before we start

• 𝙼𝚢 𝙰𝙸 𝙿𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚢 & 𝚆𝚑𝚢 𝙸 𝚛𝚎𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝙻𝙻𝙼𝚜
• 𝙸'𝚖 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚐𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚖-𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚕𝚢
• 𝚆𝚑𝚢 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚂𝚞𝚋𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚔/𝙼𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚞𝚖

• Link

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𝚖𝚢 𝙰𝙸 𝚙𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚢

& 𝚠𝚑𝚢 𝙸 𝚛𝚎𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎

It's important that we speak of the same things, so let's talk about the definition first.

What is AI?

We tend to use the terms "AI" (artificial intelligence) and "LLMs" (large language models) interchangeably.
You'll encounter the same synonymisation in my writing.To put it in very straightforward language, generative AI (LLMs) are software that was trained on datasets to generate output based on your prompts. It's a very simplified way to describe what is happening, because machine learning does not automatically mean that the input can or will be modified later. LLMs are doing exactly that.I also find it important to stress that artificial intelligence is nothing new. For decades it has been implemented into far more things than we know.
The problem is that the recent push for this technology, its current, publicly accessible variants, and the craze surrounding all of it heavily disrupt all aspects of our lives.
What is happening has actually nothing to do with intelligence; these LLM chat bots are basically somewhat sophisticated, but very faulty and manipulative prediction machines. They’re code, an algorithm.

What are my beliefs?

I reject generative artificial intelligence as a whole and do not recognise it.
I do not use LLMs in neither my private nor professional life.
For what it's worth, I don't permit my work to be used for machine learning and I advocate for a total ban on unauthorised scraping.

How do I work?

I use words and skills I've learned throughout the years of my human existence.
For my writing and other endeavours, I rely on my ideas and thought triggers.Admittedly, I have occasionally used the zeroGPT AI detector in the past, when unsure about a picture source.
It increasingly failing at recognising human-made art and classifying it as AI, and vice-versa, made me ditch the service very quickly.
I refuse to utilise LLMs of any kind, be it for private use, hobbies or my professional life and am not interested in consuming whatever “amazing” thing "you made" with AI.With the AI hype, more and more "AI tools" are being implemented into various softwares.
This has become a deterrent for me.
It is, of course, well established that some forms of AI have already existed in softwares long before; automatic background removers for photos or tools that straighten out wonky lines in drawing programs, to name two.
We need to be able to distinguish what AI is being used. Is it a true assistance tool or is it generative?
Even if what they added is not an LLM, I make use of alternatives whenever available, as I'm not a fan of the hype.Whenever I cannot avoid using a certain software, I make sure that I don't use the new functions I didn't ask for.
I regularly go on a "hunt" for new software that respect the user and can be used with a clear conscience.
If you know of a nice tool I may want to try, feel free to send me a link!For personal and public writing, I switched to Ellipsus and am very happy with it.
Whenever possible, I try to have my texts proofread by a native English speaker, otherwise I make use of the AI-free spellchecker that's integrated into the software.
On my private Linux laptop, I use an open-source Microsoft Office alternative called Libre Office (sadly, can't do this at work).I started using de-centralised social media and permanently educate myself on privacy-focused and AI-free tools for my everyday life.I believe in supporting favourite bands and therefore I buy music as often as possible.
For streaming, I switched to ROKK a while ago. It's a smaller streaming service with no tolerance for gen AI stuff, that follows a better philosophy than their competitors.
Sadly, ROKK had to enter a hiatus recently, so I rely more on my own collection, which I ripped to my trusty HiRes DAP and iPod Nano (4th Gen).
When streaming, I opt for Deezer.
Running a streaming service without an AI is impossible these days, but they actually do good stuff with it.
For example, they can't realistically prohibit and ban all AI-generated music (made with Suno or Udio, for exmple), so instead, they use AI to scan music and tag it as AI whenever it's the case.
Deezer also made it very easy for their users to report wrongfully tagged music, which is a huge problem on streaming these days. Especially since AI fakes are flooding streaming platforms.
Recently, they launched an AI detection tool for playlists.
They're fighting fire with fire, but this kind of AI, unlike the generative nonsense, genuinely serves the users and helps them listening to music that aligns with their values, which is why I support them.For whenever I need a visual idea created, I have beautiful friends who are savvier at drawing/painting/graphic designs than I am. A quick mood board or a quick sketch and a few words ususally are enough for them to play with my vision and bring it to life.

