#best ai essay writer

[tanya31000]

Top 10 AI Essay Collaborators To Spark New Ideas

In the digital age, technology has become an indispensable tool in various aspects of our lives, including the realm of academia. One area where technology has made significant strides is in AI essay writer. With the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), essay writing has undergone a transformation, enabling collaboration between human writers and AI systems to generate new ideas and enhance the writing process. In this article, we will explore the top 10 AI essay collaborators that can help spark new ideas and revolutionize the way we approach writing.

Importance of AI in Essay Writing

AI has revolutionized numerous industries, and essay writing is no exception. Gone are the days when writers had to rely solely on their own knowledge and creativity to craft compelling essays. AI-powered tools now offer invaluable assistance in various aspects of the writing process, from generating ideas to refining grammar and style. The use of AI in essay writing not only enhances efficiency but also opens up new avenues for creativity and innovation.

Criteria for Selecting AI Essay Collaborators

Before delving into the top 10 AI essay collaborators, it's essential to establish the criteria for selecting these tools. When choosing an AI essay collaborator, factors such as accuracy of information, language proficiency, collaboration features, and user experience should be taken into consideration. Additionally, compatibility with different writing styles and the availability of customization options are important factors to consider.

Top 10 AI Essay Collaborators

1.Simplified: Simplified offers advanced grammar checking, plagiarism detection, and idea generation tools. It has a user-friendly interface and helps improve writing quality.

● Features: Simplified offers advanced grammar checking, plagiarism detection, and idea generation tools. Its intuitive interface makes it easy to use for writers of all skill levels.

● Pros: User-friendly interface, accurate suggestions, idea generation assistance.

● Cons: Limited customization options, may require internet connection for full functionality.

● Benefits: Improves writing quality, enhances productivity, sparks new ideas.

● Pricing: Freemium model with basic features available for free and premium plans starting at $9.99/month.

2. HiveMind: HiveMind provides collaborative writing tools, real-time feedback, and advanced research assistance. It's great for teamwork and streamlining group projects.

● Features: HiveMind provides collaborative writing tools, real-time feedback, and advanced research assistance.

● Pros: Facilitates teamwork, enhances collaboration, comprehensive research support.

● Cons: Learning curve for new users, occasional glitches in collaboration features.

● Benefits: Streamlines group projects, fosters creativity, accelerates research process.

● Pricing: Free with limited features, premium plans available starting at $14.99/month.

3. Paraphrasingtool.ai: Paraphrasingtool.ai specializes in paraphrasing and rephrasing content to improve readability and originality. It helps avoid plagiarism and enhances writing flow.

● Features: Paraphrasingtool.ai specializes in paraphrasing and rephrasing content to improve readability and originality.

● Pros: Simplifies complex sentences, enhances clarity, preserves meaning.

● Cons: Limited functionality beyond paraphrasing, may not handle technical or specialized content well.

● Benefits: Helps avoid plagiarism, improves writing flow, saves time.

Pricing: Free to use with basic features, premium plans starting at $4.99/month.

4. Byword: Byword offers a distraction-free writing environment, Markdown support, and seamless syncing across devices. It's perfect for writers who want to minimize distractions and focus on writing.

● Features: Byword offers distraction-free writing environment, Markdown support, and seamless syncing across devices.

● Pros: Clean interface, Markdown support, syncs with iCloud and Dropbox.

● Cons: Limited advanced editing features, lacks collaboration tools.

● Benefits: Minimizes distractions, enhances focus, supports writing on-the-go.

● Pricing: One-time purchase for $14.99 on macOS, $5.99 on iOS.

5. Quillbot: Quillbot employs AI algorithms for sentence rewriting, paraphrasing, and grammar correction. It improves writing clarity and aids in paraphrasing.

● Features: Quillbot employs AI algorithms for sentence rewriting, paraphrasing, and grammar correction.

● Pros: Generates alternative sentences, improves readability, suggests synonyms.

● Cons: May produce awkward phrasing, occasional inaccuracies in suggestions.

● Benefits: Enhances writing clarity, aids in paraphrasing, saves time on editing.

● Pricing: Free with basic features, premium plans starting at $15/month.

6. Rapide.ly: Rapide.ly offers AI-powered content generation, topic suggestions, and SEO optimization tools. It's useful for generating content ideas and improving SEO.

● Features: Rapide.ly offers AI-powered content generation, topic suggestions, and SEO optimization tools.

● Pros: Generates content ideas, optimizes for search engines, supports content planning.

● Cons: Limited customization options, may require manual refinement of generated content.

● Benefits: Sparks new ideas, improves SEO, speeds up content creation process.

● Pricing: Free trial available, premium plans starting at $29/month.

7. Hubspot: Hubspot provides AI-powered content creation, marketing automation, and lead generation tools. It streamlines marketing efforts and improves content ROI.

● Features: Hubspot provides AI-powered content creation, marketing automation, and lead generation tools.

● Pros: Integrates with marketing platforms, offers comprehensive analytics, supports lead nurturing.

● Cons: Complex interface, steep learning curve for beginners, may be overwhelming for smaller teams.

● Benefits: Streamlines marketing efforts, boosts lead generation, improves content ROI.

● Pricing: Free CRM with limited features, premium plans starting at $45/month.

8. Sudowrite: Sudowrite offers AI-driven writing assistance, creative prompts, and collaborative editing tools. It stimulates creativity and enhances collaboration among writers.

● Features: Sudowrite offers AI-driven writing assistance, creative prompts, and collaborative editing tools.

● Pros: Generates creative prompts, assists in brainstorming, supports collaborative writing.

● Cons: Limited database of prompts, occasional inaccuracies in suggestions.

● Benefits: Stimulates creativity, enhances collaboration, speeds up writing process.

● Pricing: Free with basic features, premium plans starting at $19/month.

9. Scalenut: Scalenut provides AI-powered content optimization, topic generation, and social media scheduling tools. It boosts content performance and enhances social media presence.

● Features: Scalenut provides AI-powered content optimization, topic generation, and social media scheduling tools.

● Pros: Optimizes content for engagement, suggests trending topics, streamlines social media management.

