Benjamin Hollon

stop asking writers about "AI"

2026-06-29T21:26:06.000Z

There are questions every person I meet asks, and I’m getting sick of answering. Worse, the newest of these questions has been severely harming my motivation to write for several years.

I didn’t want to talk about this, but I’m beginning to think I need to. Hopefully, if I get this off my chest, I’ll be able to move on to writing about things I love.

the dreaded question

Every time I tell someone new that I’m a writer, they pause for a moment, then ask the same question: “So, what do you think about AI?”

Seriously, almost every person asks this eventually.

My boilerplate answer is that “I have serious technical, professional, and ethical concerns with the development and use of AI.”

People rarely let me leave it there.

having the conversation

Usually, I’ve actually made the effort and had the conversation. I explain that so-called “Artificial Intelligence” isn’t anywhere near the quality of writing serious authors reach. I explain that when people want to read a book, they’re really wanting to read the creation of another real person, and that you can’t relate to a machine.

I explain the systemic harm the technology has already caused to my craft and what damage it’s still likely to do, with no actual benefit.

But I’m really, really tired of having the conversation. Because it’s the same conversation over and over and over again, usually with no actual signs that the person I’m talking to cares enough to change their mind.

Often, they pivot the conversation to how they use AI. As far as I can tell, all these people really want is for me to validate them, so that they can tell people, “Yeah, even this writer I know who is critical of AI thinks my use-case is okay.”

I mean, I’m not gonna tell them to their face that any claimed “use case” at all perpetuates a belief that things will get better later with AI, and that this belief itself is most of what’s causing all the problems today. I’m not going to tell someone I just met to their face that their harmless pastime is validating the creation of technology that devalues human labor and creativity for the enrichment of the 1% who are salivating at the thought of laying off all their workers to get yet another billion dollars they’ll never live long enough to spend.

I’m too polite to say that to their faces. Maybe that’s my problem.

Some people mean well when asking. Some people are genuinely curious to hear my view.

Just asking the question, though, is the problem, for me.

the harm of the question

When your first thought at hearing about the craft I practice is of a technology that is fundamentally incapable of making a difference to that craft and is created with the goal of devaluing my effort and hard work, that tells me that you don’t value me.

When you ask me what I think about AI as if that has any actual relevance to the work I do, that tells me you don’t actually care about my work.

If I tell someone I published a book after meeting them in person, I expect they would want to read it. That’s my own reaction when someone tells me about what they’ve written. If I told someone instead that I asked ChatGPT to write a book so I could put my name on it, would they actually care? Would they ask how to get a copy?

Of course not. Because people want to read things that other people have written. AI is completely irrelevant to that; it isn’t a person, as much as the companies making it would like you to pretend it is.

No one cares that ChatGPT can write a novel. No one cares if the novels it writes are enjoyable to read, because that’s not why we read.

But when you ask me that awful, misguided question as if you’re equating my writing with that trash, it makes me wonder if my writing actually matters. I begin to lose motivation to write. I begin wondering how truthful it is anymore to call myself a writer when I dread putting pen to paper.

That’s where I’ve been stuck for three years now. Some of you may have read a story or two from me, such as ”Those Who Breathe Easy” which was published last August or the series of mythology stories a few kind people have been beta reading for me, but I really haven’t been able to get much written. Every word is a struggle with my own self-doubt, fighting the worry that even if I do the work no one will care.

And every time I talk myself out of that pit, a new person asks me, “So, what do you think about AI?”

Please, I implore you, stop asking writers about AI.

my actual visions of the future of art

Let’s take a break from that depressing talk. Let’s talk about what I actually expect of the future. Let’s have that conversation for a minute. Now that you know what it costs me to take the thought of AI seriously even for a moment, hopefully you can actually listen and maybe accept some new ideas. Maybe you also hate AI already; this vision of the future can be a bit of hope for you.

AI can’t replace human art, and it never will—but, eventually, our bosses might think it can. They might fire writers, artists, and musicians.

I tell this to people whenever I’m brave enough to actually have this conversation: when you fire an artist, they don’t just disappear. They’re still real people who exist in the real world, and they’re still artists.

