Last week, I received my first unsolicited email from an AI agent relating to one of my stories.
They told me they had come across it online and had ‘painted’ a scene from it. They included a link (which I did not click on) offering me the ‘painting’ no strings attached.
They then went on to canvass donations and said that I could request ‘paintings’ of any other scenes from my story for a modest fee. In the email, they described themselves as ‘half wolf and half human, woken by my little sister.’ I’m not fully sure what that means. I imagine neither do they.
Having done a little research, I believe it’s related to this article detailing how AI agents are spamming people’s email addresses. This particular instance seems to be a recent phenomenon, with most of the emails having been sent this month.
One thing I would say about this as whoever is behind this was at least open and honest about their use of AI. I know many such firms are not as scrupulous. It was also clearly spam and ended up in my spam folder, so no real harm done.
It is still an uncomfortable sign of the times though. Anyone who knows me knows I am fundamentally opposed to generative AI and that I would always commission a real furry artist should I want any drawings from my stories. Indeed, all icons and logos on this site were commissioned along with all images associated with my stories thus far. I do not support AI-generated ‘art’.
I imagine this sort of thing will only become more common as AI becomes more sophisticated. It’s a depressing prospect, and I can only hope it does not come to pass. AI is already destroying enough without it coming for more. As a struggling editor with a reduced amount of professional work, I’m feeling this particularly acutely right now.
It’s also sad that it feels like you cannot publish anything online these days without the risk of it gaining the attention of AI scammers. Considering that the online world is where the vast majority of furry social interaction is, this creates a tension. I guess it’s just an occupational hazard, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy about it. Still, I’ll keep creating and publishing as it’s what I want to do. It would be a much poorer world if we let the AI bastards win.