What about the AI that I use anyway?

As I mentioned, AI exists for a long time and I use it whether I like it or not.
Whenever I play a video game, the in-game AI steers the NPCs and opponents. Even if it's a game from 2002!
Whenever I Shazam a song, an AI is scanning a database to tell me what song I'm listening to.
There's various inputs in creative software that aren't generative, like the aforementioned background remover or line straighteners.Some AI, which in reality is nothing but code, is useful and necessary and I have no choice but to use it to exist in this modern world.It is this new hype and the LLMs specifically that truly disrupted our world.
This is what what I've got beef with and therefore, this is where I draw the line.
I will say, though, that because of that dangerous, inflated hype, I begin to truly question the "useful" and "non-distuptive" AIs more and more.Still, I sometimes, I have no choice but to use the thing I despise so much.
In more and more cases, I have to talk to a chatbot first to get my customer service request transferred to a real agent. Calling is not always possible, but that doesn't even matter anymore these days, as more and more companies use bots on the phone as well.Somewhat recently, I had the displeasure to talk to an AI when trying to reach a customer service office by phone.
It went as bad as it possibly could.
Since there was no chat and I was in a rush to get the problem solved, I was stuck to get myself through to a real agent on the phone.
After something like fifteen failed attempts to understand my request to be transferred to a human, the machine then said that he (had a male voice) can't help me and will therefore forward my call to a “human colleague”... (yes, I made exactly that face!)
Thanks, that's literally what I've been asking for.
I've done so politely, impatiently, sarcastically, formally, informally, rudely and offensively.
No change of tone or vocabulary brought me any closer to the result but the machine's code, which calculated that so many failed attempts are probably pointless... I am still equally amused, frustrated and speechless over that experience.Complete avoidance of ANY kind of AI is impossible unless you go off grid and live a (hopefully) peaceful life in a wooden cabin. I'd argue that even then, you're not safe from it anymore.
I’d be a hypocrite to say I don’t use any AI at all. This is why I insist on making a distinction and when I say that I don't use AI and that I hate AI, it is the LLMs specifically!

Why do I reject (gen) AI?

