Readers!
Well! I had quite a week last week. On Wednesday, I spoke to my town school board, and on Thursday to the director of my town library, about AI. You can see me at the school board here, around 3:16:00. I learned a lot in doing so, particularly these three things:
- Specifics matter. In my talk to the school board, I zeroed in one problem with AI that I thought would matter to them most: that it’s being used to create child sexual abuse materials, and having children upload their pictures into these platforms was morally bankrupt and a potential legal nightmare. I cited statics from the Center for Countering Digital Hate and reporting from Wired too. I also pointed out that I went to Catholic Schools in Camden County at a time when they were harboring a pedophile ring, we can’t just assume educators will always do the right thing, and so that they needed to consider potential legal action for not doing anything. Though I said it…not in those exact words. In meeting with the library, I took an AI slop image they had posted on their social media channels, showed them a DVD in the library by the artists whose work was stolen to create that image, and gave them printed out copies of an interview the artist did about how pissed off he was about all this. I also pulled the copy of my book they have in the library off the shelf — one of my three books that have all been stolen by AI — to drive home that this theft is happening to people in their community.
- Anti-AI sentiment is higher than tech companies want you to believe. In both meetings, I expected to be met with resistance. Instead, I found kindred spirits, in educators, students and parents. Even if they used AI, they recognized it’s not all it’s been promised to be. One person even said they had gone out of their way to stop using a product that added AI without their permission. More people than I realized do not want this, across generations.
- It did me some good. It sometimes feels lonely speaking out against AI in this fight for the soul, but going into these meetings and talking to other people, and connecting with them in person made me feel better. Not that writing and sharing and posting isn’t important, but having people look me in the eye and agree with me, was a boost. I’ve also heard from people privately about how their jobs are pushing this on them, and they hate it, and thanking me for speaking up when they don’t want to risk their jobs by doing so. Is it selfish to feel good about this? Sure. But I needed that to keep me going.
And let’s see how AI is doing. Not well! Remember, AI is not inevitable!
- Grammarly is being sued for offering users “expert review,” without actually asking the experts for their permission. Because this company thought it was fine to turn hundreds of — again, real life people, dead or alive, including more than a few I’ve worked with — into “AI editors,” as if they had willingly agreed to be bot-ized. Because as you can guess, Grammarly didn’t ask, let alone pay these people. I hope the lawsuit bankrupts them.
- Hachette cancelled the publication of a book after finding out it’s AI slop. Not great that it got as far as reviewers getting preview copies, but good on the New York Times reporter who spotted it was a work of the lying plagiarism machine, and confronted the publisher about it.
- And finally, New York City killing the AI chat bot that told businesses to break the law. Byeeeee!!!!!!
Recent Bylines
“Michael Tibbets ’04 Runs a Sustainably-Focused Resort in the Caribbean,” Princeton Alumni Weekly
What I’m Reading
- D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II by Stephen E. Ambrose, read by Jesse Boggs. Assuming the world doesn’t blow up by then, I’m going to Normandy as part of my trip next month. Movies are fine, but I wanted to listen to a non-fiction book about all this. This tome dug deep into the details about just how complicated the invasion was, and how many people died in ways that a bunch of numbers can’t. I did cry a few times, especially at this part, quoting Pvt. Robert Healey of the 149th Combat Engineers: “On the way back, I came across what was probably the most poignant memory I have of the whole episode. Lying on the beach was a young soldier, his arms outstretched. Near one of his hands, as if he had been reading it, was a pocketbook (what today would be called a paperback). It was Our Hearts Were Young and Gay by Cornelia Otis Sinner. This expressed the spirit of our ordeal. Our hearts were young and gay because we thought we were immortal, we believed we were doing such a great thing, and we really believed in the crusade which we hoped would liberate the world from the heel of Nazism.” It’s unfathomable to me that these heroics and sacrifices have been forgotten by people who are opening the door to fascism right now. It makes me pretty angry and God help us all if some MAGAt is on my Normandy tour.
What I’m Watching
- Douglas is Cancelled. Was this BBC miniseries supposed to be funny? If it was, it missed the mark, even if it was supposed to be a dark comedy. They just didn’t get the balance right.
- The Importance of Being Ernest (National Theater). I don’t think you could do a straight production of this Oscar Wilde play because of the source material, but this 2024-2025 production, which was filmed and is available on Youtube, turned the queerness dial up to 11. As they should! I loved every bit of it. Also, Ncuti Gatwa should wear hot pink forever.
- Man on Fire. I usually like watching Denzel Washington beat the snot out of people, but this 2004 movie tipped over into too much violence for violence’s sake. The special effects they used to indicate chaos make it look really dated too. Oh well.
- I, Tonya. I also can’t believe I missed this Tonya Harding movie when it came out, especially since I watched the controversy as it unfolded, as any teenage girl from the time probably did. At least Harding was part of this movie’s process, unlike that series about Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. Good on these women coming out better on the other side. Oh and if you haven’t read it already, Daryl Hannah had something to say about how she’s portrayed in the new Ryan Murphy show.
Nail Polish of the Week
Claydreaming by OPI. I wanted to do something neutral for speaking to the school board and library, and also it’s a solid purple-leaning brown that fit the bill. Also worked for a week when some days highs were in the 70s and some days in the 30s.
Until next time!
Jen A. Miller (she/her)
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