A Controversial View of Piracy and AI

Why do you write?

With the revelation that Meta used a known pirate site to train their AI, I’ve heard so many cries of rage and bemoaning of authors wondering why they even write if their work is just going to be stolen. But if they don’t write for their work to be read, why do they?

Yes, I know that with their work uploaded to AI others can have the computer mimic their style to write new books, but unless those books are published under that author’s name (which is a serious violation), I don’t know why this is a huge problem.

A computer, even fed with all of a particular writer’s work, can never truly write with the heart, voice, and creativity of the original author. It will always sound off. Wrong. Or just not be original.

I’m certain you have heard people say that if you write novels to become rich there are much easier and more assured ways to make money. Ninety percent (or more) authors do not earn enough to make a living off their writing alone. This is why authors are encouraged to diversify, to use their talents in some other way aside from just publishing books.

So, if you don’t write to earn a living (since you’re unlikely to do so), why do you do it?

To be honest, I asked myself this question a lot when first began writing. In fact, I got…