It starts with the "training" of those large language models.
Videos, music, articles, social media profiles and so much more has been scraped from the internet without the copyright owners' approval. Willingly provided datasets make a very small percentage of the training material.To make matters worse, there is a lot of invisible and borderline slave-like human work involved into these models. Arguably, it's the same discussion there was on Google images, but it being AI makes it worse in the sense that there's so much more disturbing material thanks to how easy it has become to create it.The next thing that really makes me hate AI is how it sabotages our use of language.
For instance, it makes us all sound the same. Individual voices are melting into one and the same. It lacks personality, we all seem to be pulling from the same pot of over-used words and phrases.
And that is just the tip of the iceberg.
Since these bots have become so popular, I think twice before using my beloved em dash and after all the years of priding myself in respecting the language I'm using, I'm becoming increasingly lasher with orthography and grammar to sound more human.
As a non-native English speaker, I feel like I'm more prone to adapt to how language is used around me.
Hearing so many people sounding like these chatbots, I am worried to adapt those patterns and phrases.
I always used "the threes" and I don't feel comfortable doing it anymore. Phrases like "It's not (just) x, it's y" or "And honestly…" were a fixed part in my vocabulary and it makes me feel icky to use them these days. I can't completely get them banned from my vocabulary because of stupid robots, but I've grown almost allergic to these phrases.
Even some YouTubers who claim to reject AI talk like this.
To write this section, I first wanted to structure it. Eventually, I decided against it because it's been so appropriated by these chatbots that it's nauseating.The societal impact has grown to an alarming level. People get away with AI use while those who did their work honestly get accused of having used it. We live in a Clown World, as some call it.Another huge aspect is the safety of these bots, which thanks to their sycophancy and lack of guardrails, is really low. In multiple cases, chatbots didn't provide emergency contact information to people who talked about ending things. Instead, they continued to cheer on the clearly struggling humans that needed professional help. No matter how dangerous, deranged and/or delusional your idea is, the chatbot will be your personal e-cheerleader.
It is just a code, of course, but calling it intelligence when there's clearly none is quite rich when considering these devastating cases.
Anyone can fall victim to these chatbots and it has nothing to do with age, status or IQ. It is unsurprisingly obvious, however, that the most vulnerable are young and impressionable people, elders who don't understand technoogy that well and, sadly, all the lonely, mentally challenged or neurospicy individuals.And this leads to many facets of the human cost. For some reason, this synthetic connection feels real and genuine to many people.
Those people share their most intimate details with their chatbots, not knowing what happens with that information, where it's stored and whether it can or will be used against them at some point.
There's a plethora of apps offering AI boyfriends and girlfriends, even creating an AI version of their exes is a thing.
These companies are monetising and abusing a real and sometimes desperate human need for connection.
In our fast-paced world, a vast majority of people seems to lack the time to regularly maintain real-life relationships with their friends. We crave connections, but are isolated, behind our phones and computers. Not using any kind of electronic device is unthinkable these days, we're on them for so many necessary and unnecessary things, both for private stuff and often also at work.
But said work might not be forever.
Only a few years into this AI craze, thousands of people lost their jobs because of and to it.
Some companies then realised that they made mistakes and started hiring people again (like Klarna) but the damage has already been done. Creatives get hired less because it's faster and cheaper to get a generated picture of significantly lower quality and with a painfully visible lack of soul.
With these bots' sycophancy and lack of guardrails, it is especially alarming that many people also use these services as their therapist. This is yet another way how AI companies abuse people who are in need of professional help and help us look away from the bigger problem that needs solving: that there's not enough offers for people who need help.Speaking of therapy, the aforementioned human work behind these bots exposes severely underpaid people to horrifying visual material that they have to classify for these machines. Affected (ex-)workers report nightmares or insomnia, heightened anxiety and more. Who's going to help them work through the trauma? They might not have the access or funds to seek the professional help they need to work through the traumas of their job. I bet my own behind that they are aware enough not to use AI as their therapist.Further digressing from this core topic, there's a lot of non-consensual AI use that can lead to trauma, reputation loss and so much more. Someone could upload your face in there without your permission and put you in whatever position they want. There's been many cases of people getting undressed, put into pornographic material or other forms of compromising positions. And as if this wasn't disgusting enough, many sick individuals use these possibilities for the creation of CSAM, which they even try to sell as being less harmful than real, human-made equivalents.
On a similar vein, deepfakes can be created much faster, easier and cheaper than ever before and nobody is safe. Not that we have ever really been safe from deepfakes, but the initial barriers to harm you that way, have disappeared
If you ever used social media and put your face on there, you probably were scraped or saved by someone and there's nothing you can do against someone who wants to do you harm.Those generated photos and videos don't only exploit non-consenting women for undie-shots or nude remakes.
The very same technology is being used to sell scam products with false advertisement.
With nearly-perfect deep fakes of famous people who never agreed to advertise for the company, they manage to trick thousands of social media users who scroll past their ads.
There's also a popular genre of emotional scam ads of elderly people having to close their workshops or harmed children that flood social media platforms and lure well-meaning people into spending money on products that may never arrive. The same methods are being used to create false political propaganda for both left and right, shock content that children can easily access, including gore and other inappropriate material. Now pair this with the already massive issue of social media echo chambers and society will be divided more than it already is. The very few bits of shared reality we still have are fading away with the growing number of slop.An argument that many people love to dismiss is the environmental impact of AI. The data centres need a lot of energy and cooling, for which they use clean water, a scarce resource we need for our survival.
Any web interaction has an environmental impact, of course, but things truly got out of hand with the AI boom.
While a data centre is being built, some of the computing might already become outdated in the meantime. This generates more pollution, as more, newer chips need to be produced. As a side effect to this, there's many shortages on the public market and hardware prices for the end consumers have gone up a lot.
These data centres also pollute communities with light and noise emissions that make living in the surrounding areas a nightmare.
Electricity bills go up, there's cases of water pressure dropping, water being unsafe to use and many other alarming symptoms that normal people like you and I have to live with in those areas. They can't just move, because nobody will buy a house in such an area.
At the same time, there (often) exist tax benefits for the companies building the data centres.
The "new jobs" aren't new positions (in many cases), but it's people taking up gig work for those specific data centres. It's more like shuffling professionals from different areas to this gig job with no security after the project is completed.The whole art aspect is truly nauseating and hits me especially hard. AI is actively making people outsource whatever little creativity they possess. Some people now call themselves artists when all of their input is a prompt. Since they insist on the word artist, I'd use the word con artist for those individuals.
The art of using words is so amazing and I'm afraid those people consider prompting an art from.
Words can evoke emotions, inspire, teach.
Books are works of art that require fantasy, humanity, human experiences, pain and emotions.
People now release "AI assisted" (=generated) books that flood bookshops. Excuse me while I go vomit. Some of the best stories and most life-changing non-fiction books only had such an impact on me and millions of other people, because they felt human. And why did they feel human? Because they were.
The very same goes for visual art; paintings, drawings, films. Whenever you prompt a chatbot to generate a picture or video for you, it does nothing but remixing stuff it was fed with and it happens at a high environmental cost without compensation for the human artist who's work the machine pulled from. The slop that the machine poops out might appear good at first glance, but it simply lacks the soul that the original creators poured into their art. It's like a parody of art that has been scrapped and rendered into meaningless pixels. And the same could be said about music, sometimes also paired with deepfakes of alive and active musical artists.With AI, thinking became a nuisance to many people. Humans outsource their thinking these days, because they feel more efficient doing that. And this happens at the cost of our already dropping average IQ. This dangerous trend further fuels the already massive problem with "learned helplessness" that we're currently facing in society. In an era when young people can't read on grade level and spiral when their iPad buffers for longer than two seconds, this added "crutch" is disastrous to our cognitive abilities and us being too lazy will cost us in the long run.
We can already observe people completely shutting down their brains because they can "ask Chat" about anything they may possibly come up with themselves if they gave it just a few more seconds.
It replaces meaningful and crucial research and makes us as a society more reliant on ready answers.
One of my "favourite", slightly amusing examples is the couple that travelled without a visa, because they didn't verify the travel information given to them by AI. Sadly, people believe things spat out by these machines without double checking the information and while you and I may be laughing at Google Gemini's suggestion to eat a rock every day or use glue on their pizza for the cheese to stick, someone out there will believe that this is good advice. And even worse, some people use these tools to "learn" or do certain things in life that will backfire horribly.

