We will not claim to be experts on this topic, but we have sat back and watched it play out for the past several months. We’ve discuss in our family, with friends, and acquaintances and here’s the thing…
This is not something that can be won with force.
Ranting will not solve the problem.
Whining will not solve it.
Frustration that bleeds in blame and name calling will not stop it.
We are in for a long haul and the solution is…
Grace, education, and time.
Not what most of us want to hear. We want it resolved now! We want it to stop stealing our hard work. We want people to stop using it. But…in all that want, that building frustration, we drive people away from what we are saying instead of towards it. The old saying of you’ll catch more flies with honey than vinegar (not true for flies, but for people it is…), needs to come into play.
No one likes to be ridiculed, to made to feel small, or dumb. This is where grace and education come in.
We have talked with many who don’t realize the impact that GenAI is having. They think it’s fun, harmless, and something new.
They don’t see the danger.
They don’t see the cost.
Those who don’t create might not understand how personal a creation is…whether a book, piece of art, or a song. They don’t realize the effort, love, and work we put into our projects. They don’t see the hours spent on a single sentence, the days spent on an a work of art, or the years we’ve dedicated to perfecting our craft.
They don’t realize that generating that cover cost someone money.
They don’t realize generating those sticker designs and selling them cheaper than anyone else, is hurting someones business.
They don’t realize that every piece of ‘Art’ they generate is stealing from artist who have worked for years to achieve their skills.
This isn’t about blame.
It is about Grace and education. Consider that they don’t know. Act as if they don’t know. Give them the benefit of the doubt and educate in love, not anger or frustration. Meet them where they are and help them understand where you are. Help them understand why you stand where you stand. In a calm, collected, statistical point of view if necessary. As sad as it is, most people understand better if you given analytics to lookover, not when you rant and word vomit our anger.
This is where the final piece comes in…
Time.
All of this will take time. One post. One comment. One person at a time. But it is worth it!
We need to stop letting GenAI divid the creative sphere and instead use it to bring us closer.
As Nadine Brandes put it in a recent post…we are all soldiers on the same side and we need to stop stabbing each other and instead start offering a hand to our fellow soldiers who might be confused by this fight. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, listen and hear their side and with grace and love, explain your side.
Don’t condemn them, reach out in grace to explain and if they aren’t open to your explanation, don’t continue fighting, move to the next person. We might not win them all over, but every person who realizes the implications of GenAI is another soldier added to our ranks.
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