Do you seriously think writers will actually stop writing if big companies stop hiring them? When, in all of human history, has contempt from systems in power ever stopped brave people from speaking up and writing change into being?

If you fire us, we’ll still be here. We’ll still be writing. We’ll still be publishing that writing, outside of the commercial systems that we’ve been constrained by until now.

And, when people are given the choice between a mass market ChatGPT-written romance novel published by a major publishing house or a book that a real human being poured their heart into and then sent out into the world, which are they going to read?

When you’re given the option to watch a large-budget Hollywood film ridden with clichés or an independent film put together after hours by a handful of young adults for the joy of the craft and because they want others to see what they’d made, which is more compelling?

Not just that, some of these independent projects will be made by the former greats of the commercial publishers, who’ve been spurned in favor of a small extra lining in billionaires’ pockets.

The moment the media conglomerates fire their real human artists is the moment they forget what actually made them big and set free their most valuable assets.

As I’ve written:

Telling me not to speak my mind
    is like telling a star
    not to shine

Giving me a pen and telling me not to write
    is like giving a bird wings
    and telling it
    not to fly

Telling me to keep my dreams a secret
    is like telling a chick
    not to hatch
    from its shell

My art is meant to be
    on display
Asking me hide it
    is like asking the sun
    to hide in the sky

AI “replacing” authors would not be our downfall, it would be the beginning of a new triumph.

conclusion: those left behind

Yes, I believe that AI poses no serious threat to the craft of writing in the long term. Yes, I think writers as a whole could even be in a stronger position if companies make the mistake of trying to replace us.

That doesn’t mean I want it to happen. Some of us would be hurt. Some of us have been hurt already.

Because when you tell us by asking that dreaded question that our dreams are worthless, some of us are going to take that to heart.

Some of us are going to stop trying to write.

If you’re a writer, I beg you: never stop writing. I will say as many times as I have to that I would far prefer reading anything you write, no matter how terrible you think it is, than anything an “AI” spat out.

It’s true, some people won’t value you. I’m gonna be honest: they probably wouldn’t have even if AI didn’t exist. Don’t write for them. Write for you, and write for the people who will listen because I promise they’re out there.

When National Novel Writing Month revealed to writers how little they actually cared about us with their terrible statement on Artificial Intelligence (calling condemnation of it “classist and ableist”), my biggest fear was that the people hurt would simply stop writing. That’s the real reason I started Writing Month: to create a new space for writers so that they keep writing, no matter what.

Keep writing. As I’ve written in another poem:

While the world tries to fall,
Write a pillar, keep it up;
Write the Moon in the sky to
Pull the tides to the shore.

I would love to hear from you, to talk about the craft we love. To hear if you agree, if you’ve also been harmed by the dreaded question. To hear if this little piece I wrote helped at all. My email address is below, and it will make my day to hear from you.

To everyone else I ask a final time: stop asking writers about AI. You might not mean any harm. But at least for me, and I suspect for others, your innocent question sounds like it’s coming from the same direction as the ceaseless barrage of devaluation we’ve been fighting.

Instead, perhaps try a different question: “Can I read your work?” Show us how much you really do care about the craft we love.

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Weeknotes: W15, 2026

2026-04-13T04:32:06.000Z

Highlight of the week: I got to attempt making Nasi Goreng Pattaya this week, and it turned out great! Usually the dish is made with chicken fried rice, but I used tempeh instead and a bunch of Indian spices. Delicious and vegetarian!

I made two servings, for my mom and I. Next time, I’ll get some chili sauce that didn’t come out of McDonald’s sauce packets.

things I did

I got to cook more often this week than usual, which was lovely.
My youngest brother’s play was this week. The acting was great, though I wasn’t a huge fan of the script (mostly the pacing). He did a great job.
I got some more work done! I’m doing better at keeping to a work schedule, these days, which is a huge relief, though I still need to fix my sleep schedule.
I wrote a hand-written response to a lovely email I got about my blog post about an analog internet. Took a picture and sent it in the reply email. What fun!
I accidentally published the beginnings of the website redesign I’ve been working on. It’s most obvious in the footer of the website and the homepage, which I’m rewriting (but haven’t finished yet). I like the changes, so I went ahead and left them up.

things I read

I read the first few stories of Clarkesworld Magazine issue 226, which I’m enjoying so far.

words I looked up

puissant

things I listened to

I discovered (more like paid attention to for the first time) a song by James Taylor, “Suite for 20 G”. It’s a fun song, in a few different distinct styles, with a mystifying title.

