My husband pointed out something that made me chuckle today that I very much see the irony in. How I’m part of a movement that’s pretty against AI, and simultaneously encouraging others who hate AI to join the movement to get away from AI, while I myself have been a fairly regular user of AI for a little while now and have used it regularly on my own site. I suppose it can seem a bit hypocritical. But, my logic is that it is a tool, a very useful one. And just because I choose to use is does not mean anyone else has to. That’s the beauty of this movement – you create and have full control over your own space to do whatever you please. Implement AI, or don’t, it’s your choice. There are obviously a lot of very unethical uses for AI, and it could potentially be very bad for our future. BUT… I do think there are a lot of ethical uses for it as well, and for me it has proven to be a really great productivity tool. And, I think that it can move us forward in some ways that we were never able to before. All that being said, I do think it’s something people need to be careful with and mindful of how they use it. And this is why I’m starting to transition some of the art aspects of my site to be redone by real artists. I do still feel like I could get away with using AI art in some aspects since it’s purely for personal use, however, I think where I am starting to place myself to be more of a channel for people to discover the small web for those who are trying to get away from all the AI stuff, I need to start being more mindful of how I use it. AI art is extremely frowned upon, and while I don’t personally think I’m causing any harm since this is a very personal project which I would have just used free graphics for anyways, my vision is evolving, and with developing my NPCs more, I want them to be more expressive and life-like, and that is going to require a lot more specified artwork that I couldn’t really just pull from anywhere. It’s going to be very custom and specific to the world I am creating here, and I think an artist deserves to get paid to help create my vision. So I’m really looking forward to that. I’ve found an artist I like that I’m planning to commission very soon. I’m going to start with Candace on my Small Web subdomain. I think I’m going to completely change up her character and maybe rename her. I have some plans for her that I’m not quite ready to reveal yet but once I get things more finalized I’ll update. 🙂
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Anyways, a bit rambly, but that’s kind of where I stand with AI and the small web. I’ll probably continue to use AI with my site in various forms, but I’m also being more mindful and learning how to navigate ethically creative uses of AI. As we’re collectively pushed into an age where AI will likely come to the forefront, I think it’s good to start learning and being mindful of these things. AI doesn’t have to be total evil, but, it will be used for evil and people will use it to cross a lot of lines that should never be crossed. But I think we can also come up with uses for AI to combat that negative aspects and agendas out there, as well as do good.