Vivienne's (UPDATED) Guide on Attempting to Boycott Generative AI
For our first boycott, it's something that is everywhere, but there is some way to mitigate this problem: AI.
It's here, it's there, it's everywhere, but most importantly, it's in your house, your computers and your phones. So, in case you don't want AI taknig over the world any time soon, here are some pointers to help attempt to kill off AI.
- For users of ChatGPT that specifically use it as a therapy tool: Cut off all access to it. It is NOT a therapy tool. It is an AI, and AI tends to want to want to gaslight you into thinking your thoughts are correct. It's toxic positivity. Since it learns from you, the minute you cut off from it, it no longer has access to your brain. For an example of why I don't feel right having ChatGPT be your therapy tool, check this Eddy Burback video for more information.
- For users who use ChatGPT or Janitor to generate stories, or entire characters, this is a no-go too. ChatGPT tends to shittify character concepts a lot, especially if you entirely use AI for character creation. (I should know - My significant other and I are currently remaking three entire AI-made characters as their entire story is so shit, me from the future genuinely cringed seeing it) Assistance is fine, but like I said, there is a lot of enshittification that goes into the AI, so be careful. You might end up having to fix some things yourself, or correct concepts you feel the AI went wrong at.
- For Midjourney, DomoAI and other such users who are not good at art, don't be afraid to pick up a pencil and try your hand! There are tutorials all around the internet that'll teach you how to draw. It might be hard, it might be difficult, you might not even get the hang of it right away, but this, and using dress up games like Gacha Life 2 or Picrew are valid choices and alternatives! You should also remember that
Pinterest is your bestie when it comes to this as there are inspirations all over the place, and other guides to help youPinterest is no longer your buddy, because as it turns out, there's currently a rumor that Pinterest may or may not.. be bought out by OpenAI. God damn it. Right now, I am calling everyone out who's reading to assemble every tutorial from Pinterest and post it to a new platform before the AI apocalypse hits that platform too. - For Suno users who are not good at writing or making music, I suggest watching these two videos, "music theory is easy.", and "Learn music theory in half an hour.", to learn music theory in around an hour. This should get you started on making AI-less music, and start making quality tunes straight away. Heck, try using MIDIs, mixing up soundfonts, remix an already existing track. You'll get the hang of it sooner or later.
- For Elevenlabs users who aren't good at voice acting, same as Suno, use "How to become a voice actor in one year or less", and "How to start a Career in Voice Acting (A step-by-step guide)' to learn a quick way of how to voice act. Again, you'll get the hang of it sooner or later. For trans people who want a female voice without having to rely on AI, I suggest using this guide by YukkoEX.
- For Shapes bots on Discord, you put yourself at risk getting your account banned via Shapes. (at least as far as I could tell.) I suggest blacklisting the entire service, if possible.
- For small-time Veo and Sora users, you still have a chance, and a choice. Do not continue using the platform. Seriously. You could end up generating something that could cause a wide-scale panic. Learn how to use Blender instead!
For dedicated Veo and Sora users, you're already too far gone. You might as well just give up, and quit the internet. Get true therapy.
This section is dedicated to those from the outside looking in.
- For YTers, if a kids channel or a channel popularized by one specific creator on YouTube proclaims they are using AI in their work ethic, and welcomes it, find the exact episode right before the AI nonsense began, save all videos before it in a playlist, download as many as you can, put it in an archive, then unsubscribe from them as willingly and as quickly as possible. They're probably too already far gone.
As of right now, the following kids shows and channels I know that have been affected by this rule are the following: Aumsum (update: while i was gone, some of the animators returned? still i'm keeping this one here in case its too good to be true), Pocoyo (kinda..? people thought that it was going to be generative, however from what we've been watching, they're actually being safe w/ it. this method is assistive, which in my eyes, is fine! still i'd wath out, just in case this sentence becomes invaild ten seconds later), forrestfire101 (if that name sounds familiar, it's the duck song creator. yipe.), for some reason, CBeebies (but as of right now, only their thumbnails, however, I would come back to this sentence in the very likely case this ends up being incorrect), Ms Moni (who I didn't know existed until today, so this was a horrible first impression), Super Truck (who wasn't relevant until right this instant, so again a horrible first impression), and that's all for now. Expect this list to continuously be updated every single time. a new YouTuber is revealed to use AI. - If a gaming company starts proclaiming themselves as AI-driven or AI-first (or their publishers or new owners are scummy), from now on stop buying any new games from them that come out. If you wanna play their old catalogue, I suggest using those forbidden methods that I still can't talk about because the law, that I mentioned in other guides in the Vivienne's Guide to Boycotting series.
The games this rule affects are the following: Subnautica (Subnautica 2 was delayed a lot, Krafton ended up dropping both original founders and became an AI-first company. Do not buy either games, pirate them.), Disco Elysium (Same with the Subnautica situation, without the AI scandal. This being said, do not buy the game, pirate it.), Teardown (which, actually looking back.. it's sorta competent again?), and a major part of the Kingdom Hearts games (With the fact layoffs are happening, cancelled projects and the AI debacle, you may have to pirate the game to play it much like the other two). - For artists and musicians, there are a lot of great tutorials for interfering with usage of your art for AI. Search up "ai poisoning" or "ai disturbance" for ways to protect your art from AI. Also, if any social media says they're going to use your data to train an AI, immediately leave, do not look back, it's already over for that social media. If an artist or musician you know starts using AI, unfollow them until they stop using it.. or block them entirely.