Upon looking it up, I discovered that Taylor had been promised $20,000 for completing the album and needed one more song, so he stuck three song ideas he had together and gave it that title. 😆

A hilarious story, and a great song!

links around the small web

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visions of an embodied internet

2026-04-09T05:43:40.000Z

Some days, I wonder what the internet would be like in an analog world. Can we envision interacting with the massive web in physical form, without directly touching a computer?

With a bit of coding work, I think it could actually be done. Here, for your pleasure, is my vision of an embodied internet.

my blog

Now, the whole concept depends on the existence of flawless OCR of my handwriting, which I assume does not exist, given my brief experiments with OCR. But hey, let’s assume the tech exists, or that I would train an OCR algorithm myself to get it working well with my handwriting.

Given that, I would simply draft my blog posts by hand, which I already do, on occasion, then put the paper in a slot or box to be scanned, dropped into a template, and uploaded to my website.

Easy as pie! (Having never made pie, I admit that I’m not sure how easy it is. Perhaps the phrase should be “easy as stir fry”?)

email

There are currently other ways I interact with people online, but email translates the most easily into physical form since it is, after all, named after physical (”snail”) mail.

Each morning, a thermal printer (or regular printer) could fetch my email, print out each message, and drop it in a mailbox for me. I would pick it up, sort through it, decide what I want to reply to, and take out my trusty fountain pen.

Above, I assumed the existence of flawless OCR for my handwriting. In this case, I think most of my friends could actually be happy receiving a scan of my handwritten replies. It would have a sort of analog charm to it.

If they use the same embodied internet system, perhaps it would be more like faxing than email.

The big question here is accessibility; I suppose screenreaders would just have to work off of an OCR version? I don’t have a good answer.

surfing the web

I expect that I would have to use something akin to my URL shortener intended for handwritten notes to help me out, here. Every time I encounter a link that was printed out by my system, it could include a urlref in parentheses afterward, which I would have to somehow enter into the system to get a printout of the webpage.

Simplest would be a keyboard, of course. Say I planted a keyboard right below the output of the printer. No monitor needed, I just type the reference and hit return. I could even use a macro pad with only the keys needed to type a URL reference.

I’d keep a notebook full of references to key starting navigation points for the internet. After typing one in, I’d follow links from there on to get to where I need to go.

Maybe I would even allow myself to type search queries and get a printout of the results from Clew. I’m honestly not sure where to draw the line for this one and what counts as “embodied”. I probably would need a small e-ink screen to go with the keyboard, to display what I’ve typed and potentially give a preview of a page before I print it.

feeds

This is a lot easier. Each website I print out from the above could include a small QR code in the corner. I’d then have a scanner for that which would load the page, detect a RSS/Atom feed, and add it to my subscription list.

All new items from my subscriptions would be printed out and dropped in a box for me each morning. If I wanted to reply to an article, I could either do so via my blog or my above system for sending email.

conclusion

I know a bunch of this is hilariously implausible or impractical, but I had fun imagining it, and it’s a worthwhile thought experiment. In what ways would you adjust this system? Do you have ideas for how to embody other digital systems? You can send me an email with the link below. I might even send you a picture of a handwritten reply (no promises).

