Jonathan Huston
@jonathanhuston.bsky.social
Writer in the Rhine Valley and on the Pacific Coast. Short stories and interactive fiction. Mondstaub short story collection. Best European Fiction. Qirkat board game app.
https://jonathanhuston.com
https://jonathanhuston.com
Just as a minor point, you’re not a very close reader. My issue was with the narrowness of the writing clique as to who counts as a writer, not with narrowness of style. And anyone who claims that “anyone can publish” has spent very little time with writers who come from disadvantaged backgrounds.
June 23, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Just as a minor point, you’re not a very close reader. My issue was with the narrowness of the writing clique as to who counts as a writer, not with narrowness of style. And anyone who claims that “anyone can publish” has spent very little time with writers who come from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Spoken like a true conservative, bootstraps and all.
June 22, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Spoken like a true conservative, bootstraps and all.
If you prefer to read only those stories that people with sufficient unassisted writing skills are able to tell, you're free to do so. But it's not up to you to say "they don't need AI for that", since a lot of people do feel they would benefit from AI to tell their stories the way they want to.
June 22, 2025 at 9:06 PM
If you prefer to read only those stories that people with sufficient unassisted writing skills are able to tell, you're free to do so. But it's not up to you to say "they don't need AI for that", since a lot of people do feel they would benefit from AI to tell their stories the way they want to.
So if someone from a disadvantaged socioeconomic background has a story to tell that might be useful or educational or entertaining for the world to hear, you're going to require them to hone their craft and develop their skill as an artist first before you allow them to share their story?
June 22, 2025 at 8:57 PM
So if someone from a disadvantaged socioeconomic background has a story to tell that might be useful or educational or entertaining for the world to hear, you're going to require them to hone their craft and develop their skill as an artist first before you allow them to share their story?
All fair points, but there are plenty of people who want (and should be able) to write who aren’t “writers” or “artists” in that narrow sense, and the Brevity article may be useful to them. The elitist comments have been along the lines of “if you need AI to write, you shouldn’t be writing”.
June 22, 2025 at 8:42 PM
All fair points, but there are plenty of people who want (and should be able) to write who aren’t “writers” or “artists” in that narrow sense, and the Brevity article may be useful to them. The elitist comments have been along the lines of “if you need AI to write, you shouldn’t be writing”.
Some of these comments are just dripping with elitism. Not everyone who has something to say benefits from the leisure, luxury, and MFAs to call themselves a “writer”. Telling them to just suck it up and “don’t write” is an indictment of how narrow the self-policing clique of writers has become.
June 22, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Some of these comments are just dripping with elitism. Not everyone who has something to say benefits from the leisure, luxury, and MFAs to call themselves a “writer”. Telling them to just suck it up and “don’t write” is an indictment of how narrow the self-policing clique of writers has become.
Yeah, there was no argument there, just self-righteous pontification without acknowledging her own hypocrisy. No, I’m not AI, but of course AI would say that. Yes, I rely on AI, but so do you by engaging with these posts.
June 21, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Yeah, there was no argument there, just self-righteous pontification without acknowledging her own hypocrisy. No, I’m not AI, but of course AI would say that. Yes, I rely on AI, but so do you by engaging with these posts.
It’s also weird to me that her arguments against AI (not just on this thread) are highly moralistic, but she still advocates the use of AI-based technologies for fun, nothing she actually needs.
June 21, 2025 at 12:34 PM
It’s also weird to me that her arguments against AI (not just on this thread) are highly moralistic, but she still advocates the use of AI-based technologies for fun, nothing she actually needs.
I’m all in favor of using AI (and cars) wisely, but the premise here was that AI is completely useless and should be avoided entirely, while simultaneously praising a technology that relies on AI for its basic functionality. That’s not the same as saying: use AI, but be aware of the impact you have
June 21, 2025 at 12:31 PM
I’m all in favor of using AI (and cars) wisely, but the premise here was that AI is completely useless and should be avoided entirely, while simultaneously praising a technology that relies on AI for its basic functionality. That’s not the same as saying: use AI, but be aware of the impact you have
Oh, I get your point, but you don’t see any hypocrisy in saying 1) don’t use AI, it’s evil, while simultaneously saying 2) I use AI for the stuff I like? No straw man there that I can identify.
June 21, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Oh, I get your point, but you don’t see any hypocrisy in saying 1) don’t use AI, it’s evil, while simultaneously saying 2) I use AI for the stuff I like? No straw man there that I can identify.
Read “Attention is all you need” if you’re actually interested and don’t just want to throw facile insults around.
June 21, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Read “Attention is all you need” if you’re actually interested and don’t just want to throw facile insults around.
I hate to beat a dead horse here, but you do realize there’s no “difference” between the two, just levels of sophistication? Generative AI is built on all the “old” AI technologies, especially deep learning, but also pretty much everything else you’d find in a pre-2017 AI textbook.
June 21, 2025 at 10:20 AM
I hate to beat a dead horse here, but you do realize there’s no “difference” between the two, just levels of sophistication? Generative AI is built on all the “old” AI technologies, especially deep learning, but also pretty much everything else you’d find in a pre-2017 AI textbook.
Actually, she said all AI was useless and should be avoided, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt by assuming she meant generative AI.
June 21, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Actually, she said all AI was useless and should be avoided, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt by assuming she meant generative AI.
This was all in the context of the claim that AI is useless and evil, but still getting a kick out of using TikTok regularly. By using TikTok, you’re benefiting from LLMs and helping to train them. It’s like saying you shouldn’t drive a car because of the environment, but taking Uber everywhere.
June 21, 2025 at 10:10 AM
This was all in the context of the claim that AI is useless and evil, but still getting a kick out of using TikTok regularly. By using TikTok, you’re benefiting from LLMs and helping to train them. It’s like saying you shouldn’t drive a car because of the environment, but taking Uber everywhere.
Moderation and recommendation rely heavily on LLMs now, even though they didn’t just a year or two ago. With the purported exception of Bluesky, those LLMs are trained on user data. And of course you already know that LLMs are just traditional deep learning on steroids.
June 21, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Moderation and recommendation rely heavily on LLMs now, even though they didn’t just a year or two ago. With the purported exception of Bluesky, those LLMs are trained on user data. And of course you already know that LLMs are just traditional deep learning on steroids.
Nope, just years of experience working on this stuff.
June 21, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Nope, just years of experience working on this stuff.
That’s probably largely true, but even scrolling generates user data.
June 20, 2025 at 11:51 PM
That’s probably largely true, but even scrolling generates user data.
So you’re seriously claiming TikTok doesn’t use generative AI? Wow. You really don’t know how to look things up anymore, do you.
June 20, 2025 at 11:10 PM
So you’re seriously claiming TikTok doesn’t use generative AI? Wow. You really don’t know how to look things up anymore, do you.
TikTok/ByteDance uses LLMs extensively, not just “traditional” machine learning and symbolic AI, and is open about it. The research papers (and lawsuits) are freely available.
June 20, 2025 at 11:01 PM
TikTok/ByteDance uses LLMs extensively, not just “traditional” machine learning and symbolic AI, and is open about it. The research papers (and lawsuits) are freely available.
TikTok uses LLMs extensively, not just “traditional” machine learning and symbolic AI, and is open about it. Why claim otherwise?
June 20, 2025 at 11:00 PM
TikTok uses LLMs extensively, not just “traditional” machine learning and symbolic AI, and is open about it. Why claim otherwise?
Because I think TikTok sucks? Um.
June 20, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Because I think TikTok sucks? Um.
Yeah, poor choice of words on my part.
June 20, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Yeah, poor choice of words on my part.