AI Contradiction on Substack

When this post went to readers on Substack it had a >Listen link at the very top, (Apparently this is standard). I assumed it was the reading I had done which is within the body of the piece because this piece, this poem, needed voice as well as text. So I was horrified to discover a flat, mechanical, rote repeat of the words I have written in a tin voice named CORA as if technology is a person. The poem spoken by AI is NOT the same poem. It becomes the anti-poem in that simulated voice. To find my essay associated with AI, which it challenges, is anguishing when I have devoted so much of my life to the intelligence and wonder of the natural world which we cannot live without while AI increasingly threatens all life.

This is an apology to those who made the same mistake and an apology to the poem which was violated and a heads-up and a way of advising those who also made that mistake on their phones that they can hear me reading the poem in the body of the poem. (You will probably see the same >Listen on this piece and there is nothing I/we can do about it.)

I tried to speak to Substack about this and about the use of AI that affects my / our posts, writing and culture and also without prior permission. For example, when I went to Help I was “chatting” with a Bot about the violation of having a Bot voice on my post. And, as my assistant, Sarah Velez points out, the Bot took the job from the human who was working for Customer Service before. The second Bot I was “chatting” with was a specialist in this field whose name is Cantrell. Cantrell replaced another human specialist. (Frankly, it is insane that we are allowing this though it may well lead to extinction, ours, and all life. We have lost our minds.)

From “Chatting” with Substack:

“Substack automatically applies this feature to English‑language posts when they are viewed in the mobile app. At this time, there is no way to fully turn off or disable the automatic text‑to‑speech read‑aloud feature for your publication. However, I have requested to have this added as a feature request for future updates. While you can change the voice at this time it cannot be removed.”

The Bots also said I could not talk to a person about this.

Nor could I find a way to write to the humans who direct SubStack if they still do.

Thank you for for sharing this concern. . Let us find ways to sustain the human and the natural world against the increasing threats and dangers of AI. You may want to read my earlier posts which have examined this issue since the dangers first appeared although, as we see, have been ignored.

Perhaps if there are many likes and many comments on this posting, alarms will sound and we will be a voice helping to shift the AI atmosphere that is overwhelming us here on SubStack and everywhere. Please repost if this is important to you.

Blessings,

Deena (human)

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