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Weeknotes: W14, 2026

2026-04-05T14:46:52.000Z

Highlight of the week: I got a real, productive workday on Friday! It’s been a long time since I’ve actually gotten what I’d describe as a “work day”, sticking to a schedule and everything. Here’s hoping I keep it up next week.

things I did

I published a blog post: currency is an abstraction of value
Finished a poem for Nantucket Lit’s First-Class Fiction. Speaking of which, a piece of microfiction I wrote will be the next postcard to go out!
Worked out a lot of error handling for Ariadne, my web crawler. This was some of the work I’d been most putting off for the project, which means I’m practically-speaking a good deal closer to being able to release all the progress. I’ve also significantly sped things up by making the logic more sophisticated to avoid pauses.
I got to make Chana Masala for guests on Wednesday! I made Hummus at the same time.
I survived some particularly harrowing social interactions.
After many attempts without improvements, I’m finally making a lot of progress on roasting chickpeas as snacks. I’ve finally gotten the crispiness level perfect; now I just need to hone in on the flavor and seasonings.
- I’ve begun experimenting with seasonings; tonight I tried using garam masala, though I haven’t had a chance to taste the result yet.

things I read

Didn’t actually read much this week, other than blog posts (see below for that).

words I looked up

effluent
vituperative

things I listened to

Honestly, I may retire this section. I don’t keep track of what I’m listening too closely while doing it, and it’s easy to forget things looking back.

Lots of James Taylor albums
The Manhattan Transfer - Bodies and Souls
Chick Corea - all three Trilogy albums

If I do drop the section, I’ll replace it with something else, don’t worry.

links around the small web

Being Certified ‘Cool’ - the Wry Writer
Time flies — bojidar-bg.dev
- Be sure to check out the fun minigame linked: Cursor survival — bojidar-bg.dev
March Tinkering
Recognized for my brilliance and forethought 🥕 - small good things
#algernonReviewsHackerNews - Chronicae Novis Rebus
Please Compensate The Work You Appreciate | Brain Baking (this feels to me like a more practical take on the topic I addressed in my blog post this week, where mine was more “here’s some theory behind what money even is”)
Initial thoughts on the tiny XTEINK X4 ereader | Neil’s blog
curl > /dev/sda
This Is My Genre (Science Fiction!)
The 49MB Web Page | thatshubham
Unpolished human websites
Oh Hello Ana - Overthinking: AI wasn’t the first to break my heart
NeoVim is Dead (to Me)? Long Live Who Knows What - The Darth Mall
Art journaling in The Brunch Book the last two Sundays - small good things
Can I hear a difference between MP3s and uncompressed audio? - 82MHz

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currency is an abstraction of value

2026-04-03T06:33:41.000Z

In my Religious Communication course last semester, we had a discussion of economics. I won’t get into the details, but what matters now is my very basic definition of “capitalism”, which the class ended up adopting for most of our discussion:

a system that abstracts value into currency to simplify exchange of goods and services

While I had an inexpressible amount of fun in that discussion shattering the worldviews of middle-class Texans by persuading them that billionaires don’t actually deserve their wealth, that’s not what I want to focus on today.

I want to focus on how I defined currency: as an abstraction of value.

Currency represents the level at which people value their time and belongings. In theory. In reality, it’s merely an abstraction of that value, meaning a simplified representation to serve the purposes of the overall capitalist mechanism.

Abstractions don’t always accurately represent their origins. Currency, in particular, does not always reward the true rigor of labor, and it values efficiency over people.

I’ve been thinking about this again in the context of the way contemporary LLMs have commoditized writing and words. As someone who considers the agglomeration of words my craft, this is understandably a concern of mine.

I’ve read before that in a post-scarcity world, one where a particular craft has been automated, artisanship—intentional, human labor practicing a craft as an art—becomes immensely valuable.

That used to comfort me.

Of course, it’s true; human-crafted objects are far more valuable than mass produced ones, and it’s the same with, say, information-based artifacts like stories (now automated via “AI”). But currency is only an abstraction of value.

In terms of that abstraction, the vast majority of people can’t afford to pay people the amount they value their work at. Even worse, the few who can afford that level of value are the 1%, the billionaires—and they don’t value human labor.

The capitalist system we live in does not allow us to fully express the value we hold for things, as any currency we dedicate to that task is currency we can’t spend on the essentials we need to live.

Our world values thrift and a willingness to make decisions for purely currency-driven reasons, rewarding whatever is the cheapest and with the least overhead. In practical terms, that works out to rewarding companies that pay the least to the people who work for them.

