ArmadilloCon versus Artificial Intelligence

In Star Wars: A New Hope, after we have already learned to like the robots, C3PO and R2D2, the bartender at the Mos Eisley spaceport cantina tells Luke Skywalker, “We don’t serve their kind here.” Luke accepts it and tells the robots to wait outside. But we have seen several aliens in the bar, some much less humanoid than others. That the intelligent robots are discriminated against is an example of the injustices in the imperfect galaxy that is so far away and yet so close to home. Therefore, it is ironic that by a new rule ArmadilloCon 46 has banned AI from the art gallery.

The rule was written by the ArmadilloCon Art Show Director, Scott Zrubek. The rule was accepted by the Board of FACT (Fan Association of Central Texas) which in May and June began crafting new rules for the convention that prohibit the participation of artificial intelligences. The convention and the art galley already have longstanding rules against plagiarism. Rule 5 says: 

“ArmadilloCon reserves the right to refuse the exhibition of any piece for any reason. Works that are judged to be libelous, plagiaristic, obscene, or detrimental to the value of trademarked characters will not be permitted. Likewise, no artwork from commercial patterns, kits or molds is permitted. If you have any questions, please contact me. If problems arise, you may be requested not to show a particular piece. (Very rarely do we ever have to invoke this rule.)”

Adam Link: Robot by Eando Binder, 
pen name for co-authors
Earl and Otto Binder

The Writer’s Workshop has no comparable prohibition. They do stipulate: 

• Only one submission per workshop participant,
• Only your own original work,

[…]

• Please do not use pen names for workshop submissions, as it causes confusion.

So, if you have a co-author each must submit an independent work under their own name. Your collaboration will be on your own terms but offsite and  presumably unaffiliated with ArmadilloCon. The much more widely known and older Clarion writer’s conferences do publish collected works from their authors. ArmadilloCon does not. In fact, that limitation prevented the chief judge from sharing with me a story that was awarded first prize in the Flash Fiction contest. I read and critiqued six stories this year, but not that one. It was read aloud to us and I lost track of the storyline and wanted to read it for myself. That was not permitted on the grounds that the publication could not be shared without the author’s permission. How we were able to judge them all in the first place now seems muddled to me. 

The art show does not prohibit collaborations. It would be acceptable for a work in the traditional comic book genre to have an inker, a letterer, and a colorist – as long as one of them is not a robot because their kind is not allowed in here.

In the informal discussions after the Board meeting in May, another Board member told me that AI is prohibited because “ChatGPT just scrapes the internet and copies other people’s works.” That may well be true and it is a problem in that such work by an AI can exceed the bounds of fair use. After all, we can quote extensively when writing for publication a critical review of a literary work, whether a limerick or a novel. If copying stuff from the internet is wrong—and having had my own original work copied off the internet and presented by someone else, I grant that it can be—what are the guidelines? 

In music five notes are enough for a signature line that is protected by copyright: “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” and “I Want My MTV.”  

According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Stand_So_Close_to_Me#cite_note-8) Sting was asked to perform on Dire Straits’ "Money for Nothing" as he was in Montserrat at the time. The song reused the melody from "Don't Stand So Close to Me" in the counterpoint lyric "I want my MTV." It was only after this story was relayed to reporters during promotions for the Brothers in Arms album that lawyers for Sting became involved, and later copies of the album co-credit the song to Sting. The initial pressings list only Mark Knopfler. 

(https://ultimateclassicrock.com/mark-knopfler-sting-money-for-nothing/) 

And because I’d used the five notes from ‘Don’t Stand So Close to Me,’ that’s how the co-writing thing happened,” he added. “Which is fine; it’s absolutely fine with me and it worked out well. I remember quite clearly Sting coming into the studio and saying, ‘What’s wrong?’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘Nobody’s fighting!’” 1Read More: When Mark Knopfler and Sting Connected for ‘Money for Nothing’ | https://ultimateclassicrock.com/mark-knopfler-sting-money-for-nothing/

But then how do we evaluate Rachmaninoff’s “Variations on a Theme by Paganini”? And taken to its limit, there would be no more spaceships, no more robots, or vampires, or dragons because any writer who uses them is just scraping the literary database and cultural knowledge warehouse. 

For a science fiction convention to prohibit participation by an artificial intelligence is like prohibiting an astronaut from attending or presenting at a panel because we only want fictional space travelers, not real ones. Otherwise, we don’t serve your kind here.

PREVIOUSLY ON NECESSARY FACTS

All Volitional Beings Deserve Rights 

Invisible Cheating and Visible Rights 

ChatGPT and the Historical Forms of Dishonesty 

ArmadilloCon 44 Part 2