The Society of Authors (UK) is helping launch this: an identifier for human-authored (i.e. non-AI) books: https://humanauthored.co.uk/

[infoseepage@mastodon.social]

@cstross You might consider placing very specific invented words with globally unique spellings into your works as a way of testing this in the future. It might provide a means of strongly claiming individual harm if the the winds shift and these companies start getting judgments levied against them.

[cstross@wandering.shop]

@Infoseepage No, but I *know* they have: I joined the Anthropic class action settlement and they had 28 out of 33 of my books listed as eligible for the pay-out (so of course I claimed). It's a pittance, but every penny helps ...

[cstross@wandering.shop]

@Infoseepage I see you like torturing copy-editors!

[burningtyger@nrw.social]

@cstross That image accompanying the toot looks very much AI authored to me

[cstross@wandering.shop]

@burningTyger Yes: but if you click through, the original larger image looks a bit more plausible. Except it's greyed-out until the website fully goes live in a few hours. If it *is* AI generated, then the potential for blowback is enormous.

[sassinake@mastodon.social]

@cstross

we shouldn't have to pay some org to get a document to certify our humanity.

[npars01@mstdn.social]

@cstross

Really looking forward to the AI bubble bursting.

https://fortune.com/2026/03/08/joseph-stiglitz-ai-future-burst-bubble-job-security-assisting/

https://beth-kindig.medium.com/tech-bubble-warnings-cost-investors-a-550-nasdaq-100-run-6bf1b0cb54f5

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/06/ai-sell-off-stocks-amazon-oracle.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2026/02/27/the-state-of-the-17-trillion-ai-bubble-the-end-of-thinking/

https://archive.is/t1Z5l
https://www.ft.com/content/a4c4dcf8-7a73-4912-9739-c94714985bfd

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/30/ai-bubble-mozilla

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/blinking-new-warning-sign-ai-industry

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/jan/18/tech-ai-bubble-burst-reverse-centaur

[burningtyger@nrw.social]

@cstross What's all that supposed to be? Chairs winding through the room? Two tables floating into one, the girl reading stuff on the table in the front while hers is empty? A weird lokking box with a plant on it that grows into the table and a chair next to it? This is AI generated.

[digicom@mastodon.art]

@cstross

The original image is not marked as AI:

https://www.freepik.com/premium-photo/smiling-woman-is-enjoying-herself-cozy-cafe-while-savoring-hot-beverage-aig58_260988593.htm

But most of the images on that profile with that topic are:

https://www.freepik.com/search?format=search&last_filter=query&last_value=%40frolopiaton-palm+woman+cafe+cozy+smiling&query=%40frolopiaton-palm+woman+cafe+cozy+smiling&sort=recent#uuid=e5cf2f50-8b1a-4333-a8db-b08fe2b39ff9

[cstross@wandering.shop]

@burningTyger My eyesight isn't good enough to examine images. (I'm awaiting cataract surgery in one eye and am half-blind in the other.)

[scaletheory@mastodon.social]

@cstross

What's this say about society?

I thought "made with real cheese" or "no artificial flavors" was bad. Why we making fake cheese anyway... profits for stock investors...

Always fighting against evil we are.

[wordshaper@weatherishappening.network]

@Npars01 @cstross I'd say the current wave of AI investment is the greatest misallocation of resources in human history but I suspect we could legit Homer Simpson that one because I have faith in humanity that we can misallocate even *more* resources in the future somehow.

[lazarou@mastodon.social]

@cstross "aaaaaand they used AI-generated artwork"

jfc, they had ONE job....

[datarama@hachyderm.io]

@cstross This is how they get us.

Writers would never use AI-generated slop writing, but they'll happily use AI-generated slop imagery.
Artists would never use AI-generated slop imagery, but they'll happily display art to AI-generated slop music.
Musicians would never use AI-generated slop music, but they'll happily use AI-generated slop writing for lyrics.

(And nobody cares about AI-generated slop code.)

[cassolotl@eldritch.cafe]

@cstross

> EDIT: aaaaaand they used AI-generated artwork ‍️

That AI illustration isn't visible on their website now, so I assume it was a mistake and they removed it when they noticed.

[ainmosni@social.ainmosni.eu]

@datarama @cstross I wish I could say that people cared about slop code, but too many devs are showing just how little they care about the quality of their work.

[unkx@icosahedron.website]

@Lazarou @cstross the had ONE job and they decided to outsource it to slop machines ‍️

[datarama@hachyderm.io]

@ainmosni @cstross I mean, I do - but I know I'm very much swimming against the stream here, and also the stream is full of piranhas.

[meganl@mas.to]

@cstross Unfortunately I've seen this a lot - authors using AI artwork based on theft while decrying theft of their writing....

It's more of leopards eating faces, I guess...

#FuckAI

[pseudonym@mastodon.online]

@Lazarou @cstross

Ouch! The irony, it burns!