To AI or Not to AI? (Definitely not.)
From Postcard Poet Kathy Paul:
I’ve loved participating in the summer Poetry Postcard Fest since I first heard about it in 2014 or 2015. I’ve introduced several friends to the Fest, and they love it, too. Every year, we watch our email like hawks to make sure we don’t miss registration, and we eagerly await the arrival of our lists. It’s truly a joy to find someone’s spontaneous poem in my mailbox every few days!
My Poetry Postcard routine is simple: First thing in the morning, when my mind is rested and clear, I make tea, sit on my porch, observe the world around me, and write: first thought, best thought. It’s a meditation, and a small celebration of sorts. (Last week I wrote four completely different postcard poems inspired by four busy hummingbirds who visit the feeder just after sunrise.)
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t feel poetic every morning. On those days, I try to jumpstart my brain by sorting through my postcard stash. Often, the illustration on the card provides the inspiration, and off I go!
I was puzzled two weeks ago when I received a Poetry Postcard from someone who noted that they’d used AI to make their poem, because “the muse refused” that day. My immediate reaction was “Then why bother?” I felt deflated. Disappointed. And worried. “Is this where we’re headed?” I wondered. “Poets using a non-human ‘brain’, instead of their own beautiful, powerful minds?”
Oh, how I hope not.
We’ve shared Kathy’s story of receiving an A.I.-written postcard poem to establish that Cascadia Poetics Lab is strongly against using A.I. for the use of writing in any and all of our festivals, programs and workshops. PLEASE DO NOT USE A.I. IN YOUR WRITING FOR THE POETRY POSTCARD FEST. The intention of the Poetry Postcard Fest is to encourage spontaneous writing that incites creativity and combats the inner critic. If you cannot find inspiration for your postcard poem, there are lots of resources and exercises on the PPF page under “resources” and “blog” that can help you dig for something to write about. Please refer to these exercises rather than utilizing artificial intelligence. Your poem does not have to be perfect, but it has to be real and written by you.
The mission of Cascadia Poetics Lab is to encourage people to connect more deeply to place, self and their surrounding communities and environments through poetic practice, and we believe that passing on that creativity and intentionality to Artificial Intelligence is counterproductive to our mission. We have been openly against the use of A.I. in the arts and the tech billionaires profiting off of our attention and stealing creativity, and this applies to our programs and offerings as well.
Thank you SO MUCH for addressing this issue. This experience mirrors exactly my feelings to receiving a similar A.I. notation on a postcard this year. I almost cried. We want and need to connect with real people, now more than ever.
Excellent. I was at a different poetry event recently where my neighbor told me he’d used AI as a first go at the prompt and then “re-written” it. Didn’t seem quite kosher to me, removing the poetic human impulse from the process.
AI!!! Ai Yai Yai!!! I say NO WAY to anything that has to do with AI. How can someone call it “their” poem, using artificial input??? NO NO NO! I’ve lived 7 decades without it, and prefer to keep my own neurons growing and flowing by using them!
Thank you for clarifying Cascadia Labs stance on AI. I do not use AI, and all the postcard poems I have received so far seem to have come from the human heart and hand. If the muse refuses, I just wait until she reappears, a day or two if I must.
Thank you! Sadly, clarification about the use of AI was needed. I, too, received a card from the “poet” whose muse failed to show up for her one morning.
Sending creative energy to us all – and, if we don’t produce some days, so be it. This is not just okay, but part of the process. Getting to know our dry days and sitting with how we respond to them is a gentle invitation to the absent muse to visit!
Although I don’t and wouldn’t use AI in a poem, is there really a need to publicly shame the person who sent it with this blog post? The person on Kathy’s list knows they did it. It might have been a bit kinder to anonymize the post and write about AI non-use in a general sense.
Kelly, the poet’s name was not mentioned, so this is not shaming. The use of A.I., more than any other practice, is totally in opposition to our mission and the intention of the festival.
Delighted to see this issue addressed directly, clearly, and appreciate the recipient of the AI “imposter-poem” speaking up!
Good to see this issue addressed directly, clearly, and I appreciate the recipient of the AI “imposter-poem” speaking up!
Sorry for the redundant message – I got an auto-response that said I had made a duplicate comment when I first tried to comment. So I went again – oops!
I, too, received a poem with the same AI notation. I’m surprised to read here that that happened many times over. I, too, feel the range of emotions already mentioned here in comments, even a bit offended to think the poet would think we’d be content with a cardboard poem instead of a living, breathing one. I, too, feel the complete disconnect between the use of AI & the fundamental essence of the spontaneous poetry exercise that is the PPF. There’s ONE THING I DO DEEPLY APPRECIATE about that postcard, though: that the poet honestly DISCLOSED their use of AI. (Presumably “honestly.” I did actually pause to wonder if they were pulling my leg!) If they hadn’t disclosed it, it might otherwise have gone unnoticed. Now that the reaction is out in the open, sadly, possibly AI use might go undisclosed, underground from now on. I can’t see PPF requiring a disclaimer on every postcard! We rely on trust. One can only guess why the poet used AI. Maybe they thought it was fun & amusing to try it. Maybe it was out of fear & self-doubt. Maybe they were testing the reaction. I don’t know. I thank them for putting the issue on our radar; it needed to be addressed. I hope the poet will continue with the PPF without AI, embracing the PPF as a place to practice that sometimes joyful, sometimes terrifying dance with one’s own tender muse, in good company. It’s bigger than we are. I believe we need all our own creative minds fully energized for our collective quest to meet these times.
Yeah, no AI in the PPF. But let’s loosen the grip on our pearls, and plan resistance, opposition, and ultimately the poet-led demise of the tr-mp administration? K?
Jeff, here’s an article for you: It’s happening: People are starting to talk like ChatGPT
Unnervingly, words overrepresented in chatbot responses are turning up more in human conversation. https://wapo.st/3HFKUys “language is a harbinger of greater social shifts. There are many other, far more insidious misrepresentations that are also coded into LLMs. Racial biases, gender biases and political biases — all of these are likely trained into the models much like linguistic biases, but these are harder to definitively measure. We need to remember that these aren’t neutral tools: They hold the power to subtly reshape our thinking.”
If you want to outsource your thinking to Silicon Valley, you are welcome to do it. We see avoiding A.I. to write poetry as part of the resistance.
I find it hard to believe anyone participating in PPFestival would use AI. It’s very disturbing that this has become an issue needing discussion.
Definitely no A.I. Defeats our entire purpose here!!