{"id":885066,"date":"2026-09-06T03:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T03:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/885066\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T03:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T03:26:11","slug":"authors-unite-against-ai-slop-at-inaugural-book-fair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/885066\/","title":{"rendered":"Authors unite against \u2018AI slop\u2019 at inaugural book fair"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday\u2019s Use Your Voice Indie Book Fair in Chelmsford was marketed by host Emily Andrews as \u2018an anti-generative AI event\u2019<\/p>\n

If you value human connection in what you read and write, it\u2019s probably best if you avoid generative AI writing.<\/p>\n

So described local author Emily Andrews<\/a> during a brief break from her booth at the inaugural Use Your Voice Indie Book Fair at the Chelmsford Community Centre and Arena on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Andrews hosted the event, cautioning attendees prior, \u201cThis is an anti-generative AI event.\u201d<\/p>\n

AI, or artificial intelligence, can be used to have a computer write entire novels within seconds.<\/p>\n

A simple prompt, such as, \u201cWrite a western about monsters,\u201d can be enough to automatically produce a book without any additional thought (though additional prompts can be used).<\/p>\n

But, what would be the point?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking for a connection with the reader, and the readers and anyone who consumes any kind of art is looking for that connection with another human being,\u201d Andrews said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why people feel cheated when they learn something is generative AI, because the thread they had to unite them as a community has been lost. \u2026 It\u2019s disappointing and disgusting in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were 25 vendors at Saturday\u2019s event, including 21 authors who echoed Andrews\u2019 sentiment.<\/p>\n

\"090526_tc_book_fai3\"
\nLocal author Matthew Del Papa is pictured at his booth during the Use Your Voice Indie Book Fair at the Chelmsford Community Centre and Arena on Sept. 5. Tyler Clarke \/ Sudbury.com <\/p>\n

\u201cFor creative purposes, it\u2019s bad, for editing purposes it\u2019s not so bad, though I wouldn’t use it myself,\u201d local author Matthew Del Papa <\/a>said, adding, \u201cThe problem is when you’re taking a job that someone else could be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Del Papa hires people to produce cover art for his books, and considers the use of generative AI to be \u201cA crutch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too easy,\u201d he said, adding that after someone has used AI to create a book, \u201cWhat have you accomplished?\u201d<\/p>\n

Writing, he said, is \u201ca creative effort that\u2019s improving your skills, and AI isn\u2019t improving your creative process at all. It\u2019s a shortcut.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"090526_tc_book_fair2\"
\nChelmsford-based author Kelsey Elizabeth Wood is pictured next to her booth with her latest book in her hands, at the Chelmsford Community Centre and Arena on Sept. 5. Tyler Clarke \/ Sudbury.com <\/p>\n

Fellow local author Kelsey Elizabeth Wood<\/a> takes a similar hardline anti-AI stance in her writing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt steals from authors,\u201d she said. \u201cIt uses our work we poured our souls into to train its robots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wood specializes in romance books through which she strives to build strong female characters she uses \u201cto express different stages of how women grow into themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

She does her own marketing, hires human beta readers and editors, and uses her writing as a means of expression which AI would only dilute in her self-published works.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have people who help contribute to my story, and I don\u2019t want to change it because it\u2019s not marketable according to a publisher,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Commercial animator and marketer Greg Liko attended Saturday\u2019s event to market his services, which include creating teaser trailers for books, similar to those most commonly associated with movies.<\/p>\n

He does not use AI.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like what I do, I like doing the animation and the creative aspect of it,\u201d he said. \u201cI like seeing something I made with my hands, and I think it comes out better.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to what he described as \u201cAI slop,\u201d he said, \u201cit lacks a point of view,\u201d and is employed by people who are \u201cnot bringing new creative ideas to the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHighly derivative of other people\u2019s work,\u201d he said it comes across poorly when used in marketing campaigns.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just looks cheap and doesn\u2019t look like you have skin in the game or that you worked for it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not selling well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keen to help promote local authors, Andrews said Saturday\u2019s book fair would hopefully become an annual event for creative people to share their art.<\/p>\n

Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saturday\u2019s Use Your Voice Indie Book Fair in Chelmsford was marketed by host Emily Andrews as \u2018an anti-generative…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":885067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,276,277,49,48,307036,61],"class_list":["post-885066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-generative-aiuse-your-voice-indie-book-fair","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=885066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/885067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=885066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=885066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=885066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}