● Cons: Limited customization options, may not integrate with all social media platforms.

● Benefits: Boosts content performance, saves time on research, enhances social media presence.

● Pricing: Free trial available, premium plans starting at $39/month.

10. Copysmith: Copysmith utilizes AI for content generation, copywriting, and marketing copy optimization. It speeds up content creation and improves marketing effectiveness.

● Features: Copysmith utilizes AI for content generation, copywriting, and marketing copy optimization.

● Pros: Generates high-quality content, aids in copywriting tasks, optimizes for conversions.

● Cons: Limited scope beyond copywriting, may require manual refinement for specific industries.

● Benefits: Speeds up content creation, improves marketing effectiveness, saves on hiring costs.

● Pricing: Free trial available, premium plans starting at $29/month.

How AI Essay Collaborators Spark New Ideas

The collaboration between human writers and AI essay collaborators has the potential to spark new ideas in several ways. Firstly, AI-powered tools offer diverse perspectives and insights that may not have been considered by human writers alone. Additionally, AI algorithms can rapidly generate ideas based on vast amounts of data, helping writers overcome creative blocks and explore new avenues of thought. Collaboration features such as real-time feedback and editing further enhance the brainstorming process, enabling writers to refine their ideas collaboratively.

Tips for Effective Utilization of AI Essay Collaborators

While AI essay collaborators offer invaluable assistance in the writing process, it's essential to use them effectively to maximize their benefits. Understanding the strengths and limitations of AI is crucial, as it allows writers to leverage AI suggestions while incorporating their own creativity and judgment. Additionally, effectively utilizing collaboration features and continuously learning and improving with AI tools are key to enhancing writing productivity and quality.

Conclusion

AI essay collaborators have revolutionized the writing process by offering invaluable assistance in generating ideas and enhancing writing quality. The top 10 AI essay collaborators highlighted in this article provide a wide range of features and capabilities to suit the needs of writers across different disciplines and skill levels. By effectively utilizing these tools and embracing collaboration between human writers and AI systems, writers can unlock new levels of creativity and innovation in their writing endeavors. As technology continues to evolve, the future prospects of AI in essay writing are promising, offering exciting opportunities for essay generator to explore new frontiers of creativity and expression.

Try Simplified AI Essay Writer To Boost Your Writing Now

[johncarter54]

How to bypass Turnitin AI detection? How to write an essay faster? Check out free AI paraphrasing tool for students - https://netus.ai/

[tanadrin]

The most frustrating thing I saw in the "AI debate" (ugh) is where Ted Chiang apparently wrote in a New Yorker essay, "yeah, I could imagine there being some usefulness or merit to LLM use if you did it as one tool among many as part of an iterative creative process," and someone on Twitter was like "people literally do this all the time, including in writing," and their tweet got a bunch of replies along the lines of "those people aren't writers lol," who pointed to Chiang's essay as an argument. Like I dunno man, it sure doesn't feel like there's actually a principled argument here. LLMs just have the wrong Vibes, and since nobody actually knows anything about the jurisprudence of copyright and there's not actually a single consistent and concrete definition of plagiarism[1], people feel free to argue about it until the cows come home.

[1] don't @ me being like "lol everybody knows what plagiarism is." i have seen what constitutes academic misconduct on grounds of plagiarism vary widely between different fields of scholarship based on accepted citation practices; people have huge fights about what should or should not constitute fair use; the music industry is notorious for impossible-to-adjudicate court cases based on short fragments of a melody here and there happening to resemble one another. plagiarism, like all conceptual categories, has some clear central examples and a huge penumbra of fuzzy examples that are often highly contextual, if they can even be agreed on at all. the desire to treat plagiarism as black and white to shore up one side of an argument or another is at best shortsighted and at worst outright dishonest.

[ventique18]

- Not twst, sort of rant -

Notice how the ones on twitter shouting that human translators/localizers should just be entirely replaced by AI don't know a lick of Japanese. Putting aside the obvious domino disaster that would happen to everyone if we let AI take over a career, Japanese is extremely different from English, to the point that making a stellar translation the likes of Ace Attorney requires that you be an even more stellar writer. Those who think translators don't deserve their pay are clearly too dumb to learn another language and too dumb to learn how to write above Elementary School level essays.

It's true that there are a few bad apples here and there who make questionable translation choices. But majority of those few did not even make the decision to publish that themselves; companies can and will censor and alter messages that they think will affect their image. That's why sometimes fan translations feel better than official ones. Fans just don't have the same level of restriction that official translators do. No translator worth their salt would willingly publish something that will ruin their reputation, especially if they're N1 certified (the highest level) and took years or decades to master the craft.

"But context gets lost when human translators do it--" And even more context will get lost if AI does it. I've watched my fair share of anime that are obviously AI translated and they're so bad you wouldn't even understand why it looks like everyone just heard a joke when you couldn't find where the punchline was. That rewatching it side by side with another publisher's human translation perfectly showcases the sheer difference between shitty writing of AI and someone who possibly earned a Master's or PHD. Example: AI translation of Shikanoko anime ep 1: "Don't tell me, you're a lady?" Actual translation: "So you're saying you're really a virgin?"

This out of control hatred for translators is just pure spite and petty envy, is all. I'll admit that I'm not the best in Japanese, but even with my intermediate skills I know exactly how hard the language is and how much time and effort it takes to even be remotely good at it.

[writeouswriter]

pls no anti ai art demagogy on my dash, thx

(X) in reference to this reblog I assume.

This is the wildest ask I’ve ever gotten.

“Please no love for the humanity of creation on my dash, please. Please no acknowledgement that art and the human experience behind those making it is inherently and fundamentally intertwined. Please no shoving the fact in my face that art is meant to connect rather than consume.

And please no pointing out the basic truth that most AI engines are built off the stolen work of others.”

Demagogy, noun: political activity or practices that seek support by appealing to the desires and prejudices of ordinary people rather than by using rational argument.

You come into MY house, you tell me what not to reblog on MY blog, and you what? Call me “irrational” and insult my understanding of the topic in the process?