"So what?", you could ask.

You can, of course, argue that every new technology comes with pros and cons. I agree with you here.
Still, you may think that I am a bit too one-sided. You're entiteled to that opinion just like I am to mine.
In upcoming essays, I will dive a little deeper into this and many other, related topics. I warmly invite you to follow my activity.As much as I wished that I could just care less about AI, I cannot. This invasive technology and its risks concern everyone, adopters and deniers alike.
AI and the entire race affects our jobs, lives, safety, health, social issues, economy, interpersonal relationships, culture and much, much more.Admittedly, this technology COULD have benefits and I mentioned some above.
The way everything is happening, and with the specific individuals behind those models, I can't help but being permanently alarmed about the future of our planet. I have so many questions and worries about ethics, copyright, the environment and our collective (mental) health.I can let the argument about advancements in science slip, I suppose. As long as there's still humans doing the actual work, that is. Perhaps if it was actual intelligence, our conversation would look slightly differently. Once we have that, I'll happily educate myself on the topic and evaluate my position. As things stand today, I have a problem with AI and specifically generative AI.
For the sake of nuance, I want to mention that I've have been confronted with a few highly specific cases in which I genuinely wasn't able to counter-argue the use of AI. I also saw use cases where I was able to somewhat accept it, even if I'd never make such a choice myself.
This handful of highly specific examples does not justify society's collective, mindless acceptance and endorsement of this disruptive, manipulative and dangerous technology.It is every informed person's responsibility to raise awareness about the dangers that AI brings to arts, humanity and beyond. An essay on this topic will be posted hopefully soon and I encourage you to critically analyse your own relationship with this technology. And ask yourself honestly: is your life really that much better? Or have you now lost all the human aspects of life that you used to love?Authenticity is one of the leading values in my life and I make no exceptions, in no aspect of either my personal or professional life. I reject the use of generative AI in all my work with no exception.
Linked below, you can find a list of links about AI and a YouTube playlist with reports, essays, documentaries and interviews on the topic.
Some of the linked material goes deeper into the individual aspects that make me hate this technology.

