A lot on my plate today.
So instead of today's note, I was thinking of posting "the dialogue of the week."
A few years ago, I started writing fictional dialogues that did pretty well. I dug them up and was planning to repost them here to continue the series, but...
I had second thoughts.
You see, the character portraits were made with Midjourney.
Should I redo them by hand?
At first, I thought: "Who cares. It's just an illustration, the dialogue is what matters."
But recently, I read a fairly sharp comment from an illustrator who said, roughly:
If the illustrations in your text are made by AI, I'll assume you used AI to write the text too.
Which isn't without merit.
And since all the notes are written by hand, I didn't want any AI elements to cast doubt in the reader's mind.
Let's be clear: I use AI.
I use it to proofread the notes (spelling, grammar) and then translate them into English. I also use it to build custom tools for me (invoicing, client management, etc.).
But as you know, I've found AI to be useless to me for writing or for the "real" intellectual work (building a narrative strategy for my clients).
So my dilemma is this:
In reality, this site is already almost 100% AI-free. Adding Midjourney portraits, even small ones, introduces doubt.
Especially since I plan to add photos, drawings, poems... none of which involve AI at all.
Hence the idea of taking the plunge: creating this "100% AI-free" label.
Assuring the reader on the front page that no content was made with AI. With a clickable link explaining any use in more detail: proofreading, translation.
Which doesn't mean I'm against people who use AI. It's just that, for now, I don't. So I might as well make the small extra effort to set the record straight.
It would be more work, because I'd have to draw the portraits for my dialogues myself. (Drawing is fine. It's the coloring!)
But I think it would be worth it.
What do you think?