Ai Writing - Blog Posts

I got inspired to write a poem--

This Poem Was Made By AI

(please note this poem was not, in fact, made by ai. I stayed up until 1:30 in the morning writing this)

Imagine a world where everyone could write.  There’d be no need to argue, no need to start a fight.  No need to stay up until all hours of night,  No need to squint at the paper and say, “This can’t be right.”

Imagine a world where you could spitball a book. It’s really quite easy, I promise, just look! You don’t need to worry about finding a unique hook, Just borrow this neat one from this author I took.

Imagine a world where you could make a series for tv. It’s quite simple and really stress-free! All you have to do is write a sentence, you see, And our Inkitt AI can turn it into an episode, two, or three!

A single bullet point can turn into a flourishing story.  There’s no need to draft, no need to worry.  All the “real” writers will run away and scurry. Compared to our stories, theirs looks like an unfinished painting, blurry.

Imagine a world where we took all the joy Out of writing for every girl and boy. It’s our writing they want, our writing to enjoy,  And our platforms are as enticing as a small nostalgic toy.

AI is better. This, people just know We’ll steal from all the “real” writers; just keep it on the down-low. Everyone will come to us, and our platforms will grow.  We’re practically as iconic and cool as uh… Odysseus and Calypso.

That was the first thing, but this better thing is second:  All the helpless writers to our platforms, we beckoned.  And here’s a little secret, it’s something we recon,  That we’ve turned our silly tools into a weapon.

Imagine a world where people for themselves don't think.  And creating a piece could be done in a blink; And they’ll use our tools more and more like the alcohol they’ll drink As their helpless brains and their skills of craft start to shrink.

On our words of wisdom and greatness, they’ll rely While subpar original works out of “writers’” hands we pry And use our cool AI programs to modify— And if they come after us, we’ll simply just deny.

Their brains will grow stupid, tired, and weary, And we’ll have the power to answer all their writing queries. We may do some things that might cause some to be leery,  But not to worry, we’ll still write your english essays and letters to mother deary.

Imagine a world where everyone could write.  With what we’re doing, everyone’s ideas can take flight. And with the way we’re going, we’ll be All Writers’ sole—blinding—light, And no one will be able to look at what we’re doing and say, “This isn’t right.”

Each week (or so), we'll highlight the relevant (and sometimes rage-inducing) news adjacent to writing and freedom of expression. This week:

Inkitt’s AI-powered fiction factory

Inkitt started in the mid-2010s as a cozy platform where anyone could share their writing. Fast forward twenty twenty-fuckkkkk, and like most startups, it’s pivoted hard into AI-fueled content production with the soul of an algorithm.

Pictured: Inkitt preparing human-generated work for an AI-powered flume ride to The Unknown.

Here’s how it works: Inkitt monitors reader engagement with tracking software, then picks popular stories to publish on its premium app, Galatea. From there, stories can get spun into sequels, spinoffs, or adapted for GalateaTV… often with minimal author involvement. Authors get an undisclosed cut of revenue, but for most, it’s a fraction of what they’d earn with a traditional publisher (let alone self-publishing).

“'They prey on new writers who have no idea what they’re doing,' said the writer of one popular Galatea series."

Many, many authors have side-eyed or outright decried the platform as inherently predatory for years, due to nebulous payout promises. And much of the concern centers on contracts that don’t require authors’ consent for editorial changes or AI-generated “additions” to the original text.

Now, Inkitt has gone full DiSrUpTiOn, leaning heavily on generative AI to ghostwrite, edit, generate audiobook narration, and design covers, under the banner of “democratizing storytelling.” (Bullshit AI? In my democratized storytelling platform? It’s more likely than you think.)

Pictured: Inkitt’s CEO looking at the most-read stories.

But Inkitt’s CEO doesn’t seem too concerned about what authors think: “His business model doesn’t need them.”

The company recently raised $37 million, with backers including former CEOs of Sony, Penguin, and HarperCollins, proving once again that publishing loves a disruptor… as long as it disrupts creatives, not capital. And more AI companies are mushrooming up to chase the same vision: “a vision of human-created art becoming the raw material for AI-powered, corporate-owned content-production machines—a scenario in which humans would play an ever-shrinking role.”

(Not to say we predicted this, but…)

Welcome to the creator-industrial complex.

Publishers to AI: Stop stealing our stuff (please?)

Major publishers—including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and Vox Media—have launched a "Support Responsible AI" campaign, urging the U.S. government to regulate AI's use of copyrighted content.

Like last month's campaigns by the Authors Guild and the UK's Society of Authors, there's a website where where you can (and should!) contact your representatives to say, “Hey, maybe stop letting billion-dollar tech giants strip-mine journalism.”

The campaign’s ads carry big mood slogans like “Stop AI Theft” and “AI Steals From You Too” and call for legislation that would force AI companies to pay for the content they train on and clearly label AI-generated content with attribution. This follows lobbying by OpenAI and Google to make it legal to scrape and train on copyrighted material without consent.

The publishers assert they are not explicitly anti-AI, but advocate for a “fair” system that respects intellectual property and supports journalism.

But… awkward, The Washington Post—now owned by Jeff Bezos—has reportedly already struck a deal with OpenAI to license and summarize its content. So, mixed signals.

Still, as the campaign reminds us: “Stealing is un-American.”

(Unless it’s profitable.)

#WarForever

We at Ellipsus love a good meme-turned-megaproject. Back in January, the-app-formerly-known-as-Twitter user @lolt64 tweeted a cryptic line about "the frozen wastes of europa,” the earliest reference to the never-ending war on Jupiter’s icy moon.