• 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝙰𝙸 (𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗)

𝙸'𝚖 𝚗𝚘𝚝

𝚊𝚕𝚐𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚖-𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚕𝚢

When I started the blog in January 2026, it was meant to be a first and foremost a continuation of my music reviews, which I used to publish on my Facebook page.I can't really pinpoint the trigger for it, but what once was a passion project started feeling more like a chore to me. I then stopped posting about music and let it sit for a while. The posts were basically ready to share but I kept them back on purpose. I've observed and acknowledged the change of heart for a while and decided that waiting longer is basically trying to keep a dead project alive.For a long time, I wanted to make a YouTube channel, but now I'm kind of glad that this never happened.
The topics are still important to me, so I made the decision to end the failed review blog and set up a better online presence for myself before I start preparing essays and blog posts about topics that are more important for the world to hear.The most important thing is, however, that I want to embrace a less structured direction for my blog.
Treating this like the YouTube channel I never had, regular posting is key to be favoured by "the algorithm Gods."But... I don't like that!
As with any other creative pursuit of mine, I work best when inspiration flows naturally.
I never did and never will enjoy writing under pressure.
Whenever I try to bring a structure in any of my creative work, be it writing or something else, I loose momentum.
Consequently, if it doesn't flow naturally, I have no chance to create something I'm happy with.
This wasn't the case with the reviews until the sudden shift, but the best I can do right now is to accept it and move on.From now on, I shall write about whatever, whenever. I won't post regularly, but when it feels right.
The over-scheduled algorithm pleasing is not my jam and especially since I am writing as a hobby, I don't intend to put unnecessary pressure on myself and my work.
The web was so much more fun before all that and you can blame it on my nostalgia, but that is what I'll pursue from now on.At the time of writing this, I have a huge backlog of started essays that wait to be perfected and shared with the world. When I feel inspired to write, I can spend hours on it. So I want to give in to my natural nudges and triggers and post whenever I am happy with the outcome.
Just like in the olden days, when the web was just fun.For the time being, my writing is halted as I am trying to build my personal (blog) website. My music reviews and some texts are available on my Tumblr and Patreon. For future writing, I intend to expand to NewGrounds and Dreamwidth.Let's start normalising "olden Internet" realities, create and consume slower and more mindfully.

𝚠𝚑𝚢 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚂𝚞𝚋𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚘𝚛 𝙼𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚞𝚖

Buidling an audience with your writing is very easy these days. Taken, you get seen!Substack is a popular platform that allows writers to reach their target audience and monetise their efforts.
Earning a few pennies for my writing is an appealing thought, I must admit. But there's one major problem: their stance on AI.I should say nothing, posting on Tumblr, I get it. But to my knowledge Tumblr itself doesn't offer monetisation options for people who post on there.
Substack's entire existence is meant to build an audience for the writer. How comes, then, that they don't have anything against AI generated slop "writing" flooding their platform and pulling money out of (un)knowing people's pockets?
At the very least there should be an identification requirement and, I hate to say it, some AI in place to filter the generated content to set it apart from real, human efforts.The appeal to start writing on there, despite their evident moral failure, is big.
It is the biggest platform of this kind, after all.
My research then brought me to an alternative called Medium and initially, I was almost game.
Then, when researching their stance on AI, I stumbled upon an article that made me retract.

• Jason Polak | Why I’m leaving Medium: AI policy

We really can't have nice things anymore, can we?Admittedly, me building my own page isn't really going to be that much better for my visibility than trying to compete with slop on Medium or Substack;
Simply by attempting to block crawlers from devouring my stuff on my own page for their machine training, I exclude it from being considered by search engines. The very least I can do to keep an online presence is to try and protect it from being devoured by a sick technocrat's bot. Emphasis on try, of course.
Those buggers get better and better at breaking out of sandboxes and getting through protections.
I'm not living in the illusion that even Cloudflare's block is enough to prevent things from happening, but it has the chance to be helpful. That's the best we've got and I'm thankful for that!So, what is a girl to do?
Put your money where you mouth is, goes the saying.
I suppose I am a tad hypocritical for actually having an account on YouTube to create a playlist, or to consider writing on Tumblr. But at the very least, these platforms (still) have algorithms that aren't effed up enough to exclusively suggest AI slop to you.

𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚌!

Hello, fellow audiophile!You want me to consider an album for my review or share it with me for other reasons?
Thanks for letting me know with this form!Please send me the album title, band/artist name and release date for upcoming works.
For already released albums, please send me a link to their album on Bandcamp, ROKK, Deezer or iTunes (AppleMusic).If you know who designed the cover art to the album you're recommending, please share the info with me!
I ask you not to send me albums/EPs with clearly AI-generated "artworks". Some albums deserve the benefit of the doubt so don't be discouraged to send me albums you're not entirely sure about!Anything rock and metal goes, including almost all of the many sub-genres and related genres.
New, human made trance and techno are appreciated, as it's becoming hard to find real stuff.
I also happily try out Nordic Folk and similar, moody and atmospheric sounds, as well as clssical music and movie soundtracks.Does your recommendation not fit this description? Send it anyway!
You can check out my public Deezer playlists and previous reviews on Patreon (free membership!) to find out what I'm receptive to.

• Deezer
• Patreon

𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚗 𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚊𝚗 𝙰𝙸 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚞𝚖 𝚌𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛!

Hello, you lovely, attentive human!We all slip up sometimes. I hate to admit it, but I've been fooled by AI before.
If you recognised an album with an AI cover in my review, please let me know!I also appreciate AI warnings for albums I didn't write about yet, or other AI warnings for musicians and bands on my radar. Music videos, live performance, promotion...
Perhaps it can't undo my (former) love for an artist or their music, but it can sure save me unintentional hypocrisy in the future!

𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗’𝚝 𝚜𝚊𝚢 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚌 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚎 𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚂𝚙𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚏𝚢

𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚙𝚛𝚘-𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚍𝚟𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎-𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚜

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• The Ghost in the Machine - Spotify's plot against musicians

• ROKK exits beta: first reports show artists paid 20× more per stream than Spotify

• Why Is Everyone Leaving Spotify?

• Spotify Gets Massive Backlash

• Spotify Is Now Officially the Worst and Most Expensive Music Streaming Platform

• Pay to get playlisted? The accusations against Spotify’s Discovery Mode

• Spotify’s Leaked Data Reveals 70% of Its 256 Million Songs Never Get Played

• Spotify’s Algorithm Keeps Recommending AI Songs With Hateful Lyrics, Users Report

• Spotify Exposed: New Terms Could Change Everything

• Spotify users boycott streaming platform over ICE recruitment ads

𝚂𝚞𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚏𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚜/𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚜 𝚍𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚕𝚢!

In the past decade(s), our relationship with music has changed. As has the music industry.It's becoming increasingly harder for artists to stay over water these days. Unless they sell out massive stadium tours, that is.
That means the majority of artists out there.It's time to revive our love for music the more tangible way; the bands who write the soundtrack to your life deserve more love than a lousy stream! Get physical copies of your favourite albums on CD or Vinyl, sit down and listen consciously, not as "emotional support background noise". Maybe while reading the booklet?Go to concerts and grab a tour t-shirt on the way home!It’s might not seem like a lot, but it means the world to the artists who put a lot of hard work and money into their craft. And if you love their music, take your time and effort to appreciate.
A stream on (insert your streaming app) just absolutely doesn't cut it!

Let's change topics!

𝙿𝚘𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝙽𝚎𝚠𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝙽𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍

Accusing me doom and gloom after reading my stuff is perhaps justified.
Against popular belief, I do like pink and some (moderate) sunshine, though!Here's a collection of positive news, little and big wins for artists and humanity as a whole.

• Steam Users Are Punishing AI Games: Now Tim Sweeney Is Mad

• Dublin pub bans AI posters to support independent artists

• Norway is banning generative AI in elementary schools starting this autumn

• Publisher Against AI Slop (in German)

• Harvard Graduation Speaker Unloads [...]

• Bandcamp takes a stand against AI music

• San Diego Comic Con Quietly Bans AI Art

• LinkArtists launch ‘Stealing Isn’t Innovation’ campaign against AI use

• ChatGPT loses its first copyright case in court

𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎!

