Prose City exists to uplift and be in community with artists and crafts people throughout the entire independent writing, publishing and reading ecosystem. Every step of this process and every person involved — those featured in our own Portland Literary Directory and so many more — are being harmed by the unethical and profit-above-all use of artificial intelligence.
Regardless of how any given member of the Prose City community may choose to use AI, or be compelled to do so at work or in school, Prose City as an entity draws a hard line at utilizing AI for any part of the creative literary and artistic ecosystem.
This being the case, we will always seek to avoid platforming or promoting books and other works produced in whole or part with AI. Similarly, we will seek to avoid featuring, interviewing, or otherwise platforming people and organizations who engage in or promote the production of literary and artistic works using AI.
As always, we seek to take an educated, nuanced view of things, and AI is no exception. It is possible to think of the technology of AI apart from the broligarchs, techno fascists, and sprawling data centers. AI can run on a relatively inexpensive computer and is, at the end of the day, a technology that uses statistical analysis and machine learning to forecast future outcomes based on historical data, among other things. It can and is being used to great benefit in healthcare, environmental science, disaster planning and preparedness, and myriad other things.
This does not mean it should be used to supplant humans in the arts, and we will hold a hard line in solidarity with and in support of our literary and artistic communities on this.