Political activity, political activity... fuck off. Actors, writers, artists, those most affected by this ARE the ordinary people, and their concerns and fears surrounding this are perfectly rational.

And you know, nothing hits it home more for me than when I thought about my favourite show at the moment, the one that makes me lose my mind a thousand times over, I thought about everything in it that makes me tick, thought about both strong points and weak points, because it is flawed, god, is it flawed because people inherently are, and that’s the beauty, but mostly, I thought about the sheer amount of care/thought and depth put into it in a way I've never really seen before and in a medium/genre/whatever you'd absolutely never expect to find that thought put into, especially if taken completely at a surface level. Thought about the levels of metaphor and symbolism layered in beneath the silliness, thought about the callbacks and clever timing, thought about the behind the scenes arguments about what direction worked best for the narrative and the audience, arguments that took place because of how much they cared not just about telling a good story, but about telling one that really means something to them.

Thought about the love, the time, the excitement and the flair and personality and background and intent of each and every person behind the team bleeding its way into the scripts, into the acting, into the heart of what makes it truly what it is, and how that love bleeds into the audience as well, how that love and human connection is what prompts people to write full page essays and analyses on it, draw fanart for it, create the most beautiful fics for it, that love is what prompts them to laugh and cry and vibrate at the speed of sound thinking about it, and what prompts thousands upon thousands to come together in their appreciation for and relation to it, rallying around it like a group of cavemen around a campfire when they had never before seen the flame.

And then.... then I thought about the idea of that same show being written by an AI and genuinely felt physically ill. Because no real care will have been put into that beyond "If it looks like a TV show, sounds like a TV show, it must be a TV show." And on the surface, maybe it’d look fine, I’m sure some people wouldn’t notice. But it’d not only be made without thought, but consumed without thought. And, sure, maybe that'll fill you up in the short term, but it's gonna leave you feeling hollow and sick eventually. Because stories are not a thing to be mass produced with a random assortment of the cheapest quality materials on a conveyor belt that shovels them directly into people's throats at the most efficient speed possible, stories are not a thing meant to just be consumed! They are a thing made with intent in every aspect, even when accidental because our lives shape it subconsciously, they are a thing made with love, a thing to be savoured! And yes, for that to happen, they will take a lot of time and hard work and dedication, all of which deserve fair compensation and respect, all of which cannot just be replaced by a sham amalgamation of these things, and they will be all the better for it.

And on some level, corporations know this, and they want you to blame their shortcomings on the writers, on the artists, they want you to look at things like the strikes and those rallying against AI and get mad that they’re keeping art from the common people, or forcing them to come to this, or they want you to think they’re simply trying to make art more accessible, all the while building their conveyor belts in the background with the blood of those they’re kicking down, taking away jobs and shoving the humanity out of the picture.

Art is made to communicate, and sometimes it’s frustrating when we can’t get that communication across, when the image we want to convey is out of our skill level, our capability, when our words get tangled up, jumbled together and we need a helping hand to find the right ones again, and on this level, maybe AI could be a useful supplemental tool, or a fun little thing to mess around with, if ethically sourced, if used for good, if taking into account and graciously acknowledging exactly how it’s being used as a tool, rather than trying to pass it off as something it’s not.

But is it political, is it irrational, to merely state that the human condition cannot be replaced?

——

The unfollow button is free, I don’t work for you.

[olderthannetfic]

Ok, wow, this is NOT the type of ask you seem to get usually, but this appears to be my best option...

I'm seeking out a post that is not particularly fandom-y in nature, but I was reminded of it after reading the earlier anon who was burned out from AI discourse - I totally feel the same way, and there was a really great lengthy textpost I reblogged a few months ago (read: "I read it any time from, like, April 2024 to almost a year ago......sorry") that I cannot find on my blog nor on tumblr in general - either because the post has been completely nuked from the internet OR because I'm just bad at SEO searches and remembering the keywords that were actually IN the post. I'm hoping it's a me issue or, if the post IS nuked, at the very least someone here remembers it and has an internet archive link or screenshot or something????

to get to the point, there was a post that was like (paraphrased, quote marks are not literal quotes):

"When it comes to the anti-AI crowd on tumblr, there's basically two schools of thought: people who completely hate AI and everything about it and are opposed to all forms of AI without even learning what AI really is. These people are stuck in their ways and generally can't be reasoned with.

Then there's a second group who are against AI for pretty good reasons - they really are worried that AI is gonna completely take over and steal artists' livelihoods, those who criticize it for environmental activist reasons, etc. These people generally can be reasoned with as they're truly misinformed, and in fact they would be - or already are - receptive to a less harmful AI."

The post then went on to compare AI to other forms of automation and made some really great parallels; such as bringing up the fact that stores that have both self checkout AND cashiers tend to be the best business models, because people who have their preferences can choose how they want to shop, AND we can utilize automated checkouts without completely getting rid of cashiers, which is obviously good for a lot of reasons.

It also debunked a lot of common fearmonger-y arguments against AI, i.e. explaining what "training AI" really entails, with some general copyright-critical philosophy in general. (I don't know the actual, like, political term, if one even exists, but basically they were talking about flaws with "intellectual property" as a concept - or at least how IP works today and why it works the way it does.)

There was also a really good addition to the OP's thoughts that I liked, with another user talking about: Essentially people who are gonna use AI would likely have done something else sketchy anyway, even if AI as it stands today didn't exist. For example, chatGPT isn't to blame for plagiarism. The people who use chatGPT to do their homework would, in an earlier time, likely go on Chegg / pay someone to write an essay / reuse their old work / etc. Likewise, the people who tell open AI to make artwork for them likely wouldn't make (or try to make) their own artwork anyway, nor would they even commission someone. They talked about how since fandom is so damn divided on the topic of AI, that the artists who DO feel as if their commissions are being taken away from them, or the writers who DO fear AI taking over fanfic.......well, to put it nicely, those people likely wouldn't really be losing many fans in the first place. You didn't lose a commission to AI - that person never would've commissioned you in the first place, and the people that do commission you hate AI as much as you do. You're not losing readers to AI - people who choose AI fics over yours are likely already the impatient type who can't handle waiting more than a week for an update, so they just make AI feed them 10k in one sitting! And the people who DO comment and read on your stuff, also hate AI!

