — 8:11 AM
Bex says:
Thank you. I read into this as I was setting up to plan an outline for Nanowrimo this year. Safe to say I will not be joining. Perhaps in lieu of a protest; can you run a creative story contest? a writing inspired protest of sorts.
September 3, 2024 — 12:04 PM
Michelle says:
I’m not surprised that the same people who think you can tell a cogent novel-length story in one month also think soulless software can do it. Was never a fan of these people.
September 3, 2024 — 12:26 PM
Eva says:
This is probably a REALLY stupid question–I used an AI program to help me organize an outline (played around with Sudowrite, and chaptGPT). I’ve been “working” (thinking about, mostly, about 33K words in) on a novel for a longer time than I want to admit. Because of that, I get lost in where I left off. Granted, the outline was relatively stupid BUT it helped to give me some organization/guideline to revamp my own outline. I’m typically more pantser than planner, but pantsing is harder as the piece gets longer (for me, anyway).
Is there SOME value in some of the AI tools? With sudowrite, I fed it a few paragraphs to see what it would spit out. I felt MUCH better about myself when I recognized I write better than AI.
September 3, 2024 — 12:27 PM
Von Jocks says:
I think that every concern you post about A.I. is excellent and true. It’s also very likely, to judge from those more closely involved, that NaNoWriMo hasn’t been making the best decisions. The argument about “ableist and classist” is a whole ‘nother problem
That said– NaNoWriMo did NOT *recommend* using A.I. They said that to categorically condemn A.I. (not “generative A.I.” but “A.I.”) is problematic. I know that a lot of people use Grammarly–that is A.I. Others use Google Translate–that is A.I. (in fact, both show as A.I. on plagiarism checks through Turn-it-In). Text-to-speech with predictive text is A.I.
Our problem, as writers, is mostly with *generative* A.I.
NaNoWriMo has always used the honor system. The fact that someone can write nothing, say they did, and download a winner certificate doesn’t mean that NaNo encourages it. Back in the very old days, when the tried to have winners upload their work to a word-counting program, a person could easily have cut-and-pasted articles out of Wikipedia, uploaded it, and been called a winner. That doesn’t mean NaNo encourages that either.
I get why so many people are so frustrated. I just wish it didn’t end up tarnishing an activity (Novel Writing Month) that encourages tens of thousands of people to band together and encourage each other while puking their own words onto the page, one month a year, leading to a handful of them keeping it up for longer.
September 3, 2024 — 7:37 PM
Sheila the Wonderbink says:
I’m puzzled at the number of people worried about their NaNovels being hoovered up by the LLM monsters when word count has been updated on the honor system for years. At any rate, calling AI critics classist and ableist is a pretty boneheaded move and it might just be the nail in the coffin for them after losing so much support. I’ve done NaNoWriMo for years and I was thinking about taking a year off since I was a little stuck on what I wanted to do next. This rather forces the issue.
September 3, 2024 — 9:02 PM
Eva says:
That whole “classist and ableist” stuff seems like it’s doing a lot of heavy lifting. Part of writing is finding your own voice. Are they saying people of certain classes don’t have the ability to write? Or that people who aren’t “able” as others need AI to help them produce work? That seems condescending to me.
I tried some AI on my writing, just for the hell of it. It is AWFUL. Don’t consign people to that program who want to write. I don’t mind it as a brainstorming tool-hey, AI, I’m stuck here, give me some possibilities…seems like I wouldn’t have to bug my friends or join a writing group.
September 4, 2024 — 11:01 AM
Steve Turnbull says:
I deleted my account instantly – after 20 years and found this:
Checkout writingmonth.org, he’s getting it ready for November (bare bones with some neat additions) but it’s designed to build your own project (dates, word count and so on).
There won’t be forums (ever) but a buddy system to help folks self-organise if they want.
#WritingMonth
September 4, 2024 — 4:22 AM
Debby Hanoka says:
Chuck, thank you for posting this. I don’t think there is anything unfair, classist, ableist, or privileged in opposing Nanowrimo’s statement. It’s called ‘using agency.’ Isn’t that what you said we should give our characters? Agency?
Anyway, if AI is so reliant on poaching copyrighted materials, then their business model was faulty in the first place.
September 4, 2024 — 11:05 AM
Travis Mitchell says:
Couple of things:
1. Anytime you see an unusually large number of words that end in -phobe or -ist, you’re probably reading a social justice nitwit and should put the thing down.
2. Someone once said (paraphrasing) that at the intersection of art and tech, usually the latter benefits more than the former. They were talking about music, but I would think the same applies to fiction writing. The technocrats take control of the creation and distribution of the creative work and change the way we produce and consume it. This really needs to stop.
3. Art will always start with the artist and their pen/paper/keyboard/instrument/paint brush/whatever and the desire/need to create. You don’t need a machine to do that. Hopefully the human need to create and experience bypasses all of this pish.
September 9, 2024 — 3:25 PM
Willow Croft says:
AI is coming up a lot in my MPS studies, and I researched the environmental impact of generative AI (which you touched on in your other post) but I also wrote about how we are slashing arts programs in schools (or not even providing them) but we are in support of an AI program that can create art when, as I paraphrase-quote myself, it doesn’t reap the benefits of creative expression, and I further wrote that unless it becomes sentient, there should be creative expression opportunities available for all in public schools and in communities. Why are we not providing arts and theatre classes and such in schools, but we are keen on protecting the “creative expression” rights of an AI program? Something like that anyway…you get the gist.
September 10, 2024 — 8:22 PM
John says:
AI has helped me in novel writing in ways that do not mesh with the very angry sentiments in the article. (1) in shortening research for a novel with historical content from 2-3 days into minutes (2) adapting my 21st century English to that of the 1700s to make the speech sound authentic (3) offering me instant access to Anglo Saxon, Old Norse, Greek and Latin in order to choose a name for some ‘magical’ elements (4) to rewrite a passage derived from a speech by famous politician to give it a new slant (Winston Churchill) (5) writing some simple rural style poetry about agricultural labour – and a lot more. What I’ve not used AI for is drafting pages of copy from prompts – I could, indeed I’ve experimented, but the AI cannot substitute for my own voice and I don’t want it to. But AI is here to stay. There will be people who abuse it and use it to manufacture factory style a series of books as fast as possible to make as much money as possible. But GPT4 for me is like having an indefatigible assistant, 24/7 who never sleeps never gets tired, knows about the most astonishing range of topics but who (you see, it soon becomes like a person you know) does not write sex or violence and who frankly makes my writing life much much easier. At in my 8th decade that counts for a lot.
September 25, 2024 — 12:26 PM