#AI-Powered Writing

[dal23journal-blog]

Web 3.0 vs Web 2.0: A Writing Revolution

How Web 3.0 is Rewriting the Rules of Writing, Ownership, and Monetization Forever The Broken Promise of Web 2.0 For decades, writers have been trapped in a system that rewards platforms over creators. The Web 2.0 era turned content into a commodity—owned by corporations, monetized through ads, and dependent on algorithms. Writers became cogs in a machine, trading their time and talent for…

[sadisthetic]

limewire virus

[ollieartss]

skk nation I have made a harrowing discovery.

last year, skk was number 4 on the top 100 ships of ao3 for 2023. when they catalogued the numbers, our boys had around 24k total fics, with about 6k new fics being added that year (new fics is what determines placement on the list). we did great last year :D let’s go gang.

BUT. pause. the list came out on august 7th, 2023. BEFORE the end of s5 and the whole debacle there.

due to this, the list cut off RIGHT before the absolute surge of fics from that. you add on the 15 manga and maybe stormbringer being animated this year, and BOY HOWDY. it’s been six months since the 2023 list and we’ve already surpassed what we wrote last year (we have like 31k fics now,,)

currently predicting either 2nd or 1st for skk in 2024. there’s already like 7k new fics and unless people start putting out ai fics to climb the ranks (please don’t do this ever) I don’t see any ship that could hold us back. skk is officially taking over ao3 and I cannot wait to see it happen.

[badwolf-gallagher88]

Day 27 - Kidnapped/Captured

The rope burnt into Elrond’s flesh, searing his wrists and rubbing them red. He stumbled slightly, tripping on the tree roots that littered the forest floor. They lay concealed under rich green moss and leaf debris, lying in wait like the bodies of shipwrecked victims under dark water.

Adar, pulling the rope over his shoulder, turned to glance at the struggling prisoner. He tugged especially hard, almost forcing Elrond to lose his footing once again.

As Elrond staggered his next couple of steps, Adar jerked the rope once more. Desperately unbalanced, the elf fell to his knees, in order not to occupy a position any more humiliating than that.

Privately, Adar smiled.

“We camp here for the night. So your pathetic little mind doesn’t decide running to the pretty little she-elf is the best idea, I will be ensuring you cannot act on such impulses.”

He grasped Elrond by the shoulder, shoving him so his back was against a tree. Quickly, Adar bound the elvish commander. As he stepped back to admire his hard work, he was met with a defiant glare from the younger elf. His hair fell into his eyes, still marred with the blood and sweat of battle. One particularly deep cut slashed directly down his cheek. 

Adar knew the wound should be treated, but despite his status as prisoner, he still feared his captive’s wrath. Elrond was reticent to understand the need for alliance in a war such as this, and deeply mistrustful of Adar’s children. His hatred of the Uruks was rivalled by few - and the Uruk's love for those who did not welcome his family limited. He had already expended much of his patience with the lady Galadriel.

Still, what must be done could not be avoided.

He said nothing to Elrond, but busied himself making a fire and setting up camp. From the small bedroll he had brought from the Uruk’s main camp, he removed a skin of wine. First he took a swig, then tore a small rag of fabric from the frayed edge of his roughspun. He bathed the black fabric in wine, then turned back to his prisoner.

“Your wound must be cleaned. Even your kind must not risk infection. Many of our blades are poisoned.”

He crouched down, bringing the cloth to Elrond’s face. The captive pulled away, spitting at Adar’s feet.

Adar sighed, sitting back on his heals. When Elrond’s eyes met his, they blazed with fire and frustration. There was a sorrow in his gaze, an anger tinged with fear and inflexibility. A devastation at seeing his lands burnt to the ground and no way to end the disaster. The purposes of his people were being crushed beneath the feet of Sauron, but the foolish boy could not see beyond the scapegoat Adar provided.

