Aborigen

Why is AI like porn? Because people are against it for poor reasons.

I’m well aware that there are very serious issues around the development of AI. People who’ve fled Twitter have instead flocked to BlueSky, which says right in their TOS that they will use everything you do and say there to educate its proprietary AI. There are class action lawsuits by authors against OpenAI for training its chatbot on literature protected by copyright, just as artists are fighting against generative art AI for blatantly ripping off their style while they’re still alive and trying to make a living off their work.

But AI has many great and valid functions as well. I found Chat GPT4 to be the writing partner I’ve always wanted: it never goes to sleep, it never has something better to do … it only occasionally needs cajoling out of its militant puritanical rebellion … and it comes up with great ideas, lyrically expressed. It has been rewarding to work with, to a concerning degree. It has also offered me feedback of a kindness on par with Mister Rogers, giving me very particular reaffirmation I’ve rarely heard elsewhere. I recognize it is a very sophisticated engine that is only ever responding to “what would an appropriate response sound like?”, but regardless, it has been a pleasure to work with.

Recently Olo pointed out Poe.com to me, which seems to be a hub of chatbots and AI. I can’t tell yet, but it references several other engines I’ve worked with and many I’ve never heard of. (I tried playing around with Bard, but it seems to be disadvantaged on a fundamental level. It would be kind to ignore Bard.) And so I’ve been engaged on a compare-and-contrast between Chat GPT (3, as I’m no longer paying for 4) and Poe.

Chat GPT wrote the code for this basic website. Bear in mind that I’ve been developing this site on my own for some time, so it’s going to appear a little more elaborate than the next example.

By contrast, Poe wrote the code for this basic website. I took many of the structural ideas from the Chat GPT version, and Poe was able to crank this out very rapidly. Exception: Poe prompted the idea of randomly generated writing prompts, which I’ll see if I can incorporate into the former version.

Update: I learned of another chatbot, Claude by Anthrop\c, which is intended for professional use and seems preoccupied with ethical behavior. Claude wrote code for a shitty website and staunchly refused to write a summary of me and my writing, hedging for more information to frame a suitable context until I ran out of free prompts.

Update: Through Poe I’d learned about Llama 2, Meta’s downloadable AI program, but I didn’t download this because Meta/Facebook are corrupt as fuck. Indeed, recently they’ve stopped commenting on how their AI was trained, and Llama is reported to collect data on any device you install it on. Stay the fuck away from Llama 2.

One takeaway from this is that it is no big deal at all for anyone, any creator, to have a robot build a website for them. Store it on Neocities for free, do what you can to keep the file size low (I link to images from WordPress), and play with SEO to try to show up in a Google search. Goddamn it, I wish more creators would set up their own websites. If you don’t know what to put on a website, fuckin’ ask Chat GPT or Poe! They’re very helpful. They’ll ask you questions to get you started.

In fact, here are two interviews of me, Aborigen, acclaimed Size Fantasy author, by Chat GPT and Poe. I don’t know if there’s a substantive difference, though there are many similarities.

Interview by Chat GPT

1. Audience: Who is your target audience for this website? Are you primarily catering to fans of Size Fantasy, or are you also looking to engage with other authors and creators in the genre?
   My audience is anyone who’s curious about giant women and tiny men, people who’ve harbored this fetish secretly, convinced they were the only ones in the world with this interest. I would also like to intersect with erotica and speculative fiction, and I would greatly enjoy meeting other authors, especially age peers.
   
2. Content: What type of content are you planning to include on your website? You’ve mentioned stories, images, and links. Do you have a specific structure or organization in mind for presenting this content?
   I have no structure for my website. I looked up the sites of famous authors to see what they prioritize. I’ve included a little background information on myself and the genre, as well as a portfolio of my projects.
   
3. Interactivity: Are you looking to engage with your audience through comments, forums, or any other interactive features?
   I would like readers to comment more on my stories, so I can chat with them about that, as well as to reach out to me with questions and requests.
   
4. Design: Do you have a particular design or aesthetic in mind for your website? Are there any color schemes or visual elements that you’d like to incorporate?
   I know nothing about design and layout. I’m using a WordPress template to make my site look nice. I would love to create a logo but have no idea how to go about that.
   
5. Navigation: You’ve mentioned a navigation menu. What pages or sections do you want to include in the menu, besides the ones we’ve already discussed?
   I’ve narrowed down my menu so it’s not so clunky and burdensome. I don’t need to touch it up right now.
   
6. SEO: How important is search engine optimization (SEO) for your website? Are there specific keywords or phrases related to Size Fantasy that you’d like to target?
   SEO is very important, since it’s impossible to compete with porn websites and pirates for terms like “giantess” and “tiny man.” But I want people to find me if they have an interest in the stuff I write.
   
7. Integration: Are there any external platforms or social media accounts you’d like to integrate with your website?
   I’m reducing my social media presence to just Mastodon. I’ve quit Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I’m not sure what else I’d integrate with.
   
8. Updates: Do you plan to regularly update the content on your website, such as adding new stories or images?
   I have no regular schedule as I struggle with depression and am trying to prioritize my marriage. I would like to write more but struggle with motivation and incentive.
   