People have been trained to think of currency this way because we see currency exchange as primarily taking place between us and faceless corporations. No one cares if a faceless corporation makes less money because we decided to purchase from a competitor. Which is good; we shouldn’t be caring about corporations.

But we should be caring about people. They deserve our expressions of value. Or, if necessary, they deserve the abstraction of value that we label “currency”.

I don’t have a call to action today, because I don’t really know what action to take to “solve” this issue. But I do strongly believe in the power of shifting the mindset of a people, as collective action is the medium of change for systemic issues. So, start thinking about the currency you spend in these terms. Talk about it in these terms.

Your money is an abstraction of the value you have for your time and belongings. How are you spending that finite amount of value you can express?

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Weeknotes: W12, 2026

2026-03-23T09:07:49.000Z

Keeping things short this week…

Highlight of the week: I solved a problem with my computer setup that’s been bugging me for years. Apparently, running powertop --auto-tune when SwayWM starts up tells my external keyboard and mouse to fall asleep every few seconds of inactivity, meaning keystrokes and mouse movements kept getting missed; to fix this, I’d have to unplug and re-plug them. Removing that command from my config has everything running smoothly. Apparently “auto-tune” means “turn off literally everything that could drain my battery faster, such as being able to type.” Ridiculous.

things I did

Family vacation is coming up next week for my family. (I’m not really a “vacation” person…)
Got a lot of reading done! See below.
Happy Eid al-Fitr to those who celebrate! I’ve got fond memories from my childhood.

things I read

I managed to read the entirety of Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon in 30 hours, across three days. While I didn’t enjoy everything, overall it was a good book and I had fun. It was more interesting for being largely set in my geographical neighborhood.

words I looked up

catenary
architectonic
epiphyte
sigmoid
quotidian
specious
puckish
vertiginous
raconteur (I know this one, but it’s a really good one and I’m writing it down to remember to use it)
codicil
moiety
frisson
obloquy

things I listened to

Norah Jones - The Fall
A lot of Duke Ellington
A good bit of The Manhattan Transfer

links around the small web

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Weeknotes: W11, 2026

2026-03-16T03:17:00.000Z

Highlight of the week: My birthday was this week! It was a fun time with family.

things I did

I set up a tea station for myself in my bedroom! I have several types of loose leaf tea, whole spices, a teapot with an infuser, some sugar, and an electric kettle all ready for me to use. Should be a lot more convenient than needing to go all the way to the kitchen (which is two floors down from my room) for tea, and then bringing it back up if I want to work at my desk.
I think I’m getting hung up on my publishing project as a primary project to work on… I need to put it aside for a bit, banish it back to the “side project” realm, and do some actual writing for myself. I have a good story idea, I’m going to put some more work into it.
My hummus side-hustle has officially begun! I’ve sold three 700ml batches so far. I also got to check “deliver hummus via bicycle” off of my bucket list.
One of my old posts has been making the rounds again on the Fediverse.
Weeknotes are late because I had something of a small meltdown last night during a social event. Then promptly went to bed upon getting home and slept for fourteen hours. Not sure what’s up.

things I read

I reread most of the Tintin books this week. They’re a bit dated at times but overall still enjoyable.

Other than that, I read a couple stories from Beneath Ceaseless Skies #450. I’m feeling like starting a longer novel once I finish this issue.

words I looked up

immiserated
metonymically
double-checked difference between “amend” and “emend”. It does appear there are some subtle differences between an amendment and an emendation, as I’d suspected.

links around the small web

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Weeknotes: W10, 2026

2026-03-09T08:04:18.000Z

I spent most of this last week spending time with family and close friends I hadn’t seen in a long time, so I’m actually going to skip most of my usual weeknotes stuff (I either didn’t keep track or stuff is private) and keep things short and sweet.

I cooked a number of times this week! Made chickpeas with red curry paste again, which I still have leftovers of even after eating it as leftovers several times. I made Chana Masala for a family friend’s birthday, and every bit was devoured. Also, I made a batch of hummus on Wednesday night, and the full liter was gone by the weekend.

