Learning AI tools: DUers seem to think it's immoral

[highplainsdem]

12. I'm sorry you were laid off, especially if it was because of AI. There's a genAI tool that will let you apply for more

jobs quickly, a tool I posted about on DU last Thursday after reading about what Jason Koebler, the founder and editor of 404 Media, had written about it.

IF you're going to use AI, you might as well know of this latest AI tool to try to get job seekers ahead of the AI tools employers are using to handle (and reject) job applications:

'I Applied to 2,843 Roles': The Rise of AI-Powered Job Application Bots
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219552368

You didn't mention thinking you needed AI skills after being laid off, and I hadn't seen your earlier thread at https://www.democraticunderground.com/11191187 or I'd've offered advice there and given you the link I just gave you.

I've been hearing about writers getting laid off because of AI since early last year. Editors seem to get laid off less often because most bosses know how important their work is, but some bosses are dumb enough or gullible enough about AI to think editors aren't necessary...or they're planning to hire someone else who'll be offered a much lower salary. I remember seeing social media posts last year for a job ad from a company wanting an editor to read and correct 200+ AI-written stories a week (multiple websites about different interests) for $30,000/yr. So roughly 10 minutes per story to read and catch all the errors, including glaring and possibly dangerous errors of fact, that can be made by hallucinating chatbots.

I did not tell you in that other thread that learning to use AI tools is immoral. People being forced to use generative AI, whether for work or school, have my sympathies...especially when it's painfully obvious, as it is in too many cases, that the ultimate goal of the AI companies and the enployers wanting to use AI tools is to get rid of as many employees as possible. I've posted here about the latest Silicon Valley dream being a billion-dollar startup with only one worker - the founder/CEO - and everything else being done by AI.

I did tell you that generative AI is fundamentally unethical when trained on stolen intellectual property, as almost all of it is. I stand by that. It's also illegal most places, which is why AI-peddling companies are sued and why those companies are trying to get copyright and intellectual property laws changed around the world to carve out exceptions for training AI, though they will fight very fiercely.to defend their own intellectual property. They know it's theft, but they hope to get away with it.

Ex-Google CEO says successful AI startups can steal IP and hire lawyers to 'clean up the mess'
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143290749

The other objections I mentioned to generative AI, including why I believe it's a mistake for Democrats to use it, also stand.

Your most valuable job skill is your editorial/writing experience. Not AI skills you're just starting to learn. A huge number of artist have also lost their jobs, or if they kept a job, been demoted to assisting AI for much lower pay. It isn't just writers who were hit hard by genAI.

And all those layoffs are another reason I hate genAI, especially since it was unethically and illegally trained on the work of countless people it's being used to compete with.

Including, almost certainly, all of your own work that's been published.

Anyway, IF you're going to use genAI, that tool I recommended at the start of this reply might give you a better chance at finding a new job.

And you can also try freelancing, as was suggested by Metaphorical in your other thread that I linked to above. It isn't as easy as it once was, again because of damned genAI and people with no experience or real interest in writing flooding markets, whether traditional publishing or self-publishing platforms (Amazon's response to Kindle drowning in AI slop has been to limit self-publishing authors to "only" three new books uploaded per day). I really admire the editors, like those at some science fiction magazines I've posted about

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219401436

who are still trying to keep submissions open to new writers, even though the flood of AI-generated submissions has forced them to shut off submissions at times, starting soon after ChatGPT was released. From February of last year:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217666418

They could have just retreated to looking at stories only from SFWA members or writers they knew otherwise, but they're still trying to recognize new talent and publish it, despite the nightmare genAI has also created for them.

And if you freelance, I'd recommend trying to get an agent, if possible, and use any contacts you still have. Freelancing can be very difficult, and an agent can make all the difference, whether knowing a particular editor to start with or arranging an auction.