195: Generative AI has a major consent and plagiarism problem in creative spaces

This episode explores two extremely problematic aspects of generative AI in creative spaces: a) lack of consent, and b) plagiarism. We discuss this through the lens of the performing arts (such as the burlesque community), as well as book events (such as markets). 

This isn’t a call-out, it’s a calling-in, and please know that all of this is said with love! ALSO: I am addressing this episode to people who are using generative AI in the creative spaces. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and assume that most of our listeners here on the Author Diary Entries podcast are NOT using generative AI — in which case, think of this episode as a resource for discussing with others about WHY you don’t use it, and why they should care. Please do share this episode, because this is a very important topic! 

If, on the other hand, you DO use generative AI in the creative spaces… this episode is an appeal to you. And again, this is a calling-in. I do not believe in shaming people, and this is NOT about shaming anyone. If you feel defensive at any point throughout this episode, that’s probably going to be a good indicator that there’s something deeper to explore. Get curious about any defensiveness you might experience. This is an invitation to go within, to think about your values, to get clarity on what matters to you. 

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

• Sagan’s burlesque persona (Babe Maverick) on Instagram: Instagram.com/babemaverick 
• Episode 187: You are hurting YOURSELF when you use AI to “write” your books: https://www.buzzsprout.com/400015/episodes/17423776-187-you-are-hurting-yourself-when-you-use-ai-to-write-your-books 
• “Why choose” chick lit novels — the Polyamorous Passions series and Small Town Stilettos: SaganMorrow.com/books 
• Connect with Sagan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saganlives 
• Connect with Sagan on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@saganlives 
• Tune into ALL episodes of the Author Diary Entries podcast at https://saganmorrow.com/podcast 

Transcript

You’re listening to the Author Diary Entries podcast. I’m your host, Sagan Morrow, and this is episode #195. Access the show notes and transcript of this episode at SaganMorrow.com/podcast. 

In this episode, we are going to talk about the problems that generative AI has with consent and plagiarism in creative spaces.

This isn’t a call-out, it’s a calling-in, and please know that all of this is said with love! ALSO: I am addressing this episode to people who are using generative AI in the creative spaces. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and assume that most of our listeners here on the Author Diary Entries podcast are NOT using generative AI — in which case, think of this episode as a resource for discussing with others about WHY you don’t use it, and why they should care. Please do share this episode, because this is a very important topic! 

If, on the other hand, you DO use generative AI in the creative spaces… this episode is an appeal to you. And again, this is a calling-in. I do not believe in shaming people, and this is NOT about shaming anyone. If you feel defensive at any point throughout this episode, that’s probably going to be a good indicator that there’s something deeper to explore. Get curious about any defensiveness you might experience. This is an invitation to go within, to think about your values, to get clarity on what matters to you.

Personally, I do not use or condone generative AI in honestly any capacity, but I’m going to qualify it in this particular context as discussing generative AI specifically in creative spaces. In other capacities — such as using generative AI to write an email — I still do believe that it can be problematic, but in that case what concerns me more is the critical thinking and communication skills side of things. Still a very important topic, but not what we’re focusing on for today! If you want to hear more about the effect that generative AI is having on your critical thinking and creativity etc, tune in to ep 187 where we discuss that in more depth. 

I released that episode a year ago about the ways in which you are hurting YOURSELF when you use AI to “write” books — again, it’s episode 187 of this Author Diary Entries podcast; I strongly recommend you go back and give it a listen. Although it’s targeted for the writing community, it is ALSO 100% relevant in all creative spaces (including the performing arts, festivals and events, etc)… I’m seeing some AI pop up in those spaces, too, and that’s worrisome — which is why I wanted to address the issues with generative AI in creative spaces for today’s episode. 

For instance, I’m a burlesque performer (my stage name is Babe Maverick), and I’ve seen people in the burlesque community and producers of variety shows — people who claim to care deeply about consent, inclusivity, supporting small businesses, etc — who are using generative AI to “design” posters for their shows, or to “write” the emcee notes for their stage introduction. Same thing for book events and markets. 

Here’s the thing; If consent matters to you, if you want to support creatives, then please do NOT use generative AI. 

I am an author. I have never consented for my work to be put into AI tools. I’ve never used them, and have no interest in ever using them. But guess what? People have done that anyway (with my blog posts and my novellas — both of which are my intellectual property, regardless if one is available for free and the other costs a few dollars). 

