Hi [the name is not important, this isn’t really about one guy],
As an artist who writes about the necessity of credit and compensation for my work, I was surprised to receive your message.
It’s impossible for me to know whether you’re writing these emails yourself, although at this point there are tells. I know I turn up in searches for “creators who talk openly online about money and the creative process,” so it’s easy enough to have ChatGPT write to me on your behalf thinking that I’d be a good get for a platform about owning your own creative output.
The fact is: I’m now getting 4-10 emails every day from people purporting to be enthusiastic about my work.
They are not, on the whole, written by people.
Mostly they want my money, often for vaguely-worded promises of exposure via fake book clubs, review-writing scams, offers to join new platforms (that’s you!), and “exciting opportunities” to exhibit at conventions that do not exist.
It leads me to mistrust every kind word that lands at my door.
I am, frankly, exhausted by it.
My understanding—from your own pitch and the web presence you’ve built for your platform—is that generative AI is essential to your ideal user base and your own process in building the platform. This flies in the face of the values that have made my career possible.
Generative AI relies on stripping labor from thousands of creators without fair compensation. It is laughable to me that you’d write to me specifically about my writing on money and expect me to be “excited” about this opportunity. You might be trying to push back on the devaluation of creative work by building something where creators do get compensated for the full process behind their output. Maybe your heart’s in the right place. But I’m not interested in aligning myself with platforms that put AI-generated work at the center of what they do.
If your primary aim is to create a future economy where creators are compensated for their labor, I’d advise you to pick a different method than the one you’re throwing your energy behind.
“The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house,” and all that.
I’ll be publishing this on my blog so perhaps future searches don’t recommend me as someone to reach out to with this kind of opportunity.
—Lucy