I definitely did not agree with every single point made on the post (ie i dont think the self checkout metaphor was a great direct parallel logistically, but I def picked up what they were trying to put out and overall agreed with the general sentiment), overall it made a lot of really, really, really good points about the AI debate that I'd truly never considered before.

I know I've damn near rewritten the whole post myself now at this point but I also know there's a lot of stuff that I'm missing or that I just can't word and I'd love to know if anyone else has seen this post or has it on their blog in some capacity.

--

[redgoldsparks]

May Reading and Reviews by Maia Kobabe

I post my reviews throughout the month on Storygraph and Goodreads, and do roundups here and on patreon. Reviews below the cut.

The Crane Wife: A Memoir in Essays by CJ Hauser 

This essay collection focuses on human relationships, many of them romantic, but also with grandparents, parents, sisters, best friends, COVID-isolation pods, and with the children of romantic partners from previous relationships. The title essay interweaves the experience of a broken engagement with a scientific expedition to study the dwindling population of whooping cranes in the Gulf Coast of Texas to devastating effect. Another experience, covering the DARPA Robotics Challenge trails, in which teams test out potential robotic first responders, speaks to the author's own desire to both save others and be saved by a string of problematic men. The author dated a lot of men and a few women in their twenties and processes them through the lens of media (the film The Philadelphia Story, the TV show The X-Files,the novels Don Quixote, Rebecca, We Have Always Lived in the Castle) and the perspective gained with time. I really loved this whole collection, but the piece that keeps rolling around in my mind is "The Fox Farm", about trying to recreate an archetype of a child's fantasy house (full of animals, friends, gardens, infinite rooms) in real life as an adult. I left this book wanting to know more- when did the author start using nonbinary pronouns? Have they resolved their feelings about their tits? Is that guest room in their big upstate New York house still available for visiting artists, and if so, how do I apply for the position of resident writer/new friend?

American Teenager: How Trans Kids are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era by Nico Lang

Queer journalist and author Nico Lang traveled around the US to meet 11 families of trans teens and see how anti-trans legislation is impacting their daily lives. Each family has different circumstances; one teen fears his top surgery will be indefinitely delayed, while another had surgery already and has joined the boys swim team at his high school. Some teens are moved to become activists while others want to just live their normal, low-profile lives. With humor and compassion, Lang shows trans teenagers as they really are: kids trying their best, day by day, to grow into their truest selves and fullest potential. The various chapters are by turns deep, silly, introspective, sweet, and smart, just like teens themselves. I was able to read an advanced copy of this book- pre-order it now, or look for it on shelves in October 2024!

Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb read by Elliot Hill

NO ONE IS DOING IT LIKE ROBIN HOBB. NO ONE! After a disappointing journey up the Rain Wilds River, baby we are BACK! And by back, I mean, back in a first person POV and back with FitzChivalry, one of my literal favorite fictional characters ever. This is the 7th book about his life, and the 14th overall book in this series, so I won't be summarizing it. Let's just say that Fitz found his happy ending (minus a few key soulmates) and then his life kept going. More problems, more politics, more magic, maybe stranger than ever before. A new character introduced in this series swept in and stole my heart. I can't wait to dive into the next book very soon!

Rose/House by Arkady Martine read by Raquel Beattie  

A brief murder mystery set in an fully conscious AI house in the southwest desert. This story feels in conversation with Ray Bradbury's story The Veldt and has many elements I enjoy, but a somewhat unresolved and slightly unsatisfying ending. I'm honestly still simmering on my thoughts, but looking forward to discussing this in book club soon! Edit post book club: a discussion helped me clarify what I thought was working in this book (tone, setting, themes) and what was not working (too many red herrings for such a short book, and an ending twist that seemed to undercut the book's main premise). I still think it's worth a read for Arkady Marine fans, but it is not as strong as her full length books.

Dances of Time and Tenderness by Julian Carter

In 2016 Julian Carter, a queer author and long-time participant in San Francisco's dungeon kink scene, received an invitation to be part of an archival matchmaking project. The project paired artists, activists, and scholars with specific issues of OUT/LOOK: The National Lesbian and Gay Quarterly. The assignment was to use the issue as a jumping off point to think about queer history and make something "new and provocative." Carter's assigned issue was from Winter 1991, the year the CDC announced 1 million American were HIV positive and AIDS was the 3rd leading cause of death in people aged 25-44 years. One of the many who died in 1991 due to AIDS related complications was Lou Sullivan, one of the first trans men to publicly identify as gay. From this starting point, this book traces paths of queer lineage, both proclaimed and obscured, traveling through history, memory, and poetry. Carter is linked, through friendship or scholarship, to Susan Stryker, pioneer of transgender history, to Zach Ozma, who edited Lou Sullivan's diaries for publication, and to Lou himself. Casting a transgender eye back on a queer history divided sharply into gay and lesbian, Carter allows himself to claim as ancestors sailors, skeletons, writers, lovers, and reaches forward in time towards students, readers, and artists. Including me. I was fortunate enough to be gifted an early copy by the author, and read it back in February back in one delicious rush. I already want to read it again, and more slowly, this time underlining and annotating it. This is a book to savor, but is easy to devour instead. It's sensual and surprising, formally precise, and made me want to dig around in a mess of queer historical papers and also contribute my own to the pile. It's out on June 4, 2024; give it a pre-order or look for it on shelves soon!

49 Days by Agnes Lee 

Kit, a young Korean American woman, wakes up on a beach with a map and a watch telling her she's already late. For days, she clambers over rocks and up trails, reaching for an undefined goal. Slowly, the book begins to flash back to Kit's childhood and family, the people she loved and left behind after her accidental death. In Buddhist tradition a soul travels for 49 days before rebirth, and this book follows one version of that path, the grief and slow healing that follow a loss. Drawn in a very simple yet evocative style, the spare ink lines and limited color fill this journey with meaning.

