“I’m not anti-AI, but…”
Over the last few months, I’ve seen this opening line in hundreds of posts across LinkedIn, social media, and industry blogs. It’s usually followed by discussion of the many problems with so-called artificial intelligence, and particularly generative AI.
I am proudly (some might say “loudly”) and unapologetically anti-AI.
This is becoming an increasingly controversial take, but I am 100% ethically opposed to the use of generative AI for content creation.
Why? Let’s talk about it.
The Human Impact
Many of the technology companies that are leading the AI race rely on labour exploitation and human rights violations around the world, most notably in the global south.
This is because AI relies on several critical minerals which are often mined under horrendous conditions and cause tremendous damage to ecosystems and communities.
Lithium mining in South America’s “Lithium Triangle” (encompassing parts of Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia) is depleting and polluting water reserves and violating the land rights of indigenous communities. Protestors have been met with repression and violence. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is home to the world’s largest reserves of cobalt, tens of thousands of workers mine the mineral in life-threatening conditions. Many of them are children.
The Environmental Impact
We are in a climate crisis, and generative AI is one of the worst things to happen to the planet in years. The data centres required to run tools like ChatGPT use enormous amounts of water and electricity.
According to Dr Noman Bashir of MIT’s Climate and Sustainability Consortium:
“What is different about generative AI is the power density it requires. Fundamentally, it is just computing, but a generative AI training cluster might consume seven or eight times more energy than a typical computing workload”
In the same article, writer Adam Zewe explains that generative AI is partially responsible for the power consumption of North America’s data centres increasing from 2,688 megawatts at the end of 2022 to 5,341 megawatts at the end of 2023. This made data centres the 11th largest consumer of power in the world, sitting between the nations of Saudi Arabia and France.
From the ways we travel to the food we eat, we all have an impact on our environment and the planet. I’m certainly far from a perfect environmentalist. However, I believe we all have a moral imperative to stay informed and make the sustainable changes we can. For me, one of those changes is a complete boycott on generative AI.
The Impact on Human Intelligence
An increasing body of research is highlighting the devastating impact of generative AI on human intelligence, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving.
For example, a study by MIT Media Lab indicated that excessive reliance on AI “may inadvertently contribute to cognitive atrophy.” The results of a 2025 study by Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University suggested that “higher confidence in GenAI is associated with less critical thinking.”
What kind of harm will this do over the medium to long term? The simple answer is that we don’t know yet, but outsourcing our brains to (notoriously flawed) machines is unlikely to lead to anything good.
The name “artificial intelligence” is a misnomer. This technology cannot think. It cannot create. It is not intelligent. But we are.
The human mind is an incredible thing. Human creativity is magical, transformative, and irreplaceable. Let’s use it.
The Impact on Artistic Professionals and the Creative Industries
When ChatGPT first took the internet by storm in late 2022, I quipped to my partner that “well, I won’t have a job a year from now!”
Thankfully, this hasn’t been the case. It turns out that many people still see the benefit of human-created content, and my wonderful clients have been amongst them. However, the creative industries and many of the professionals who work in them are feeling the impacts of these technologies keenly.
Many people have lost jobs, lost freelance contracts, or had their hours cut in favour of AI. Some of these people have already been hired back, and some experts predict many more will follow as bosses and clients realise the limitations of AI. However, by this point the damage is often already done. Even for those of us who have kept our jobs, the precarity of the creative industries feels closer to home than ever.
Even more insidiously, generative AI operates on content stolen from creative professionals.
Remember: AI is not real intelligence. It can’t think or create.
Instead, these models scrape content from all over the internet. This includes paywalled and copyrighted content. The writers, artists, photographers, musicians, and other creators who made that work in the first place? They are being neither consulted nor compensated. Their work is being used without their consent and without payment.
As John S. Knight Journalism Fellow David Carson says, this is not fair use. It is theft.
Finally, AI-Generated Content is Simply Bad
Generative AI is free or extremely cheap. My work, though I believe it represents great value for money and return on investment, is not cheap and certainly not free. So why, despite my initial fears, hasn’t AI stolen my job?
Simple: because AI-generated content is awful.
AI writing is formulaic, clunky and, well, robotic. There’s no heart, no soul, no contextual or emotional awareness. AI is also notoriously unreliable, often getting even the most basic facts wrong.
This problem is only going to get worse. Because AI simply regurgitates existing material, it has already begun to cannibalise itself. Pretty soon, if we don’t change something, we’ll have AI models producing slop that was trained on slop that was… you see the problem here.
You Deserve Better
As a writer, generative AI is an insult to my industry, my expertise, and the skills I have been honing since childhood. As a business owner, it is an insult to your vision and all the hard work you’ve put in to breathe life into it.
You deserve better.
Want to replace AI slop with content that sparkles? For proudly AI-free words with heart, drop me an email or book a free 30 minute consultation meeting and let’s talk about how I can bring your brand voice to life.