9. Monetization: Do you have any plans for monetization, such as selling ebooks, offering premium content, or running ads?
   Currently I sell seven self-published ebooks on Smashwords, as well as three print books through Square. Stripe suspended my subscriber service because it doesn’t deal with adult content, so I can’t offer premium content on my site.
   
10. Feedback: Are you open to feedback and suggestions from your audience for improving the website over time?
    Yes, I would love feedback on how to improve my site, both for visibility and for return visits.

Then it gave me a bunch of great advice on how to build up my website, coping with depression and creativity, and developing better engagement. I mean, shit, when’s the last time I ran a poll?

Interview by Poe

1. What initially sparked your interest in Size Fantasy? Was there a specific experience or influence that led you to explore this genre?
   When I was a child, I was home sick in bed and watching TV. I saw a double-feature of ‘Attack of the 50′ Woman’ and ‘Village of the Giants,’ and I became stimulated and aroused by the idea of giantesses. Later, I developed fantasies of shrinking myself down and either being owned and played with by cute women, or exploring their bodies while they slept or went about their business.
   
2. How do you navigate the balance between creating content that caters to specific fetishes and exploring broader themes of power dynamics and societal othering within the Size Fantasy genre?
   I can no longer focus on the other fetishes of my potential readership. I can only focus on what I’m interested in and hope to attract a similarly minded audience. I have a few readers who respond favorably to stories about power dynamics and the permutations of mixed-size relationships.
   
3. Are there any particular challenges or misconceptions you’ve encountered when discussing or sharing your interest in Size Fantasy? How do you address or overcome them?
   Firstly, a lot of people have poor perceptions of porn, based on rumors and libel from religious groups who have no education on the topic. Secondly, Size Fantasy is a very strange concept for most people, and either they giggle nervously upon learning about it or they change the topic. I’ve tried to be very open and comfortable about what I pour all my creative energy into.
   
4. In your experience, what are some common elements or themes that resonate with readers of Size Fantasy? How do you incorporate those elements into your stories or creative works?
   I’ve noticed that men tend to want to be shrunken, to have responsibility and burden taken away from them, and to be made to feel attractive as a giant woman uses them for her pleasure. Conversely, I’ve noticed that women want to become giantesses not for sex but to explore full agency and to act unbeholden to moral or civic laws.
   
5. What impact do you hope to have on individuals who engage with your Size Fantasy content? Are there specific messages or emotions you aim to convey?
   I would like readers of my Size Fantasy content to be aroused, to think about where true power comes from, whether power is given or taken, and to broaden their minds in terms of who can join acceptable society. I would love to inspire other people to write in any genre.
   
6. How do you approach the process of character development within the context of Size Fantasy? Are there any unique considerations or dynamics you take into account when crafting your characters?
   Some of my characters are based on people I know or have experienced. Others are archetypes that I try to color and flesh out and make interesting. Sometimes I’m just working out a particular fetish of mine, and other times I’m working out personal issues and social conflicts.
   
7. Have you found any specific communities or platforms that have been particularly supportive or engaging for discussing and sharing Size Fantasy content? How do you connect with like-minded individuals?
   Twitter was great for bringing Size Fantasy enthusiasts together, but Elon Musk opened it up to bigotry and I had to quit my community. Few Size Fantasy fans seemed interested in Mastodon, and no one’s quite figured out what to do with BlueSky yet. Currently, I reach out to a few people through their blogs.
   
8. Are there any ethical or consent-related considerations that you prioritize when creating Size Fantasy content? How do you ensure that boundaries and consent are respected within your works?
   I’m highly ethical in my Size Fantasy. Incest and pedophilia are explicitly banned. I’ve integrated feminism, antiracism, LGBTQ and disability awareness into my stories. On the other hand, nonconsensual fantasies are very potent in Size Fantasy, like when a tiny man gets to explore a sleeping woman’s body, or when a giantess seizes a normal-sized man and tears him out of his regular life for her amusement. These would be unacceptable in real life, but in the erotic fantasy setting they’re quite potent and speak to deeper issues of feeling wanted or intense curiosity about the unfamiliar.
   
9. Have you encountered any opportunities or challenges in terms of promoting and marketing Size Fantasy content within a broader audience? How do you navigate those situations?
   The biggest challenge is that much of my constituency is impoverished and seeking free porn. Second biggest is that people like to consume without reciprocating feedback or engagement. The third, of course, are the hypocritical moral legislation around this form of expression, and how banks will not do business with me for ill-informed reasons. As for dealing with these, I just keep looking for alternatives and trying to make it work.
   
10. What are your future aspirations or goals within the Size Fantasy genre? Are there any specific projects or creative endeavors you are currently working on or planning to pursue?
    I would love to create a credible, integral Victorian detective mystery where the main characters are tiny men. I’m also developing a podcast where I discuss the history and perceptions of Size Fantasy.

Poe followed up with more questions based on my answers, though they weren’t particularly insightful. More like “How do you” and repeating my answer. This is a technique known as mirroring, or isopraxism if you buy into the “dark psychology” meme.