Early Riser by Jasper Fforde read by Thomas Hunt 

What a bizarre and delightful novel. It's set in an alternate history in which ice-age level cold spells cause the majority of humans to hibernate every winter, which has ripple effects on the development of technology, societal rules, culture, and family structures. Charlie Worthing was born in a "pool" in the independent nation of Wales, or a group home in which nuns dedicated to reproduction birth and raise dozens of children, in returns for credits from those who can't or don't want to have their own kids. Charlie has very few job prospects, especially ones that will give him access to morphanox, a drug which helps most people survive their months-long winter sleeps. The drug also turns about 1 in 3000 into a brain-dead zombie, but this risk is considered better odds than sleeping without it. So Charlie volunteers for the Winter Consuls, the law-keepers and problem-solvers who stay up all winter to safe guard the majority. There he has to face the three well documented dangers of winter- Vacants (zombies), Villains (the British) and Winter Volk (fairies, whose reality is debated), as well as rumors of a viral dream. The humor in this book is a close cousin to Terry Pratchett's work, in which absurdity and invention mask some pretty biting social commentary and anti-capitalist motives. I did think some of the twists at the end didn't quite pay off, however, I had such a good time with the ride this book took me on that I'd still recommend it.

Blue Flag vol 2 by Kaito 

This vol has already taken a kind of melancholy, bittersweet narrative tone which might put me off the series. I still really like the characters and overall think the writing is very effective, out I wish the humor and sweetness of book 1 would last farther into the series!

Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins: Jester Lavorre by Sam Maggs, Laura Bailey, Matthew Mercer, Hunter Severn Bonyun, Cathy Le, Ariana Maher

Short and sweet, this prequel comic shows Jester's first meeting with The Traveler, the prank that caused her need to flee from Nicodranas, and a window into Jester's relationship with her mother. It's a slight story but I loved the artwork, especially the outfits and the beautiful city views.

The Book of Love by Kelly Link

Kelly Link, one of my favorite short story authors, debuted a novel 650 pages long. I bought this the day of release but it took me a few months to actually crack it open. I'd seen it described as slow, but I think I'd say leisurely. It opens with an intriguing premise- four teenagers come back from the dead, not knowing how they died or why they were brought back 11 months later- and have to solve a magical problem if they want to keep living. But the book is less a mystery than a close examination of the teens lives in a small New England town in December. The teens include Danial, oldest of many step-siblings, who rejects his new magical powers and just wants to live a small and ordinary life. There's Mo, who lost his parents young, and was being raised by his grandmother, a famous Black romance novelist- who herself died during the 11 months he spent in an underworld. There's Laura, a musically ambitious teen, who comes back to her single mom and sister Susannah, who seems somehow entangled with the magical ritual that killed and might save her friends. And then there's a fourth person who none of the others know, who snuck out of death on their coat tails and has no name and few memories. The book rotates POVs every chapter, with more than 15 different POVs, some of whom only appear once in the whole volume. I love Link's writing style so this worked for me, but I can see how this choice to linger over details not directly related to the plot might not work for some readers. I really enjoyed this but it did take me 3 weeks to read it and I suggest other readers pick it up when ready for a slow burn of a book.

Plain Jane and the Mermaid by Vera Brosgol 

This original fairytale opens with teenage Jane mourning the recent death of her parents, after she already lost her younger brother to the sea as a child. Because there's no male heir, Jane's horrible cousin will be kicking her out of the house in a week. The only option she can see is marrying within the week so that she can access her dowry. So Jane walks down to the fishing village below her manor and proposes to a beautiful but shallow fisherman's son. He accepts- then is immediately lured under the waves by a mermaid. Jane runs into the town asking for help but only an old woman with witchy vibes is willing to aid her. The crone gives Jane a potion so she can breathe underwater, a stone which will allow her to walk on the bottom of the ocean, and a shawl to keep her warm in the depths. So armed, Jane walks into the sea after the boy who feels like her only hope. Under the waves she encounters allies and enemies, learns the true power of her own will, and realizes she might have more choices than she's realized.

Blue Flag vol 3 by Kaito

Well, I started another book because the last one ended on a massive cliff hanger, but I think I'm setting the series down after this one. I still think it's very well written, but the main character has such low self-esteem that he shouts at other characters that he sucks, he's a jerk, he doesn't deserve their friendship and they should leave him alone. I bet the arc of this series will be building this character up to where he believes he deserves their love and friendship, but I just don't feel like dwelling in this character's self-pity at the moment. I would have eaten this shit up as a teen though! Especially with the queer characters.

The Free People’s Village by Sim Kern

Set in an alternate timeline in which Al Gore won the 2000 election and declared the War on Climate Change instead of the War on Terror, this novel is an interesting mix of hopeful and dystopian elements. The main character is Maddie Ryan, a white high school English teacher working in a primarily Black neighborhood in Houston, TX. The novel is Maddie's written account of a tumultuous year in which the grungy music warehouse where her punk band practices and performs is threatened by a proposed high way and oil line which will rip up not only their art space but also a historically Black neighborhood. Maddie starts attending activist meetings which quickly morph into a full blown protest encampment surrounding the warehouse. Dubbed the Free People Village, this protest movement goes viral and is met with the exact same kind of violent police response as the current student encampments protesting for Palestine on college campuses. Woven through this depressingly accurate political forecast are multiple queer love stories, interracial friendships, a 101 crash course in anarchist philosophy and bracing look at what long-term activism takes. Folks with more of an organizing or activist background than I might find some of this book a bit basic; but I was completely drawn in by the relationships and conflicts of Maddie, Red, Gestas, Angel, and Shayna. This book feels almost painfully timely, and I hope a lot of people read it and gain both courage and perspective.

[no-face-no-shame]

The worst part about ppl who support all of that AI bullshit is that at the end of the day they don't care. They don't care about artists. You can give them all of the best arguments and once they can't argue anymore, they will just shrug and go get ChatGPT to write their essay. They don't give a single fuck about the ethical part of the situation, about artists' frustration with their work being stolen and them being replaced. You can't reason with them because in the end they just don't care. Or tell you that you "can't be forever opposed to AI because this is the future."

