ai vs creative purity

we get it you don't use ai!!!!

imagine opening instagram and the first story of the day is jessa hastings (author of the magnolia parks series) defending the use of ai to write a book—or more like, to help herself write a book. fair???

(let me be clear I don’t completely agree with jessa’s take on the use of ai!!)

then you open substack and the first note you see is something like "stop using ai to write your substack" or "you're not a real writer if you use ai."

then you open tiktok and everyone is blaming rebecca yarros (author of fourth wing) and other authors for using ai and stealing intellectual property.

then you open linkedin and see job postings for ai improvement (think: teaching ai to sound more human).

then you close linkedin and open tiktok again, only to land on the side of the algorithm that's teaching you how to use ai as a design tool. suddenly, ai is solving your life. making it better. improving it.

today i woke up, and this was the creative world i stepped into.

so here's the thing about ai and creativity: it's complicated. it's not black and white.

personally, i don't think ai itself is immoral. it's just a tool, like photoshop or google docs. the real issue is what's happening behind the scenes—the material impact on workers and creators.

first big issue: intellectual property

ai scrapes millions of artworks, books, and designs without permission or payment. creators lose ownership of their work, and suddenly it's big tech's playground. generative ai is legally messy because it relies on massive databases filled with content taken without consent. and let's be clear—creators whose art or writing gets pulled into these databases deserve to be paid, no question.

second: exploitation

designers, writers, artists—the people making logos, briefs, and real content—are under insane pressure to slash their prices because clients can easily replace them with cheap, ai-generated content.

but you know what? despite all this, i love jessa hastings (for example). i honestly don't give a fuck if she uses ai for research purposes. i'm still going to read her books because i adore her characters, her storylines, her plots. if she drops another magnolia parks book next year, i'm reading it immediately, ai or not. so what if some characters were developed with ai? whatever, who cares?

this whole superiority complex from authors and creators who shit on ai is honestly hard to believe. if you say you never use ai—not even for quick research or fact-checking—I don’t buy it. stop shaming the people who do use ai. it just makes you look jealous and insecure.

i use ai openly. i use it for editing, fixing grammar, spelling, and improving flow. the ideas are mine. the words are mine. everything is mine. so fucking what?

it's getting really tiring opening substack to read yet another note saying, "ai is ruining creativity" or "originality is so hard to find these days." seriously, fuck off. why would originality be rare now? i believe my thoughts are original—and guess what, i use ai!!

recently, victoria aveyard (author of red queen) went on a rant about how if you use ai, you're not a real writer or author, mentioning intellectual property concerns. and yeah, that's something i'll definitely research more deeply. but if you're using ai tools like character ai, claude, or midjourney to design covers or branding, why would that be immoral or unethical? that's just being smart and budget-conscious—especially for self-published authors or people building brands without massive budgets.

ai is a great tool if you know how to use it effectively. i'm not talking about stealing ideas, but using ai creatively, strategically—that's not cheating, it's smart.

so yes, we should absolutely discuss the downsides: intellectual property theft, labor exploitation, environmental concerns (massive servers consuming energy and water), and how ai shifts power dynamics in favor of corporations. but let's not demonize the people who use ai to simplify their lives, work within tight budgets, or simply make their creative processes smoother.

criticizing someone just because they use ai is ridiculous and honestly, tiring. let's stop with the purity tests and start focusing on the real issues behind ai in the creative economy. that's what actually matters.

and cancel me if you must.