AI Policy

This policy is inspired by both my daughter & Mel Mitchell-Jackson’s AI policy.

My brief Dabbling in AI

AI has never settled well with me, though I’ve tried to use it. For example, I’ve been in group containers and purchased programs that unapologetically relied on generative AI to write website copy and content, tweak website code, and integrate Human Design into my business. For a hot minute, I tried using their trained chatbots and fed them prompts. ChatGPT even called me ‘Sister.’

The results have always—at best—been sub-par, and aside from my decision to keep a few of their suggested grammar tweaks to content I’d already fully written on my own (without AI tools) none of the text on this website is AI-generated.

I do use stock images on this website, and my Gen Z daughter—who has an eye for identifying AI-generated images—called me out for using a few. I initially defended my inclusion of these images because I couldn’t find relevant non-AI alternatives. But despite my defenses, using AI imagery has never settled well with me. And so, I’ve replaced those that I either knew or suspected to be AI-generated. I do not believe that any imagery currently on this site is AI-generated. [Note: I will humbly remove any that are, should I learn otherwise.]

I’ve also—on a few occasions with this website—used an AI tool to tweak a few formatting issues I’ve encountered and needed to trouble-shoot. While I haven’t removed those few lines of code, I am no longer using this tool.

my beef with ai

AND WHY I’VE COMPLETELY STOPPED USING IT.

My biggest problems with AI are that it is HORRIFIC for:

  1. The environment

  2. Communities who don’t have the resources to stop the development of data centers ‘in their backyards’

  3. Life that can be indiscriminately ended by its use (think: The Pentagon’s plans)

  4. Artists and writers whose work is stolen to train LLM

  5. Artists and writers whose work is stolen by people aiming to profit from their work through cheap replication of it

  6. Millions of people whose jobs are disappearing…without replacement

And yes, I’m also pretty horrified at how it’s ‘enshitifying’ the internet and ‘dumbifying’ people.

And as someone who has a neurodivergent brain, I don’t believe it’s my right to exploit these horrors simply because generative AI technologies offer me more ease in moving through the world. I have never understood why a relatively privileged human feels entitled to experience more comfort and ease at the expense of a less-privileged person’s survival…or the survival of other species that inhabit our planet, for that matter.

this whole idea that “I’m not using it, but to each their own!” falls flat for me.

I’m not interested in ‘othering’ anyone or pissing people off, though I’m certain I just did both. And yet, I’m okay with that because this is truly a huge problem for our planet and even humanity’s survival. [Not in isolation, of course, but let’s name it as one of the technologies that is directly imperiling our ability halt climate change.]

My hope is that this becomes ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’ for someone reading this.

That they won’t go down the shame rabbit hole for having used it, as I don’t think that it’s at all helpful. (As for me, the shame I feel comes from having continued to entertain using AI after I learned just how awful it is for artists and Mama Earth).

My other hope is that it gets you to consider how your own relative privilege feeds the justification for using it.

In the West, we have a tendency to put our own interests above the collective’s (and by collective, I’m referring to both our local and global communities—especially the Global South). I would love to see us do less of that.

Here are A few resources and ideas to reduce or even extract yourself from generative AI:

  1. Use Kagi for a search engine without AI summaries or ads. You have to pay a nominal monthly fee for it, but that’s because they aren’t tracking and selling you data or making money on ads. I am pretty sure that you get your first 100 searches for free, so you can test-drive it.

  2. If you use Notion, email team@makenotion.com and ask them to remove AI from your account. They are very friendly and responsive!

  3. If you’re a content creator, humor us by using old school stock photos. Maybe even include in your caption what the AI-generated version of this image would look like…had you used it. This signals to the growing contingency of those of us who refuse to read content with an AI-generated featured image. I mean, if you used AI to generate your image, did you also use it to write your post for you? I don’t want to read AI-generated posts for many reasons, so this has become a quick filtering mechanism for me.

  4. Swap proofreading with a friend. If you use AI to edit or proofread content, resumes, etc., consider asking a friend to proofread it for you, without AI tools. Then, reciprocate. In the age of AI, when I see an occasional typo, I smile because it suggests that a human is more likely to have created it without AI.

That is all, for now. Thank you for caring enough to read this page.

In solidarity,
Kristi