Cool. I don't want this future. I don't want stupid, soulless machines to replace human creativity through stealing human work. I study IT directed specifically at AI, so I know how it works from the kitchen. I'm also a writer myself and I know what it takes to write a good story. A lot. AI should never be allowed to replace writers and artists.

If this is the future, then we can change it. Future is purely dependent on what we choose to do right now

[mithrilhearts]

Hi! I saw you made a post about the AI scraping on AO3….this may be kinda stupid but can you explain what this AI scraping thing is for dummies? I just want to better understand why we should lock out works :)

Hey there, Anon!!

I'm terrible at explaining most things, but I'll do my best! Sorry if this isn't...really what you're asking for, lol I'm trying, I swear.

Essentially what it is (and definitely not new), is training machines to create something that a real human being has already done - so with the fanfic scraping, they go in and "devour" the fics written to train their programs so that they can mass produce some form of content, whether it's stories, essays, scripts, you name it.

The machines learn off of the things we write. It sees how sentences are formulated, and how dialogue and tone blends together for a story/script/paper/etc. But it can also copy writing style, as each writer has them.

I personally don't want my fics, or style, to be a teacher, or flat out COPIED to something that will produce soulless, half-baked stories in the end, when a PERSON could easily enough just write something. Locking fics at least adds a step so that only registered users can see the fanfics, whereas if your fics aren't locked, yes, they're open for EVERYONE to read and see, which is great in theory, but then the scraping programs see that as fair game and use it to train their AI models.

The same thing happens with art, music, you name it, and 99% of the time, they have no consent to use [x thing someone made] to train their AI programs. It's ultimately theft, and monetized in some cases as well.

TL;DR: It uses fics to teach a machine how to make sentences (and not great ones)

Protect your works, folks ✌

[brofisting]

Brief thoughts on AI writing/art data-scraping and subsequent content production, & the conclusion I've come to.

Thought #1: There has been a lot of discussion about how AI is or is not art theft (or writing theft); from my understanding every model works slightly differently. What isn't up for debate, though, is that all AI models require data to function, and that data has to come from somewhere. The companies developing AI have a strong incentive to get data by any means possible; the internet is the easiest place to start, but there's no way to get permission from every single person who has ever put something on the internet for the use of that thing to develop the AI, even if every single person were inclined to give it.

Conclusion #1: Doesn't matter if the AI's output is a copyright violation; instead, it was a violation of copyright to feed that data to the AI in the first place, making the AI itself inherently legally problematic.

("BRIEF" DO NOT @ ME OKAY. SEE BELOW FOR THE REST OF MY BIG ASS ESSAY. I WILL REBLOG WITH THE SHORTEST TL;DR I CAN MANAGE.)

Thoughts #2&3: Due to how easy it is to scrape data online, and the way technology is currently progressing (silicon valley motto of Never Ask "Should" I Do It, Just "Can" I Do It), there is almost no way to prevent these AI from being developed with stolen data, and there's enough out there to make these very, very good. They've gotten immeasurably better in just the past few years. Also, preventing them from scraping one thing (ie archive-locking fic) is probably not going to do anything about the problem as a whole, even if it stops that one thing from getting used (and if it even does prevent that thing from being used; I am not sure there's not ways to get around that kind of obstacle).

Conclusions #2&3: Can't stop the technology from developing, and trying to prevent your data from being accessed through technological barriers is at best small potatoes and at worst futile.

Thought #4: What is the incentive for people to do this? Money. These AI are being developed in hopes that they can be used to do things humans can currently do, for cheaper, so they can sell them to companies who will then use them to replace human labor. Will it produce results as good as human labor? No. Will that matter? Not enough, and not in all circumstances.

Conclusion #4: How to prevent this from happening in a way that loses people jobs (or loses the least jobs, or at least protects creative work, or does the whole thing slowly enough to save your job and my job)? Make it so companies cannot legally make money by using the output of these AIs.

WHICH... takes us back to Conclusion #1 -- due to the copyright violation inherent in these programs, it is important to make sure the output can't be copyrighted. Which, at the moment, legal precedent says it can't be. But that's something that companies which stand to make money off AI-generated work are going to try to change.

THEREFORE... we gotta fight those fuckers every step of the way to make sure that AI generated work can't be copyrighted. Which, IMO, means:

educating people about how these models are developed using data theft

make the connection between AI development and potential harms clear (both things like face recognition tech and hurting creatives by replacing them in jobs)

encourage people to fight legally instead of technologically; ie instead of archive-locking work on AO3, continue to throw a fit at the AI company, file legal copyright complaints, etc (any useful suggestions here would be great!)

And then, bonus, if your company is considering using this kind of technology to replace artists or writers, throw a giant fucking shit-fit. Bring up possible legal ramifications. Bring up possible public backlash ramifications. Bring up ramifications of you personally quitting and being a huge bitch about it the whole time. Whatever you can safely do!

I don't think we can prevent AIs, nor do I necessarily think they're inherently evil; I DO think they are being made by people who do not care if they are being used or made in an evil way or not. I'm not sure we can prevent their usage to replace creative jobs entirely, but I think we should try. And I am willing to put my money where my mouth is on that. Which is all I can say about it!

NOTE: I am not a technical expert or legal expert on AI; I am some guy online, but I have a vested interest in this both as someone who pays to have art made and who makes art themselves. I have recently done a fair amount of research into this, and this is what I came to personally. If you have more information from a legal or technical perspective that contradicts this, I'd love to hear it!

[johncarter54]

Turnitin, GPTZero, Originality and othersAI detectors are not able to detect NetusAI paraphrased content! Make your life much easier with NetusAI paraphrasing tool - https://netus.ai/

[personal-ly]

I fucking hate mainstream coverage of the writer's strike. Why is everyone talking about the strike delaying shows rather than talking about the actual fucking strike??

And i cannot believe how many people think ai rn can replace writers. Like have you read that shit?? Like it's boring at best and incoherent sometimes. Chat gpt can't even write an essay without it being immediately obvious that it was written by an ai.