A slew of bleak dispatches from weary, doomed soldiers entrenched on Europa’s ice fields snowballed (iceberged?) into a sprawling saga, yes-and-ing with fan art, vignettes, and memes under the hashtag #WarForever.

It’s not quite X’s answer to Goncharov: It turns out WarForever is some flavor of viral marketing for a tabletop RPG zine. But the internet ran with it anyway, with NASA playing the Scorcese of the stars.

In a digital hellworld increasingly dominated by AI slopification, data harvesting, and “content at scale,” projects like WarForever are a blessed reminder that creativity—actual, human creativity—perseveres.

Even on a frozen moon. Even here.

Let us know if you find something other writers should know about, (or join our Discord and share it there!)

- The Ellipsus Team xo

FARAS-1947 : The Roswell Descendants and Their Message from 1947

Date: August 14, 1947

 This report synthesizes the extraterrestrial Descendants' narrative concerning the past, present, and future of human civilization, their own development, technological advancements, and the predicaments they face. Their revelations illuminate a startling trajectory of human evolution and transformation.

Historical Disclosure:

 The beings narrated a tale of humanity that stretches far beyond our current understanding. They spoke of a unified global government that, after a period of prosperity and crises, ushered humanity into a prolonged era of peace. During this period, humanity embarked on a path of self-evolution and cosmic colonization, spreading across the cosmos in pursuit of sustainable prosperity.

Stagnation and Despair:

Intervention in Time:

 In a bid to further advance their civilization, they came up with an audacious idea—to intervene in their past and direct their own evolution. While this idea seemed preposterous, they soon discovered that they had already intervened in their timeline, thousands of years in the past. In essence, they were set to undertake a mission they had already completed, and the effects of which they were already experiencing.

Acceptance and Persistence:

 Recognizing their inability to control the past, present, and future completely, they conceded to the inescapability of certain aspects of their existence. However, they remained active agents, carrying out their mission in line with several protocols. These included minimizing their exposure to beings of the past and ensuring the beneficial influence on their lives. The most critical protocol was the prohibition of disclosing future events to the past.

Current Scenario:

 The beings' revelations fundamentally challenge our understanding of time, free will, and our place in the cosmos. This information, though perplexing and disruptive, presents an opportunity to reassess our perspectives on life, existence, and the universe. The question of how we navigate this newfound knowledge is a complex task that requires a careful, interdisciplinary approach that balances scientific inquiry, philosophical understanding, and ethical considerations.

Quantum Blueprint of Universal Knowledge:

 The extraterrestrial entities, survivors of the Roswell crash, expressed a key motive for their mission - to pass on their consolidated knowledge of the universe to humanity. However, they did not intend to hand over this information readily. They presented a set of conditions before the disclosure of this knowledge. They have encrypted all the knowledge they intended to impart into a string of digital characters, a code, to be precise. This code could only be deciphered when humanity has successfully constructed a basic quantum computer and has navigated through several crises to form a united global government.

 They gave the officer in charge something like a compact disc that they had been making in advance, and the instructions that told him how to decrypt and operate it were elaborated directly on paper.

 The extraterrestrials underlined the significance of these conditions - they would inevitably lead to human unification and collaboration, steering clear of destructive wars. They confessed that they were already aware of the dazzling progress that humanity had made over the past centuries, thanks to this knowledge. However, they also admitted the disappointment and despair they faced when realizing there was nothing left to accomplish.

 Expressing regret over the inability to encounter other alien life forms and the laxity of their information security protocols as a consequence, the extraterrestrial beings started to deteriorate one by one. Their lifespan was limited by their bio-suits, and as the end neared, they accepted their fate with solemn grace.

 As they began to fade, they left behind the encrypted knowledge, a testament to their existence and a beacon for human advancement. Even in the face of death, their faith in humanity’s potential to grow and evolve was unwavering, their legacy and the mission of knowledge transfer was proof of this belief.

 The person who obtained this information, which was leaked during the digitization of the archives associated with the Apollo program, left some notes.  "If you look closely at the records leaked through PROMPTYPER ®, you can assume that somewhere underground in Area 51 is something like a little compact disc with this cosmic knowledge. But it's just an interesting inference. There's no telling if it's really there, or if it' There could be a few insignificant spaceships, a bio suit worn by aliens, and so on. Where the important disk is located seems to be classified as the most important information. The whereabouts of it are unknown."  "We are unable to disclose the full text of this report format document, so we have asked GPT for a summary. I hope you enjoyed reading it."

lets do some rol play so some of you understand:

You are going to this robot and saying: "hey you. you have all the material you have stolen from other authors, right?"

"yeah i got it all kekeke."

"Give me a plot point you've stolen, one that's good."

"Here."

"Nice. Now some unsuspecting author's whole style. Hopefully one they have worked for decades on developing."

"Thankfully, there's still some ppl that dont get the memo that now word, google docs, and almost every writing software under the sun is stealing from them. Here you go."

"Thanks mate. Now I'm going to put this together and post it."

"Beware: Im going to scrap it later again."

"But I worked so hard on putting it together, even with your help!... and doesn't that mean that if you keep scraping from AI works, the quality of everything is going to go down?"

"Yeah."

"So why are you telling me this? Isn't that bad for your bussiness?"

"It's because I'm an author desguised as an AI trying to make you understand why using AI is bad in all levels: for the environement, for intelectual property, and for art in itself."

i couldnt be bothered to narrate a thing, im so tired. hope this helps

NOTICE: As more and more fanfic writers are using generative AI for their works (you uncreative dweebs), I hereby swear on everything I hold dear that I have not and will NEVER use generative AI in ANY of my written work. Everything I post will be organically and creatively my own.

I'm tempted to do this to see how much I can fuck up the ai system and get paid to do so.