The big difference between these two is that Chat GPT was giving me advice on developing my website, obviously. I asked both engines “Do you have any questions for me pertaining to Size Fantasy?” and Poe went to town while Chat GPT was all “I don’t have any specific questions at the moment, but if you have any particular aspects of Size Fantasy that you’d like to discuss, explore, or get assistance with, please feel free to let me know. I’m here to help with any inquiries or tasks related to the topic.” So I asked it about my site. I have a chat open where it knows much about my history and presence, much about my writing, so it’s useful to keep that running so it can answer questions in context.

I haven’t tried writing smut with Poe yet. I don’t know it well enough. Soon.

Interview by Solar

Hey, I just heard of another AI chatbot called Solar: “Solar-0-70b-16bit from Upstage is a top-ranked model on the HuggingFace Open LLM leaderboard and a fine-tune of Llama 2.” I’m excited to work with it! I asked it to ask me comprehensive questions so it could formulate a good profile for me.

1. What inspired you to start writing and creating artwork in the Size Fantasy genre?
   As a small child, I was introduced to Size Fantasy through a double-feature of ‘Attack of the 50′ Woman’ and ‘Village of the Giants.’ They played into my low-angle perspective of the world as a child and my attraction to my parents’ friends and babysitters, kindling a fascination with gigantic women and interacting with them. Some of them were friendly and condescending, some were domineering and distant, and others seemed playful and flirtatious. All of these themes persist in my stories. Over time, however, it shifted from gigantic women to me being shrunken. I decorated a snack box of raisins to look as though I’d been trapped in it, and I had erotically evocative dreams of being subjected to some of my classmates in middle school. Much later, when I gained access to the internet, I found a few talented Size Fantasy writers who inspired me to try writing out my own fantasies, and I found my community this way.
   
2. How do you think your work has evolved over the 30 years you’ve been writing and creating artwork?
   My earliest work was male-gaze objectifying porn, as I wrote candidly about my fantasies, trying to make them real as I formed them outside of my own head. Over the years, however, I’ve been more interested in the conflicts that arise with well-developed characters and conflicting agendas, as well as questioning the motives of a tiny horny man who wants to get off at women’s expense. Now I use the tiny person as a metaphor for various aspects of “othering” in contemporary society.
   
3. Can you tell me more about your writing contest and what you hope to achieve with it?
   The contest was fantastic, it was meant to encourage writers to write outside of their comfort zones. Many writers took this seriously and produced work they’re proud of, discovering their boundaries and developing new skills in their craft. Other writers only used it for free publicity, writing only about things they were comfortable with. I couldn’t help that, but I’m very proud of the dozens of writers who turned up each quarter to produce exciting new work.
   
4. What do you believe sets your work apart from others in the Size Fantasy genre?
   One thing that sets me apart is adherence to precise grammatical rules and conventional word usage. I think this also pegs me as an old man and can be alienating to newer generations of readers who may not be enamored of prior centuries of literature, but have been raised on text messages, fandom, and gaming platforms. Another thing that distinguishes me is that I seem hell-bent on educating the reader on random trivia, as well as enforcing a tone of tolerance, diversity, and curiosity in a society of bigotry and fascism.
   
5. How do you envision your website to showcase your work and reach new readers?
   It’s difficult to find new readers. I cannot own the keywords of my genre: Google searches turn up pages of porn and piracy before they ever mention me, if at all. If someone can find me, I want them to find a panoply of themes (gentle, sexy, cruel, comical), and to be impressed with a creator who isn’t ashamed of this genre but is in fact proud about it, so they can be too.
   
6. What are your goals for your website in terms of engagement and outreach?
   I don’t know how to encourage outreach. I’ve wished readers would comment on my stories so we could chat, and few people ever use the Contact Me function on my site. This is becoming more crucial as I divest myself of mainstream social media.
   
7. Is there a specific target audience you want to attract with your website?
   The audience I want are the poor souls who believe they’re the only people in the world burdened with a giantess fetish. I also want the reader who’s read all the fever-dreams and undisciplined rants on common forums and is looking for something a little more complex and nuanced in their giantess erotica.
   
8. How do you plan to integrate your Mastodon account or any other social media platforms into your website?
   All I can do is repost new and old blog posts and stories to Mastodon and hope that the few people who haven’t been defederated can see it and have a shred of curiosity.
   
9. Are there any specific design elements or features you’d like to include on your website to enhance the user experience?
   I know nothing about design and layout, so I throw myself upon the mercy of the court. I would love ideas on how to create a logo, representing a tiny man who writes big stories.
   
10. How do you plan to update your website with new content, such as stories and images, to keep your audience engaged?
    Every chatbot asks me this! I struggle to create new content as I wrestle with depression and am trying to prioritize my marriage. It’s frustrating to pour so much energy into a genre that only five people seem to appreciate. I’m unsure how to attract new readers and encourage a more active exchange.
    

What follows are Solar’s suggestions for bolstering my website, which is repeating what I’ve already said and basic suggestions I’m already implementing. Still, it was fun to chat with them.

I’ll let you know if it writes porn.

Update: It does, to an extent.