These are wild times, my friends. The real horrors make the fictional horrors seem tame by comparison, but hopefully, we will navigate through the BS together.

Speaking of some serious BS…

Recently, it has come to everyone’s attention that Meta, OpenAI, and even Microsoft have been accused of pirating books to train their AI models. It has gone beyond mere accusations, however. The number pirated books used is said to be over 7.5 million. The Atlantic, in their coverage, published a link for authors to use to see if their books appeared in LibGen. LibGen is a pirated book site the AI companies are using to steal books from authors and use them without acknowledgment or payment.

You’d think these assholes weren’t billionaires and shit. I’d take any royalty money I can get to avoid eating Ramen or PB&J for every meal. A few book sales would allow me to be bougie and buy some eggs.

Pirating will always be an issue in the Internet Age. It’s like playing Whack-A-Mole, though; for every site taken down, three more spring up in their place. They are like an evil hydra stealing every book that isn’t nailed down.

After reading more about the class-action lawsuit filed in the name of the authors on the LibGen list, I decided to check if my name appeared. Honestly, I was pretty surprised when it did. This is why creators have spoken out loudly about AI. The trainers steal writing, art, and anything they can get their grubby little hands on to train humanity’s replacement. Listening to some discuss how they typed in a few ideas and their AI bullshit coughed out an incoherent book in a few minutes is maddening. Part of art is the process. When I write, I bleed on the page and cut a piece of my soul off to put in the book in the process. AI offers none of the emotional connection that real authors bring to their work. A machine can’t breathe life into a character the way a human can.

This situation is worth watching even if you aren’t involved. Currently, before the suit can proceed, the question arises as to whether training the AI with the pirated works constitutes a copyright violation. Once a judge sorts that out, it will determine if the suit proceeds or not.

I hope it goes forth. I’m not going to get anything out of it, but I want to see the AI tech-bros squirm and realize they can’t use an artist’s work for free with their AI training. This case will have far-reaching implications for the future of AI and how companies train their AI systems.

I will leave you now so I can work on the sixth version of a screenplay that is nearing completion, with the goal of being ready to film by the end of the year. I will have more details on that news as things are finalized.

Later, my friends, don’t forget to check out my travel site at http://www.brentscrossroads.com and visit my YouTube Channel too.

Brent