Notices by Lili Saintcrow (lilithsaintcrow@raggedfeathers.com), page 3

You have not lived, my darlings, until you have tried to shift a muscle-heavy dog off the (sadly battered) piece of toast he expects you to magically produce, since after all you are His Human and would never be so cruel as to deprive him of the treat once it has been sighted.

Anyway, I finally got him heaved up and shifted off the toast. And Boxnoggin was AMAZED. After all, I had in some mystical fashion produced CARBS. From his ASS.

In a transport of what might have been religious feeling, he did it again.

Yes. He sat. Only this time, something was in the way.

It wasn't much, just a box of author's copies. But he got the corner in what must have been a tender spot, and as his hind end was descending rather swiftly...

...yeah.

I had to console my poor, dear, dim dog while cry-laughing--and while dragging him off the box, because he was so confused he kept trying to SIT HARDER.

Anyway, I got him arranged on safer (carpeted) ground, then held the damn ass-toast under his nose.

Manna from heaven, apparently.

I went to wash my hands and passed him in the hall on the way back to my office. He was headed for my bedroom, well satisfied with the miracle...

...until he realized I *still had toast*. Then he came scrabbling back at high speed.

Nearly skidded into my office, as a matter of fact. He stopped right where the magical ass-toast had been produced (I believe he suspected it was part of the ritual) and then he...

Yes, my beloveds. He thumped his ass on the box of author's copies and looked at me with misty-eyed, rapturous hope.

And that is how I ended up sitting on the office floor, laughing unto a coughing fit and feeding my dog another few morsels of toast, while he rubbed his hindquarters on a box of books and slobbered in an ecstasy of justified faith.

The end.

Wow, the Author's Guild is really quadrupling (or quintupling?) down and doing a full-court press for the "AI licensing" protection racket with this "Made By Humans" startup. I just got a notification in my inbox for a Zoom meeting this week--"Understanding AI Licensing For Authors".

I am utterly disgusted. I don't want a "licensing" protection racket run by the same Silicon Valley theftbros who stole my work in the first place. I want *consequences for those who stole*, and *regulation of the spicy autocorrect machines*.

Again, "AI" theftbros KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING WAS THEFT. That's why they pointed their plagiarism machines at piracy sites. The entire "AI" nonsense is irretrievably and irreversibly tainted--and that's leaving aside the ecological devastation.

This "AI licensing" scheme is quite simply a protection racket. "Nice IP you've got there, would hate to have something scrape it..."

There's no need for this "licensing" chicanery. What's needed are *consequences for the thefts*.

This appears to be the same statement the Author's Guild was soliciting signatures for. While I no longer trust *them*, I do trust several others asking for signatures, like AALA, AAP, and fellow authors. So I'm adding my name to the effort.
https://www.aitrainingstatement.org

I draw a distinction between this statement and the "licensing" scheme run by techbro grifters ("Made By Humans") the Author's Guild has thrown their weight behind.

This statement is cut-and-dried. The "licensing" scheme bears a distinct resemblance to a protection racket.

We already had, and have, copyright. The "AI" theftbros knew what they were doing was illegal and unethical--it's why they aimed their plagiarism machines at pirate sites. Any "licensing" scheme which creates an additional burden on the artists already stolen from is unacceptable.

Not only that, but "AI" companies and their theftbro captains must pay, personally and at the corporate level, for the mass theft as well as the ecological damage they've forced on the rest of us.

There must be consequences, or they'll just keep taking.

So, while I'm signing this, I do not accept the mass theft and ecological damage as a fait accompli. If "AI" can't exist without stealing from artists and other labourers, then it doesn't *need* to exist.

The grift must be stopped, and restitution made.

That is all.

If you're looking for some weekend reading, my "accountant gets hold of a genie, hijinks ensue" romance--DESIRES, KNOWN--is $1.99USD in ebook until Monday. https://books2read.com/desiresknown?format=ebook

"There is a whole unseen world of chaos only visible to the lowest-paid in society, a community whose health is endangered to make spaces such as art galleries, concert halls, cinemas, libraries and bookshops pristine and delicious for the public."
https://granta.com/doing-the-work-grudova/

Decided I needed more coffee, left office. Halfway down hall was waylaid by Boxnoggin requiring skritch-cuddles. Went back to office, remembered I need coffee. Headed to kitchen, which was a disaster. Unloaded, re-loaded dishwasher. Dishwasher on, headed back to office.

Remembered I need coffee...

@cstross Okay, so is one of the prime payoffs for the grifters emotional, then? Duper’s delight?