I have soo many thoughts about some dumbass YouTube channels too that are like the writing is bad nowadays so they'll lose their jobs anyway and the wga members don't know what they're doing blah blah blah . I'm kinda pissed off ngl

[forsssnaken]

Tips for New Fic Writers (by someone who is not qualified in the slightest)

Capitalise your titles like that (if you wish to capitalise at all, there's something to be said for entirely lowercase titles for style). Every word in a title should be capitalised EXCEPT and, an, a, but, at, as, for, by, the, on, or, in, of -- UNLESS THEY ARE THE FIRST OR LAST WORD IN A TITLE.

Please take your dialogue out of the paragraph. Let's do paragraph breaks, please.

If you don't understand grammar or English very well, seek out a Beta reader. If you don't want that, the least you can do is skim through it with grammarly (not recommended).

Don't abandon pararaphs. They're probably alright and salvageable. Just copy and paste them to the bottom of the document. Sometimes you'll find yourself in a rut, can scroll down, and there will be something to help you that you've written previously.

Practice is the best thing you could possibly do, and it's a damn good thing for my ego that I haven't posted all the fanfiction I've ever written (see: Lord of the Rings gay ships in my 3rd grade writing notebook that I had to share with the whole class). You almost have to get better if you're practicing.

The biggest 'turn offs' in writing, from a very picky person:

Blocks and blocks of text. Be liberal with your paragraph breaks, please!

Dialogue without proper quotation marks. Man is that annoying to read.

AI. Yes, it's easy to tell. I can tell if it's the whole fic or a damn paragraph. This skill comes from reading 14/15 year olds' essays for 2 years.

The wrong your/you're and there/their/they're. It's not a hard rule to learn, friends.

If you name Aziraphale something other than that (see: Azira Fell, Azi, Az, Ezra, etc.) -- this is a personal gripe.

I don't want this to scare you.

Most Important Things to Take Away: Reading others' work is the second best thing for your writing, writing is the best. Write whenever you get a free moment.

Remember: It's a hobby, not a career (given that you're reading this post) so give yourself some grace. I love you. Stay hydrated and do some carpal tunnel exercises from youtube.

[greenhappyseed]

How the Quirk Singularity is like ChatGPT (or the AI of your choice)

I had this comment from @mhasuperfansblog a while ago, and I realized it’s worthwhile to talk about what “singularity” means, because yes, it IS a quirk controlling a user.

The literal meaning of “singularity” is “the state, fact, quality, or condition of being singular/unique/distinctive.” The word does NOT mean “many things converging into one.” Instead, a singularity marks a unique and rare point after which things are never the same and are wildly unpredictable. The old models must be thrown out and a new reality acknowledged. For example:

The Big Bang is theorized to be a singularity that created a universe — and space itself— from nothing

The infinitely dense and unstable material at the center of a black hole, which IMO is best explained via the movie Interstellar

The moment a butterfly flaps its wings to irreversibly change the weather on the other side of the world

What does this have to do with AI?

For many years, people with big brains have been predicting that the exponential growth of technology will inevitably come to a point when artificial intelligence surpasses the total of all human intelligence. We’ll reach a tech singularity point of no return, after which humans can’t reliably predict or control what happens. Once machines outsmart humans and replace all human jobs and human skills, humanity will become unnecessary; maybe even extinct. [Insert Terminator joke here about Skynet becoming self-aware.]

While the details are up for debate, the “tech singularity doomsday theory” has been around for a while and it isn’t exactly fringe. For example, Time Magazine published this article in 2014, tracing the theory back to a 1993 essay (which itself cites research papers from the 1950s-60s).

The graphic below is from 2005-07 and has been republished in various forms all over the internet. (I’m not going to debate accuracy, as the theory is the point.)

Which brings us back to MHA

When Horikoshi talks about quirk power growing exponentially with each generation, and quirks no longer being controllable by an individual, he’s not JUST talking about characters like Eri who have potentially destructive quirks. He’s talking about characters whose quirks take over them. Consume them.

The Quirk Singularity Doomsday Theory is the point at which QUIRKS take over and drive human actions rather than the heart and soul that typically mark “humanity;” after this point people’s actions become unstable, irrational, and unpredictable. When quirks take over a body, the heart and soul slide towards extinction UNLESS people’s hearts evolve so their psychological makeup and emotional strength can rival —and control — their quirk power.

AFO became a demon lord by taking and giving quirks, eventually making his quirk into his name and personality. Naturally, he has an interest in controlling the singularity in some fashion. I’m not sure yet if he’s trying to stop the singularity to preserve his power over the world, or if he gave Tomura a singularity-proof body in order to survive and continue trading post-singularity quirks, but either way AFO is only looking at how quirks and physical bodies can control the problems presented by the singularity. Focusing only on the “hardware” is his limitation. Because heart is power and a threat to his eternal rule, he’s never “evolved his heart.” AFO is as hollow as he’s always been. Therefore, as his original body rewinds but his massive stolen quirk stockpile remains, AFO is becoming unstable. He doesn’t have sufficient heart, and is losing the physical body, to stop his quirk from taking over.

But how can the heroes win?

In the end, I suspect Horikoshi is going to give us a solution similar to those suggested by the tech singularity theorists and sci fi writers: We need to do more collectively, as a global society, to invest in the success of the next (human) generation, with an emphasis on cooperation, ethics & norms, increased communication, and carefully avoiding both the baggage of the past and the re-creation of the past’s elite class.

Of COURSE Horikoshi has given us a winking gag reference to both the Terminator and Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics along the way just to make his point of view crystal clear, and that’s why I ADORE his combination of artistic talent and science/tech nerdery.

[bluebellhairpin]

There's been AI covers of songs going around for ages on tiktok (ones I'm referring to in this post are covers by 'Arthur Morgan' from Red Dead 2, however there are hundreds of others, be they characters from shows or actual musical artists) and they've never sat fuckin right with me.

With the strike going on, and cooperation's saying they're going to start using AI generated actors (their body scans AND voices), these tiktoks are like a genuine problem now.