This time, he reached out with both hands, securing Elrond’s face as he wiped away the blood with the wine-soaked cloth. His cheek was left a delicate pink, both from the wound and the wine’s red stain. The tart vinegar of grapes replaced the tang of blood, a mild, pleasant aroma.

“Why do you care?”

Startled, the Uruk looked upon his captive. Was it not obvious?

Imperceptibly, he shook his head, confused.

“I am your sworn enemy. I am of no real tactical advantage kept prisoner - you would have wished for Galadriel, or the High King if you needed information. I am a commander without an army. I am reckless, and foolish, and…” he paused, then resumed at a yell.

“MY PEOPLE, they are dying. Most are probably already dead. The knowledge of a thousand years, the findings of Celebrimbor, are all ashes, and y-you expect me to… what? Rest easy while other people fight my battles? Uruk, you are -“

He was cut off Adar’s hand across his mouth.

“I am a father. I protect.”

He said nothing else, but removed his hand, and Elrond did not speak for some time. Adar came to sit behind him, his back resting against the rough planes of the tree.

In the darkest hour of the night, when even the stars fade into its inky blackness, Elrond believed Adar to be sleeping.

“I had no father,” he whispered, unaware that his words were heard.

[thelaurenshippen]

open ai made a little post about how they chose their chatbot voices and two things stood out to me:

a) I am genuinely pleased and surprised that the voices come from specific real people that they hired and paid, rather than being built off of all of the data open ai has scraped. the voice for siri did one job for one company 20 years ago and now she is literally everywhere without ever being compensated by apple or even acknowledged as the voice. there's simply no way she was paid enough in that original job. whereas, open ai says "each actor receives compensation above top-of-market rates, and this will continue for as long as their voices are used in our products." this could mean literally anything (what market rate are we going above? does continue mean they get residuals or get paid for doing more sessions?) but, christ, at least the actors are doing it with full knowledge of what their voices are being used for and can decide for themselves if the compensation is enough

b) the post talks about working with "award-winning casting directors" to get the voices. first of all, yay for paying casting directors! we love to see it. but they also say the CDs received over 400 submissions in a week and they state that like a big number and it's just...not at all. and look, without knowing the intricacies of the casting process, it's hard to know what approach the CDs took - it's very possible they were selective from the jump and 400 is a lot from the pool they were tapping. 400 would be a lot if you were going to the agencies directly and asking for names, but there's just no way in hell open ai went after big stars for this. so it would've been a pool of unknowns. in which case, 400 is laughably small. even if you're not using the big casting sites like actorsaccess, I've worked on projects with CDs and their own internal systems where we've gotten over 100 submissions for a single role. I've posted roles on casting sites and received literally thousands of submissions in just a few days

look, I have a very limited perspective on this - I am not a casting director (imo, one of the most important and undervalued jobs in hollywood) and I, in fact, hate the process of casting with a passion. but 400 just seemed like such a tiny pool to pull from and, idk, it heartens me! it's heartening to think that there's very little interest from actors and agents to be doing this kind of stuff. and absolutely no shade to the actors who did--I want actors to get their bag however they want as long as it's, like, safe sane and consensual, you know? but there's something encouraging about thinking that open ai hired some big casting agency to get their foot into the voice acting door and people didn't come running

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

roland and linda in cahoots on something

Thank you. Athos and Linda got along, I think Roland and Linda would get along like a housefire no one suspected.

-

"Roland."

"Something I can help you with, Spartan?"

Linda 058, the quietest member of Blue Team, is asking for his attention.

"How much nuance do you allow when it comes to personnel in potentially off-limit areas?" She asks while staring straight ahead, not bothering to look at the ceiling or a camera. Her voice is low and even.

He can't get a read on her in comparing her tone and body language to his wealth of readings from his crew. IIs were sarcastic, but also had a habit of malicious compliance and going right up to the point of rule breaking before stopping. It gave his captain and the admirals headaches but fascinated Roland all the more. Despite being a Ship AI and not having the experience of partnering with a Spartan, he found a kind of kinship in their creative problem-solving. What files were available to him painted a relatable picture. Linda had worked with an AI, receiving a glowing review, but Roland could read between the lines. Nuance, huh?

