Very happy to know that my Abandoned America trademark has been coopted by not one but two different AI slop "creators", both based out of Europe to circumvent my legal protections.
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Well, nice knowing you all, I guess. The work I spent 20 years creating will drown in a sea of AI impostors using models that pilfered my writing/photos to create their garbage. I don't have the money to hire lawyers to chase phantoms. I'm sure this is coming soon to every small artist with a brand
@AbandonedAmerica That's so messed up. I hate this for you.
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If you have a registered trademark, doesn't Amazon accept that for flagging fakes?
I ask as someone who registered a trademark for that purpose but has never had to attempt that process
@elithebearded we'll see but I'm not hopeful. That's the part where I said that these people are registering in other countries where US trademark law doesn't apply
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@AbandonedAmerica That's so messed up. I hate this for you.
@lydialurch thank you. It's been a years-long battle against impersonators but it got harder and wasted more time every year, and that was before AI
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@elithebearded we'll see but I'm not hopeful. That's the part where I said that these people are registering in other countries where US trademark law doesn't apply
I wish you luck, because I'm sure this won't be easy
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@AbandonedAmerica fuck. even just the principle of being decent to each other. I will never understand the appeal of fake shit. I wasn't in to face swaps or moprhs either when this shit was just that. sorry
@scrottie thank you. As a pretty strict documentarian, I'm not a huge fan of artificiality either
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@AbandonedAmerica I love your work; I’m so horrified to read this.
@Sharonybaloney thanks so much. I'll keep going but I do worry about what this means for the future
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@AbandonedAmerica This is tragic. You’ve put I so so so much work. Not only into your photos / stories but into pushing to preserve some of places.
I do hope you can find a business Model that keeps a float.
@64bithero thank you. It has been twenty years since I started the project. I guess I just have to keep going and do my best to ignore it
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@wcbdata @AbandonedAmerica Exact same over here on all points. Followed you forever, given your books as gifts a number of times.
What pathetic losers.
@D_J_Nathanson @wcbdata thank you so much, I appreciate that. I guess the world never really runs out of obstacles for anyone and life is a constant journey of navigating them
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@D_J_Nathanson @wcbdata thank you so much, I appreciate that. I guess the world never really runs out of obstacles for anyone and life is a constant journey of navigating them
@AbandonedAmerica @wcbdata Yeah, but AI and its sucklings are a whole new level of suck. Your pissed-offedness is 1000% warranted.
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When your favorite websites or YouTube channels or whatever go offline, hide behind a paywall, or just stop producing because all their public work is stolen with AI, the Internet is going to be such a miserable and shabby place - devoid of the only spark that made it truly magical years ago.
@AbandonedAmerica What really makes this change nasty, is that it’s all a choice.
All that narrative — propaganda to be honest — about ’inevitability’ of this kind of bullshit AI is a choice that corrupt governments and courts made again and again: A choice to NOT enforce existing laws that could have protected the people.
None of this was inevitable. This is purely a choice, because we live in a deeply corrupt oligarchy that cosplays democracy & ’technological singularity’ 🤮
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Very happy to know that my Abandoned America trademark has been coopted by not one but two different AI slop "creators", both based out of Europe to circumvent my legal protections. I love this new world we live in.
@AbandonedAmerica Do you have a book or something out to let people support the real deal?
Otherwise, albeit more work, maybe time to Kickstarter etc. one together, get the money upfront from people who know, use the campaign to highlight the IP theft along the way/evidence for takedowns and fight the bastards?Wondering if The Good Law Project or some sympathetic publishers could get involved… there must be others out there…
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@AbandonedAmerica As a longtime fan of your posts and the podcast, this is really infuriating. I'm so sorry this happened. I've been lending my help to the anti-data center cause in my area. A LOT of people on both sides are rightfully upset. No working class person asked for A.I. It's insane. I hope you can find ways to continue telling these stories without your content being stolen.
@thegardendude thank you, for both the kind words and for fighting the good fight
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@AbandonedAmerica @wcbdata Yeah, but AI and its sucklings are a whole new level of suck. Your pissed-offedness is 1000% warranted.
@D_J_Nathanson @wcbdata I agree. I do worry that by the time many people realize the damage it is doing, it will be too late. But I don't see the path changing much either.
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@AbandonedAmerica @okwari yeah, it’s so depressing. I think all we can do is hang on to what’s human and try to keep each other afloat when the bubble bursts. We’re going through a forced (mal)adaptation in a massive social-cognitive scale and the AIpocalypse is going to take out our entire info sphere.
Wish I had the crystal ball to tell me how it will be shaped in the future dystopia, but someone made it agentic than rn out of tokens.
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Here's exhibit A: a "German" "guy" who somehow is releasing 3 entire text-based books in two weeks. His author photo and cover "art" are exactly the same AI style of the supposedly Scottish guy who started an Abandoned America channel on Youtube
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H3FVR5PJ?binding=paperback&qid=1792454998&sr=1-4&ref=dbs_dp_awt_sb_pc_tpbkAll In can do, I feel sorry for this, I hate AI.
Translation: This is a series of three trashy books brazenly generated by AI, whose brand identity was stolen from the actual photographer of "Abandoned America" without permission and in violation of copyright law. It's a shame that Amazon offers such trash for sale.
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Here's exhibit A: a "German" "guy" who somehow is releasing 3 entire text-based books in two weeks. His author photo and cover "art" are exactly the same AI style of the supposedly Scottish guy who started an Abandoned America channel on Youtube
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H3FVR5PJ?binding=paperback&qid=1792454998&sr=1-4&ref=dbs_dp_awt_sb_pc_tpbk@AbandonedAmerica Oh my god! #noai
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@blinkygal @mcc absolutely. I've heard about a number of creators who decided to stop publishing online due to AI. I haven't added new work to my website since 2025, I only post it on Patreon. Wanna guess why? The answer isn't because I'm trying to change for everything. Putting stuff out for free actually works best for getting subscribers. But I'm sick of my work getting hijacked
@AbandonedAmerica @blinkygal @mcc I actually deleted an online blog of mine, not because I think it'll be used or stolen, it's not that interesting and I made the decision when I started it not to use real names, but because of the tracking and general pounding my website was getting.
So yes the internet is both shrinking and filling up with useless slop at the same time...
I feel sorry for all the artists who are impacted.. it sucks to be here now..
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When your favorite websites or YouTube channels or whatever go offline, hide behind a paywall, or just stop producing because all their public work is stolen with AI, the Internet is going to be such a miserable and shabby place - devoid of the only spark that made it truly magical years ago.
@AbandonedAmerica I kinda want a vlc plugin that act like a jellyfish client but for content that VLC can access.
That way, the youtuber could distribute their video as torrent and my VLC would tell me I saw 11 of the 14 available -
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