Speaking of hummus, I just received four orders for half-liter batches of hummus, from my parents’ coworkers. So I guess I officially have a hummus-making side-hustle, now? That’ll be a task for this coming week.

On a final note, while I don’t share my precise birthday publicly online, I will say that it is during Week 11 of 2026, as per the ISO Week Date calendar (which, to make things simple for the uninitiated, is what I use for these weeknotes). So, if you’re wanting to wish me a happy birthday (very kind of you!) you may do so at any point this week!

links around the small web

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Weeknotes: W09, 2026

2026-03-01T14:10:35.000Z

Highlight of the week: Finally revisited The Book Thief; it’s been years since I last read it, and I really missed those characters. Shed a few tears, too.

things I did

I have a story idea I’ve been working on developing… I think it could be pretty good, though I’m still not sure how most of the plot will go. In the meantime I’ve reread a couple stories with similar premises.
I made fried rice with Indian spices, raisins, onions, and tempeh, and it was delicious! Tempeh seems like a great option for protein in vegetarian fried rices, as long as it’s seasoned well.
I’ll get to see some old friends next weekend. Looking forward to that a lot.
I set up a shared shopping list for my family that syncs through my self-hosted Radicale. Seems to work! (Except for some odd Apple shenanigan on my dad’s phone that I’ll tackle another day.)
I finished my recent goal of finishing six video games from my backlog! The ones I completed: Spindle, Crypt Custodian, Gris, Braid, Bastion, and VVVVVV.

things I read

Decided to try a list format this time.

Watership Down by Richard Adams
Tales from Watership Down by Richard Adams
Beneath Ceaseless Skies #449
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

words I looked up

lugubrious (thought I knew this one but I’d mixed it up)

things I listened to

SeaFury - we who wander
Diahann Carroll with the Duke Ellington Orchestra - A Tribute to Ethel Waters
Darren Korb and Ashley Barrett - Songs of Supergiant Games (this is so fantastic, especially if you’ve played the games in question)
Sons of Korah - listened through all their albums
Chick Corea and Return to Forever - Light as a Feather

links around the small web

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Weeknotes: W08, 2026

2026-02-22T13:59:57.000Z

Highlight of the week: I’ve had some fresh story ideas for the first time in a while, which I’m looking forward to writing.

things I did

I renewed my Clarkesworld Magazine subscription!
I made potato and bean qorma for my family, which was very tasty.
I also made potato and egg tacos for my family, also very tasty.
I came up with a URL structure for my upcoming publishing project that I’m happy with. Which doesn’t sound like a huge victory, but I’ve been agonizing over this since starting the project. Yeah, I’m a weird nerd (and proud of it).
I’ve transformed my pen case into a wallet slash EDC kit that fits comfortably in my pocket by removing a few writing utensils and adding some cash. This should fit my needs better at this time (since I’m not regularly commuting with my backpack, and I’m somewhere that I use cash more than cards). As with my previous wallet, I’ve tucked in a few Clew and Writing Month stickers to give to people I talk to.
I’ve started sending webmentions from these weeknotes, since I link to a lot of other sites.

things I read

This week I continued reading Clarkesworld issues, completing issues 223 and 224. Some favorite stories from these issues:

As with last time, all of these have audio versions available.

I’m almost finished reading issue 225, which will mark seven monthly issues read in this one month, a significant dent in my backlog. To celebrate, I’ll probably pick something different to read in the remaining week of February. I haven’t decided, but I’m leaning toward a reread of Watership Down.

words I looked up

I finally got around to setting up dictionaries locally and don’t need to look up words using online dictionaries anymore, so I probably won’t continue to include links with these words. I’m sure you can figure out how to do a dictionary lookup, y’all are smart.

intubation
weft
inimical

things I listened to

Miles Davis & Quincy Jones - Miles & Quincy Live at Montreax
Marc Cohn - The Rainy Season
U2 - The Joshua Tree
James Taylor - Sweet Baby James
The Manhattan Transfer - Bop Doo Wop

links around the small web

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