They were so interesting. Roland found himself struggling to balance his desire to see where this led and his ingrained purpose of maintaining order and function on the Infinity.

"That's an interesting question." He can't help the chuckle that follows. "Potentially, if someone was where they shouldn't be and I caught them, they'd get a warning to leave before I contact whoever's necessary to remove them."

"So you have to catch them."

Oh, this is fun.

"I see everything on this ship, Spartan. You may have the clearance, but I can't let you climb around the engine room."

A muscle twitches on her face. Roland counts that as a victory.

IIs were so much fun. 15 minutes after he's thrown down the gauntlet, Linda 058 disappears into a blind spot in a major hub of hallways. Roland notes it down for security and then leaves several threads around to ping when she reappears.

She does not reappear. He gets no ping. AI can't sweat, but the invigorating exercise of hunting for her sours when it's 4 hours later and the Captain is frowning at him.

"Roland, where's Linda?" Captain Lasky asks in front of three quarters of Blue Team.

"I may have chosen my words poorly." Roland says, his avatar slouching in defeat.

"Sir, she doesn't have her armor, so we can assume she's inside the ship." Kelly supplies.

Captain Lasky pales as he considers the thought. Roland hadn't considered that. "She would do that?" Lasky's voice is stricken. Roland feels a bit guilty as he watches his captain's blood pressure spike.

Fred is the only one who grimaces as they all nod once.

"You might have to admit defeat before she reappears." The Master Chief says to Roland. "Linda's competitive."

"What?" Roland gapes in shock. He doesn't want to give up so easily, surely there are ways to track the NI or IFF tag even if she's not in armor.

He stops himself from answering when his captain looks dolefully at him.

"Do I make a shipwide announcement and hope she hears it?"

He does.

180 painful seconds tick by and Linda 058 materializes out of a different blind spot halfway across the ship. Her ready gear has dust on the knees and elbows. The vents then? She walks into the meeting more relaxed than Roland's seen her.

Linda nods to the captain and Roland as she takes her place beside her team.

"Do I want to know where you've been, Spartan?" The captain sighs. His face and his biosigns are pointing towards no.

"Finding gaps in security, sir." Linda replies.

"Great." Lasky looks like he does not think it's great. Roland is just glad it's over. "You can help Roland with that when we don't have scheduled meetings."

Or not.

[hammill-goes-fogwalking]

I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI. I HATE AI.

[choking-on-roses]

Colleague called me a Luddite today because I wrote the abstract for a book chapter submission by hand without using ChatGPT

[thecharmingchimaera]

My argument against AI writing basically boils down to this: who do you want controlling the narrative - yourself, or the robots?

Because being able to sit down and write - anything, from an essay to a book to a text message - is power. Having that skill gives you autonomy, independence, the means to express your own views on things, and present information in a way that you can control.

Palming all that off to an AI on the other hand? Are you telling me you want to give up self-expression and creative independence? If AI continues to accelerate at this rate, in 10, 20 years from now we’ll have a generation of people who won’t be able to express themselves in writing, who won’t be able to formulate their own views coherently, because they’ve never been given the tools and learned how. Literacy in this country is already at an all-time low, and now you’re giving away your power, control, and creative expression to a tech giant that I’m sure has no qualms about systemically stifling all independent free though and creative power.

Words are power.

[aquitainequeen]

In the words of Daffy Duck, 'Youuu're dethpicable.'

In other words, studios are apparently trying to get tax breaks even if they deprive communities of jobs in favour of AI.

[ahb-writes]

Newsflash: Princess Crystel doesn't give a fuck.

