Specifically, it is the use of A.I as a “force multiplier of mediocrity” and its “instantaneous slickness” that is revolting in various degrees to artists, designers, and writers. Christine Tyler Hill, a writer-designer whose viral comics are inspired by her career pivot as a street crossing guard in her neighborhood, is featured by Chayka:
“Hill sees the appetite for her work as part of a broader craving for the handmade in a moment of A.I. automation. ‘I’ve been seeing artists talk about leaving typos in their work, just to sort of signal a person wrote this,” she said. ‘We are moving into an age where people are going to relish any little detail like that that signals there was room for error.’”
Beyond indie artists like Hill, Chayka highlights a range of other warm “lo-fi” signals sent by alt-rock legends Weezer, international literary imprint Picador, and even the marketing department of Apple:
“What these creations have in common are elements of deliberate casualness, accident, even confusion — qualities that an A.I. tool, trying to satisfy users with clean efficiency, would typically avoid.”
In the context of technology, “lo-fi” (short for “low fidelity”) does not rush into a future of potentially over-engineered “solutions” amassing into complex superstructures of efficiency. Instead, “lo-fi” tech is more faithful to simplicity, humanity, and thus, imperfections.
The power of Switch-Lit will always be in its simplicity: What happens when two writers take turns writing the next chapters of a single story or poem? How far can any two writers take a story worth sharing, and with whom? Where might it take us in the end?
This simple premise, made possible on a global scale by technology, embraces the shared chaos and intimacy of collaborative storytelling in hopes that it returns a heightened sense of humanity.
And while Switch-Lit produces nothing physically handmade yet, every monthly prompt, Subrosa round, and Subrosa writer pairing is created by a human editor 🧑🏻💻☕.
Chayka concludes with a choice:
“Humans will have to determine what degree of machine-made messiness remains on the right side of cool.”
The Switch-Lit platform does not use any A.I., mostly due to practical constraints, and any future use should enhance our core values like “the aliveness of surprise”, “cross-cultural connection”, or “cognitive responsibility”.
For example, imagine a real-time A.I. translation engine facilitates non-English versions of Switch-Lit, or enables writers of different native languages to write a story or poem with one another 🤖✨.
How would you like to see Switch-Lit engage with A.I.?
As technology awaits our next move, acting as both a window of opportunity and a mirror of ourselves, I remind myself that Switch-Lit is a creative space and platform for the quiet kids, cool nerds, escape artists, late bloomers, and word lovers alike.
Are we not rebels at heart too?
🤫
– Ken S••LEditor
4/5
An underwater data hub, hidden within a giant kelp seaweed forest, churns the code for “artificial evolution” – the ability to code the planet’s rotation speeds and tide patterns. The engineer, tame and trusted by the tech elite, maintains the servers alone until one day nearly drowns and starts to glitch. (⭐Bonus: Write with a sci-fi lover or ecologist)
The latest trend in horticulture is a low-maintenance experiment in biodiversity known as “chaos gardening”, where instead of meticulous rows and soil testing, gardeners toss a random mix of seeds – flowers, herbs, and vegetables – into a dirt patch for a more naturally selective, pollinator-friendly, and genetically resilient ecosystem that eschews traditional aesthetics for a “riot of color”.
Inspired by a monthly prompt, but need a writing partner? Join our monthly prompts Subrosa round to get paired with another Switch-Lit writer based on your sign-up preferences.
😶🌫️👹🥸🙈
Subrosa pairings are activated on a weekly basis (by Fridays at 12pm PST). Sign-up for this round ends on the last day of the month.
🃏 You can now also sign up as a “wildcard” writer to skip the weekly wait, get quickly paired without any preferences, and with a random partner on a “first come, first serve” basis. (This is a trial idea meant to help reduce “ghosting” in Subrosa pairings.)
The Switch-Lit mission: to manifest the collective imagination of diverse writing communities through the connective power of collaborative fiction, poetry, and prose.
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