It's so easy to feel hopeless against the growing multitude of dystopias surrounding us.
It's also relatively easy to get active, even if we tend to feel like our small little voice can't do anything.Not every single time can an organised movement change things around. Sometimes, the impact is very small.
But saying that people can't change anything is nothing but lazy thinking.Please find below a few links to get you started.
Me not mentioning an issue here does not mean that I don't care about it.
There's more that we're dealing with in our modern world than I can mention here, so I chose to link the topics that relate to the things I'm writing about, my personal passions, things that relate to my work and hobbies.
Consider this a starting point, not a final list of things that need to get better.Voting with your wallet is a powerful move.
Spread the word about a movement and starting to boycott companies that don't align with your values. It's a great, low effort first step to become a true activist for the things you believe in.The last section on this page is a collection of links about the mechanisms put in place against us.
Only an informed society can organise itself to fight back, so do your part and educate yourself on the things that most people seem to be blissfully ignorant about.

• Cate Blanchett launches free tool to help people protect identity from AI

• Hundreds of creatives warn against an AI slop future

• No artists, no art. No culture. No future. PROTECT ARTISTS’ RIGHTS

• Human Artistry Campaign

• Creatives Against (gen)AI - Group on Communities.social

• Artists Against Generative AI - Facebook Group

for gamers

• AI Check - Steam Curator

• AI Check 2 - Steam Curator

• AI Check Group on Steam

• SteamDB - AI Content Disclosed

• Generative AI Megalist

Consumer Rights

• A Day in the Life of an Ensh*ttificator (@ForbrukerrådetNorge)

• The Life of Death and the Ensh*ttificator (@ForbrukerrådetNorge)

• PlayStation ‘Blackout’ Week Is Coming To Protest Sony’s Disc-Less Future

• Right to Repair

• Buy It For Life

Free Speech, Digital Rights & Data Protection

• Defending Digital Rights in the Age of Control

• Big Brother Watch

• And then Mullvad was censored in the UK.

• Denmark to tackle deepfakes by giving people copyright to their own features

• The "Nothing to Hide" argument

• Big Brother Awards (German)

• The Ownership Ban Is Happening (@TheFinePrintYT)

• pinterest is not a free art archive (@OpheliaThorn)

• The Internet is Changing the Way We Speak (@isabelladandreaa)

• Britain Decides Viral Protest Clips Need Prosecutors

• New Lawsuit Claims that Meta Can Read All the WhatsApp Users Messages

• Who Wants to Live in This Digital Prison? (@TruthstreamMedia)

• How Three Brothers Built an AI Slop Empire by Buying Legitimate News Sites [...]

• The Literacy Crisis (It’s Worse Than You Think) [@caseysimpsonchannel]

• Watch This If You Miss the Feeling of Teenage Obsession (@iamannacorinne)

• [...] A Terrified Researcher Just Quit, Saying the Company Is Threatening the Survival of Humankind.

• Anthropic Deliberately Trained an Extremely Misaligned, Reward-Seeking AI and It Did Some REALLY Bad Things

• Musician Cancelled as AI Falsely Accuses Him of Horrific Crimes

• A cartoonist's review of AI art - by TheOatmeal

• AI is Permanently Rewriting History

• [...] Sure, Why Not Sell AI-Generated Books and Set Our Reputation On Fire?

• Internal Google Document Reveals That Its HR AI Has Been Throwing Résumés From Qualified Applicants Straight Into the Trash

• UK schools blackmailed with sexualised AI deepfakes of pupils, experts warn

• AI and copyright – musicians’ struggles against AI’s onslaught strike a wrong note

• AI Slop Is Winning Writing Awards Now | An Author's Perspective

• ‘This Is Not Me’: Inside the AI Scams Driving Musicians Crazy

• Researchers Put AI Chatbots in Charge of a Simulated World. This One Destroyed Everything in Just 4 Days.

• After Breakups, the Brokenhearted Are Creating AI Clones of Their Exes

• Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task

• Using AI as a Therapist? Why Professionals Say You Should Think Again

• Tech Billionaires Have No Answer for What’ll Happen If AI Takes All Jobs

• A Man Died By Suicide After Talking To ChatGPT

• Stop Citing AI

• AI Killed My Job - Real-life stories of how AI is impacting working people's lives