(from Ellcia, 1992)

[pa-pa-plasma]

okay i just marathoned the entirety of ATLA live action & i might do an actual review of it explaining my thoughts more in depth, but the TLDR version basically boils down to this:

if you want to watch Avatar: The Last Airbender, just go watch the 2005 cartoon

[badwolf-gallagher88]

Day 11 - Scared

He had once been told there was no fear that could not be vanquished. One could hold a sword in their hand, and defeat one’s foes. One could grasp a parchment and banish the unread and ignorant. Why, one could even mutter a few words and bring about the downfall of an enemy.

Those were the words Elrond Peredhel had believed as the leaves of Lindon began to fall. He had stood beneath the golden bows of the trees of Valinor, and had caught the greying leaves between his fingers. Deftly he had turned them, hoping to see a sign of recovery. Instead all he had seen was poison. Creeping, reaching, blood red and dangerous.

Yet, even then he had not been without hope. He had not been truely scared, simply determined. Desperate, but determined. A solution would be found.

And a solution had been. But the rings…

Oh, the rings had left him scared.

He sat under those very same trees now, watching the way their leaves tousled each other in the breeze. Water ran nearby, the stream splashing and gurgling - nature’s rhythms always continuous. Yet, Elrond could not shake the feeling something was desperately wrong. 

From the path to his right, High King Gil-Galad approached. He looked weary - older even - or as much like those two things as an immortal being could look. He was distracted, staring into the middle distance.

Elrond stood hurriedly. “High King,” he trailed off, as Gil-Galad became level with him.

The High King did not greet him, but said simply “I fear there is something unnatural at play.”

The younger elf nodded, returning to his seat. Gil-Galad continued.

“The rings, this ring, has shown me worlds I fear to come to pass. I do not doubt its truth, yet the truth it shows me leaves me uneasy.”

Elrond nodded again. He did not trust his words before the High King. The rings left Gil-Galad uneasy, yet nothing could persuade him to give them up. Elrond was frustrated by the endless cycles they treaded. He would warn Galadriel, she would not take him at his word. Gil-Galad was more tolerant, yet ultimately favoured Galadriel’s choice. The rings had restored their lives - the rings could do no wrong.

“You feel it too,” the High King murmured, coming to sit beside Elrond. “Despite your mistrust of the rings.”

Again he nodded, mistrusting his tongue.

Yes, he felt it too. He felt the way in which the edges of the world had blurred; the way in which darkness crept in from the edges. It reached and clutched at their hearts, just as the blood-red poison had leached the gold from Lindon’s trees. He had seen the way Galadriel had let the darkness touch her. He had seen how besotted she was, and he had seen how Sauron’s facade was as enchanting as his persona. The rings had guaranteed their survival, yet they had guaranteed the presence of that darkness. What had once been snow lit and ivory, now turned a swirling marble of grey, the edges tinged with black.

Elrond and Gil-Galad sat side by side, silent.

Elrond felt the darkness crash like a wave against him. And in that moment, he realised something else.

He was utterly terrified. 

[rataltouille]

an hour into using obsidian and like what do you mean this was always available and free to use AND NOBODY TOLD ME

[rednite-dork]

oh shit I made ‘em speak

[bowtiedauthor]

A walk through Fukushima

A post-apocalyptic verse

I had a dream, Where I was walking through Fukushima, Amongst the whispers of ghostly winds, And shadows of a past unseen.

I came upon a man, Silent, steadfast, Cleaning up the remnants, Of a world shattered, cast.

Inside the plant, a hushed reverie, He toiled with hands worn thin, Eyes reflecting memories, Of what once had been.

He looked up at me, Face all skin and bones, A haunting visage of resilience, In a land of broken stones.

Eyes a little bit shinier, With stories untold, Of battles fought in silence, And dreams held in the cold.

Through the ruins of Fukushima, He moved like a solemn wraith, A testament to endurance, In the shadow of fate.

In this dream, I walked beside him, Felt the weight of silent screams, And as I woke, I carried with me, The echoes of those dreams.

-8/9/24