Some Thoughts (and Opinions) on NaNoWriMo and AI
I was getting a story together or at least a goal ready for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). For those of you who don’t know, it’s an organization that challenges writers to write 50,000 words in a single month which happens to be November.
If you read the “What’s My Excuse?” blog article, you know I tried NaNoWriMo. It managed to get me on my way to write something, and they ask you to stay around, track your progress with their built in tracker, and join other writers.
The premise as a whole was something I could get behind.
A challenge of 50,000 words? Let’s do it!
A neat tracker? I’d love to engage!
A space where writers can get together that isn’t social media with no physical constraints? Sure!
Someone there to organize it all? Sounds good to me!
Then, like a potato that seemed fine on the surface ended up having some major issues.
First, there was a controversy around grooming and just lacking moderation as a whole. This isn’t great when I would argue their biggest audience isn’t adult men like me, but those who are much younger and influenced: children.
I was interested in Camp NaNoWriMo, which is like NaNoWriMo but in the summer, and boy did I feel out of place. I would recommend to them to branch their minor outreach into a separate organization, if for nothing else to cover them legally. Supporting children who want to write and adults is different from adults in many aspects. And many laws in different places in the world require different things for minors.
Then second, NaNoWriMo essentially endorsed AI. They have updated their statement to explain their stance with more context and detail, but the outcome remains that they support AI. I won’t quote the whole thing, but here’s the quote that really stuck out to me from their community article:
“We believe that to categorically condemn AI would be to ignore classist and ableist issues surrounding the use of the technology, and that questions around the use of AI tie to questions around privilege.”
Woah…woah, woah woah there! I know it’s easy to get defensive NaNoWriMo, but is it really a privilege to not buy into technology? Are you saying AI is for poor people? And as for abelism, I think you’re missing the point. Remember Christy Brown? He wrote with just his left foot. Would have he used AI? I don’t know, but I know AI does not equal Christy Brown. I feel like it’s ableist to say people like him needed or would use AI.
I know NaNoWriMo mentions not to dismiss it completely which I feel like could be said about anything. When it comes to AI, there are bad actors who will use it to pass a book off as their own. Other authors like Joanna Penn use it for operational purposes which somewhat makes sense.
On the other hand, AI is a slippery slope to conformity. What if I want a smengle smurch (which is somewhat like a goblin but with a bigger nose and lips) in my fantasy novel? Currently, spellcheck, which is AI focused, is telling me that it’s wrong. (I’m a bad boy!) So what is our first thought? To remove it! What fun is that? Where is the originality?
Plus, it’s not perfect. Remember Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan? It was supposed to be “Medium is the Message,” but he liked it so much that he kept it. Why? Because it proved his point, and this caused the public to think more deeply on mediums and how they affect all of us. With AI catching that somehow, I don’t think it would have the cultural impact where we naturally make connections with words.
And don’t get me started on the environmental impacts of AI.
In the end, NaNoWriMo states, “For all of those reasons, we absolutely do not condemn AI, and we recognize and respect writers who believe that AI tools are right for them. We recognize that some members of our community stand staunchly against AI for themselves, and that's perfectly fine. As individuals, we have the freedom to make our own decisions.”
Well, I have decided not to rejoin NaNoWriMo like many others. There is a line that should not be crossed. What that line is, some of us are still figuring out. Others are crossing that line deeply, and we suffer collectively and creatively for it. Check out Chuck Wendig’s blog which has even more additional points.
My line? Spellcheck…and even that, I don’t hit accept all and really think about what it points out. After all, don’t we want more smengle smurches and snibble slapsters in the world?