I recently had a client ask me to update their client services contract to forbid the use of their work, the work created under the contract, in AI. That is, the contract now states that their creative work may not be altered by or submitted to any LLM/AI “tool” or platform. For any reason.
I was happy to make those changes for my client.
More creatives need to do this. I’m concerned you won’t because you are afraid your clients won’t like it. I think that most of your clients secretly will like it because the humans that are working those jobs are just as scared of losing their livelihoods to these systems as you are. But, even if they are still drinking the AI Kool-Aid, your job is to do what is best for your business, not theirs. Feeding the AI/LLM beasts is decidedly not good for your business.
Scary? Maybe. But if you are in business for yourself, you are inherently brave. If you weren’t, you would work some corporate job. You chose not to do that. So, you can do this. I’ve written before on fear (a lot, actually) and, short answer, we all feel it and can work through it. Feeling fear is, oddly, usually a sign that we’re doing the right thing. Playing it safe? Not so much.
From personal boundaries to professional business policies, we need to have and hold limits. Saying “no” to corporations when it is not good for your business is just one example. Besides, the more of us who say “no” to this shit, the better. This is why unions work (and we need more of those, too). One fish saying “no” leaves lots of other yes-fish in the sea. But when each of us decides to say “no” then the corporations must bend to us.
I will never use AI in my work. I wrote about that recently. There are plenty of lawyers who will, but not me. I can’t worry about what they do, I can only control myself and my business. The same is true for you and yours. Stand up for yourself, your art, and stand with other creative professionals who also are saying “no” to AI. There are more of you than you think.
_____
Update
You should also not use AI/LLM “tools” yourself. You might think it’s easier or helpful or whatever, but you are then feeding the beast. And being a total hypocrite. I just got off my last online business tool (in my case, for bookkeeping) precisely because it was using more and more AI-ish stuff.