In fact, 5 minutes ago, I received another cold email from someone telling me they input a bunch of content I created into an AI tool; they told me “it uses your voice to share about your anti-hustle methods!” I’m extremely upset about this. I never consented to this or asked for this; I have no interest in ANY of my work being put into AI tools. And yet, people do this without my consent, and then they let me know they’ve done it. As you can probably hear in my voice, this is deeply upsetting for me!

Generative AI has a massive consent problem, and I suspect that nearly every writer and artist you know has had their work inputted without them knowing or consenting to it. 

If you say you believe in supporting creatives, but you use generative AI to “create” art or to “write” for you, then you are not living the values you claim to care about.

Generative AI is a plagiarism machine. It is stealing from writers and artists. By using it, you are participating in that theft. 

And remember, it’s not “just” the visual arts that are a problematic use of generative AI; it’s also the outsourcing of thinking and writing. It’s not okay to steal someone else’s words anymore than their artwork. I think this is an important piece to mention because I know there are some people in the industry who are vehemently opposed to the use of generative AI on posters and design, but they still use generative AI to write for them. 

I have NEVER consented to my work being put into AI tools. But they have been. My work has been stolen. Every time you use a generative AI “tool,” you are making use of work that has been stolen from creatives like me.

You are actively participating in an apparently socially-acceptable version of theft. You are stealing from people who are already, frankly, being paid very little for their intellectual property. 

This is a violation of me, personally, and of my work, as well as countless other creatives and their work. If you care about consent, you should be deeply concerned about this. That also makes it an especially big red flag to me when people in the burlesque community (and adjacent communities) are happily willing to use generative AI, because it goes against a huge part of what burlesque IS.

The other aspect of this is with regards to supporting small businesses and creatives. For instance, I have seen show producers be very willing to pay photographers and videographers to document performances at a show, but then that same producer, again, uses AI to “write” copy for them or to “design” their posters. 

If you want to support small businesses, then you need to understand that you are HARMING small businesses by using generative AI. That is THEIR WORK that you are stealing and repurposing for yourself when you use generative AI. 

You are STEALING from the creatives and small businesses that you profess to want to support. 

I know this is a hard pill to swallow, but it’s one that you’re going to need to accept if you genuinely want to support — not steal from — other creatives. 

And like I shared about in episode 187 of this Author Diary Entries podcast, you’re also doing yourself harm! It’s going to negatively affect your own creativity. 

So sit with the discomfort of blocks when they arise during the creative process. Get peer support if you’re struggling. Learn new skills and embrace being a beginner. Be open to (and have fun with!) creating “bad” art. Collaborate and do trades (or ask for in-kind donations) from other artists if you don’t have the budget to pay them. 

There are SO MANY OTHER OPTIONS — which EVERYONE was capable of making use of before generative AI arrived on the scene just a few years ago — other than plagiarism and participating in nonconsensual culture.  

We still have an opportunity to stop generative AI from destroying arts and culture. It’s still new enough that we can put an end to this. 

Something else I want to mention that’s very important: Please do not beat yourself up if you’ve been using generative AI up to this point! That is NOT what this is about. It’s okay if you didn’t realize this before (we ALL have areas where our actions don’t quite align with our values) — just take this as a learning opportunity and an invitation to make a change. It’s what you do once you’re aware of this that matters. It’s what you do at this stage, knowing how harmful your actions have been, that truly speaks to your character. 

So you need to ask yourself: “What do I genuinely value? What are the ways in which I am not living my values? What actions and behaviours am I going to change, starting today, right now, to remain true to my values?”

You are the only one who has control and power over your own actions. Choose wisely. Act based on your values. 

And if you are unwilling to change, then please, be open about that and honest with yourself: Know that you are choosing nonconsensual culture and theft of small businesses and creatives. Admit that you do not hold consent or supporting creatives in as high of regard as you previously thought you did. And frankly, please tell the world that! You can’t hide it from yourself any longer, so there’s no point in lying to the world. Be upfront when you use generative AI to design posters or to “write” for you. If you believe that it is okay to do that, then you will not have a problem with being very open and honest about it. This is another facet of consent culture, by the way: People should know when you are using generative AI, so that they can be fully informed and choose whether or not to participate in or attend your events.

This brings us to another side you might be wrestling with, which is this: Let’s say you decide to participate as a vendor or a performer in an event, the organizer ends up using AI to make the poster, and you KNOW it’s AI, but you still participate anyway. 

