I do not use generative AI in my writing. Plain and simple.

My stories and books, my website and blog, my newsletter, and pretty much all my text prepared for human consumption are written by me, a sentient and sapient carbon-based human life-form. Sometimes I pretend to be a robot or machine-sentient entity, but that’s just the vibe people come here for. Beep boop 🤖

Writing is my jam 🍓 as well as my bread and butter 🍞 It’s how I make sense of the world and meditate on concepts and ideas. And I do it thinkingly and feelingly for readers who also think and feel. Everything I write is practice for everything I want to write in future, and I’m not prepared to lose those opportunities by having a Large Language Model do it for me.

When it comes to research, I generally do it the old-fashioned way (ie. by exploring, experiencing, and talking to people), but am aware that some form of generative AI probably finds its own way into the process, even if I’ve not asked for it, eg. within search engines beyond the features I can turn off, baked into algorithms under the hood, as part of a platform’s development process, used by the author of the research material I’m referring to, etc. That’s just the reality of working online right now.

I do not use generative AI in my visual work. All my illustrations, designs, and image compositions are made with human effort, intentional creative decisions, non-genAI stock imagery (as far as I know), and human-designed fonts (as far as I know). I do, however, use specific tools currently labelled “AI” to assist with gruntwork that would otherwise be laborious and physically painful, such as background removal and colour correction. I prefer working with people who don’t use generative AI, but don’t always have visibility or control over this.

Although I haven’t done so yet, I would consider using AI tools (generative or otherwise) for data analysis and assisted coding. I’m not rushing out to try this, though, because I rather enjoy playing with numbers and code.

I don’t share this in response to a witch hunt or backlash. It’s more a courtesy to possums who are tired of having to wonder if their metaphorical drinks are spiked. I’m personally very tired of having to wonder whether I’m connecting with a person or a program, and often wish creative people would be more upfront about their AI use. So, it’s only fair I do the same.

Published: 23 Jul 2026
Last reviewed: 28 Jul 2026