THE AUTHOR IN THE MACHINE. IS IT YOU?

Billions of snippets of stolen stories, join them up, and voila!

This was it! I've been working hard; I deserved a little treat. This morning, I decided to buy a totally trivial ‘thing’ for me.

Having earlier salved my conscience by donating to one of my favourite charities, I was determined to squander some cash. At least I had thought about it beforehand, so it wasn't an impulsive purchase. No, not impulsive, I thought, but stupid. Anyhow, you know when there's something in your mind that you can't dislodge. I needed to scratch the itch so it would leave me alone.

I bought 'the thing' online (if you're curious, read to the end for what it is) . In the transaction process, a box came up with the heading 'CONFIRM HUMANITY.' 'Ha, ha,' I smiled inwardly, thinking 'What a great title for a book. It's probably been taken.' (Please, feel free to grab it.)

But my second thought, hard on the heels of my first: 'What a perfect metaphor for what's happening in the world right now.' Actually, it's been happening for a couple of decades, but  only now, with the explosion of AI, its totalitarian nature is right in our faces. The idea that, in 2025, we have to prove our humanity to the machine. Ironic in the extreme.

This brief article will come across to some people as a moaning 'boomer', akin to the Luddites in the 19th Century’s industrial revolution who went about smashing the machines that were taking over their jobs. We cannot smash this machine, however. The AI cat is out of the bag and it's rampaging across everything, including the creative class: the people who write the music, who write the books, who create the visual arts.

As writers, we can decide whether to lie down and let AI run over us, sucking up everything we have created, or whether we will resist and disarm it. Thankfully, there is a fight-back going on from many best-selling authors with deep pockets who are asserting and defending their rights vigorously through the courts in the US. All power and success to them, I say.

In the meantime, we must equip ourselves with awareness and knowledge about the AI revolution, and what measures we can take to protect our own humanity and our creative works.

In my editorial and publishing consultancy, I have taken steps to divorce myself from the AI machine, as far as it's possible without ditching my preferred word processing software and getting off all social media.

Lloyd Moss Editing and Publishing is AI-free. I use my own brain which, I freely admit, is adequate rather than brilliant. But you don't have to be brilliant to be an editor. What you absolutely so require are superior analytical skills and real-life experience and insights on human psychology and behaviours.

Will we win the battle for humanity? Not great odds, but we need to fight for it with all the strategies and tools we can muster. Otherwise, we will find that, one bright morning, humanity is redundant.

What self-indulgent purchase did I make this morning? Check it out HERE

Thank you for reading. I look forward to your comments.

Lynne Lloyd

editor and publisher

LLOYD MOSS PUBLISHING lynnejlloyd@outlook.com

0421 998 749