If you knowingly participate in those events or share their posters, you are complicit in plagiarism. You are complicit in participating in a culture that promotes a lack of consent. You are complicit in stealing from small businesses and creatives who are already likely not being compensated fairly for their labour. You are complicit in the blatant theft of those creatives’ intellectual property. 

Only you can decide if that complicity is worth participating in that event. And I get it — that’s hard when it’s an event you REALLY want to be at, or the organizers are great people besides the fact that they’re using generative AI, or it’s the only event that’s free for you to participate in, and so on. But you do need to decide whether you are willing to be complicit in those things. It isn’t always an easy choice! It might require you to have a hard conversation with people, and you might need to challenge yourself to get creative with how to find ways to participate in other events, and you might need to build your resilience to explore the unknowns, etc. 

That is not always easy. But I believe in you. You are capable of this. 

I also want you to know that I have been there, too. I found out that an event used generative AI in their posters — I had already performed with them twice before and shared their posters, not realizing they used AI. When someone told me that those posters were AI, my reaction was, ‘Ugh. That sucks.” And I had to think about it… because I didn’t want to back out of the show! I really LIKE the people who were producing it, and they’re doing a lot of really good things with their shows; they are genuinely great people and their hearts are in the right place. But at the end of the day, I couldn’t reconcile myself with it. I WANTED to be able to justify it — but I couldn’t. So I backed out. 

There were a couple other reasons why I backed out, but that was one of the BIGGEST reasons. If the other reasons hadn’t been present, the use of AI still would have been a dealbreaker for me. I’ve since added to my bios in no uncertain terms that I do not agree with AI. I did share with one of the producers why I was backing out, and I’m not 100% sure, but from a cursory glance at their social media, it SEEMS as though they might have stopped using AI on their posters since then. Which is great!

My point is, it’s okay to struggle with this! It’s okay to take a step back and think this over, and to determine where you stand with it.

What a lot of this comes back to is understanding, defining, and sticking to your principles. This isn’t to say we aren’t all going to make mistakes somewhere along the way! And it is NOT always easy to hold oneself accountable to one’s principles. There are always so many reasons for us to NOT stick to our principles. And you know, I’m a person who believes in the grey. I like to joke that I’m a multipassionate polyamorous pansexual Libra, so of COURSE I don’t see the world in black and white; there’s nuance involved in just about everything! And that being said, I also think that our principles are one of those areas that DO tend to be more black and white.

Let me be very clear: This is not to say that “people who use generative AI are bad”! That is not remotely accurate, and that is not what I mean when I say that there’s *less grey, more black & white* with our principles. Rather, when I say that principles are a bit more black and white, I mean that if we pick and choose when we act upon our principles, then they’re not really principles. We need to know what we care about that we are unwilling to compromise on. 

Plagiarism is plagiarism, no matter which way you look at it. If you wouldn’t plagiarize a university paper, why is THIS suddenly okay to do? Was *getting caught and potentially being kicked out* the only thing stopping you from plagiarizing in university? I like to think that you have a better moral code than that. 

Maybe some listeners are going to think it’s naive of me to assume that people at large haven't been stealing because of their own internal compass, but… I believe we are all better than that. 

I don’t want to be disappointed in human beings in general. If you can listen to all of this and all of the reasons why generative AI is harmful, and still be inclined to use it, that IS disappointing. Because we all have the capacity to be so much better than this. And I KNOW that you can do better. I want you to believe in your capability as much as I believe in your capability. 

You are worth so much more, you are worth so much better, than using a plagiarism machine and participating in non-consensual culture. 

This is what I would like to invite you to do: Let’s acknowledge when we’ve been complicit. Let’s be honest with ourselves about some of the hard choices we have to make. Let’s explore what behaviours we are willing to shift and the actions we need to take in order to be aligned with our values and principles. Let’s support the creatives in our communities! Let’s strive to do better when we KNOW better. 

I want to reiterate, please do not beat yourself up for actions you have taken in the past, for not realizing what a serious issue this is. But now that you DO know… What are you going to do about it? 

Before we wrap up this episode, I’d love to ask a favour from you… Do you know people who would enjoy this episode? Awesome! Sharing is caring, so please do share this episode with someone who would benefit from it. 

Or, post the link on Instagram or Threads and tag me — my handle is @Saganlives. That way your friends and entire community can tune in!

Thanks for helping me out! I appreciate you.