Roger Clark, then man who voiced Arthur Morgan in the video game has spoken about it now, and noted how harmful it is, saying he "doesn't get a kick out of it at all" and that it is "Plagiarism Software". These AI 'Covers' ARE Plagiarism.

If you'd like the definition of the word, Oxford Dictionary states it's "Presenting work or ideas from another source as your own, with or without consent of the original author (Or in the case of AI "original creator" = original writer, actor, artist, etc)". That means ALL your AI art, ALL your AI writing, ALL those AI character chat bots you use ALL the AI song covers, ALL of them being GENERATED by an AI WITHOUT CONCENT FROM THE ORIGINAL CREATORS are Plagiarized Works.

Now, because so many people think they can just use AI and not have to worry about the consequences (because for some reason, they think there is none), here's what can happen if you're caught using Plagiarized works; This Scribblr article states what can happen if you use plagiarized works in a university, college or high school environment, which is becoming a problem with AI generated essays, etc. (It also Included a section on why it's so serious - a section easily transferred into AI generated Fanfiction). best case scenario is that you get an automatic zero score. Worst case, expulsion. Here in Australia, according this article by Criminal Defense Lawyers Australia, under our copywrite law, the penalty for plagiarism can be up to 5 years imprisonment, and/or a 600,000 AUD fine.

There's many, many other articles one could comb though, above is only two, and while neither of them directly mention AI works, the idea IS the same. AI works are copywrite. AI works are plagiarism. AI works are dishonest, and they are ruining the creative field in an extremely brutal and heartless way. There are people here who are being stolen from - not just in creative spaces like fandom or art - but their very jobs, their livelihoods (show writers, actors, musicians).

Those using AI are being unethical, and selfish, and I know they will be stubborn too. But if you use AI you are supporting it. If you're supporting it, then you are willingly sitting and watching people die, slowly. And I'm sorry (not really), but people who are like that don't deserve to keep their toys.

[fireartandstylezine]

What Happened to #Nanowrimo

A Micro Essay

By Mutiny Crinshaw, co-editor, Grinning Kitten Press

It often appears to me that people in the press & in society at large think of National Novel Writing Month, or Nanowrimo, as some cute little holiday-style project, if not on the level of Mother's Day, than at least Secretary's Day or National Donut Day. Fun, innocuous, something your quirky writer friend does.

That's a misperception. & the scandal which took down the forums & has Nanowrimo's Board of Directors scrambling proves that this perception is in error.

The rumors I have seen in Reddit & elsewhere in the Nano community indicate an abuse scandal. I will not dive into it; I am sure others can inform you much better than I can, & I am not privy to the most important details.

What I want to point out is that Nano isn't just some happy-fun project for your writer friends, although many of your writer friends also think that it is & can be forgiven for wanting to hang out with their other writer friends for this one month just to write.

I want to put Nanowrimo in its larger context.

What began as friends around a table wanting to Chase Those Words & Write a Novel was something anyone could have organized. You, me, your own friends. We organize little events like that all the time.

Nano simply had a certain social capital & gained a certain momentum.

The question of what creative types do with such momentum tells us a lot. It tells us a lot in the context of AI, the Arts, & late capitalism.

The choice of folks behind Nanowrimo was to take that momentum & create a 501(c)3, which is a nonprofit entity under US law.

The ease & lack of controversy around that choice exists in a continuum that constitutes all the rest, shaping the kinds and forms of abuse beyond the most illegal and egregious. It gives legal cover to the broader social harms.

Certainly choosing a nonprofit form is not a mistake on the level of "mistakes" that led to the kind of abuse rumored to be going on around Nano HQ, but it is not an unrelated mistake.

Because it is a mistake about power.

About control.

About bending people to your will.

Most of Nano runs off volunteer labor. Interns, unpaid regional coordinators, & the like.

It is a lot of work they do, year-round. Moderating. Writing grants. Chasing donors.

Meanwhile, HQ has worked with fundraising, PR, branding, & most of all selling memorabilia . . . & the best part of that is, you do not need to "win Nano" to participate in the shopping. Or the donations.

Another problem with a collective enterprise like Nano in our stage of late capitalism is that it encourages writers to hustle. (A phenomenon related to Large Language Models/ChatGPT/AI, but I will not be diving into that too much here.)

Successful hustlers - the REALLY successful ones - have social capital to burn, have wealthy loved ones & donor networks & credit (literal economic credit as well as social credit) that boosts their projects.

So while thousands of writers hunker down for the month of November to hustle their novel into being, the real hustlers at the top can hustle & make money in the name of The Arts.

The average Nano author will not get rich. Will not public unless it is through Amazon. Will work very hard for no money.

But who will make money off Nanowrimo?

Admin.

Thus, it should come as no surprise, if & when Nano HQ's abuse scandal(s) come more to light, that people have been harmed & abused.

The egregious harms lay atop a pervasive culture of exploitation which permeate nonprofits & shape our entire industry of cultural production.

Harm & abuse go hand-in-hand where charity work & volunteer labor are exploited.

The nonprofit-industrial complex provides legally-recognized covers for the harnessing of collective, creative spirit. It drives profits, offsets costs, & masks marketing & PR under a humanitarian guise. In the case of Nanowrimo, it yokes literacy & creativity for the profit of the few admins at the top.

This is "The Arts" in the US. Grifters preying on idealists. Incorporating. & if you are outside the US, you will not go untouched, for our nonprofits come for you & your culture as much as our for-profits do.

In conclusion, we ought to become & remain skeptical of any artistic endeavor that gains prominence under capitalism.

Whether that artistic endeavor promises a hip new movie studio, an artsy social media platform, a rising music label . . . or even a publishing press.

If the Art World & the mainstream media celebrate it, then you know it hates artists. It abuses writers. It milks us for profit.

The best way ahead for Nanowrimo will be for the unpaid regional leads to de-federate from HQ & create new, anti-capitalist enterprises. Artists and writers, we need to form collectives that will meet nonprofits & corporation in cultural combat. No words but class war <3

A rougher draft of this micro-essay was posted earlier on our Mastodon account. It has been edited for stylistic improvements and linguistic and intellectual clarity.