Morris, another member One of NaNo’s writers council members learned of the statement Monday morning from a friend’s Facebook post. She immediately took action, publicly cutting her ties with the organization and even deleting her decades-old account on the NaNo site. “I have a very strong stance when it comes to these generative AI programs,” she says.
In a blog post, Morris explained the problems she has with using AI in creative work: the platforms are unethical, the technology scrapes content from published authors without paying royalties or fees, and it deprives writers of the opportunity to find their own voice and learn from mistakes. Every time another organization partners with an AI platform, she feels a sense of defeat. “It’s a battle that creative people have to fight on many fronts, and it’s exhausting,” she says.
CL Polk, author of the Hugo-nominated fantasy series He Kingston cyclePolk, who identifies as disabled “in multiple ways,” called NaNo’s stance “bad fiction.” Polk took to Bluesky to condemn the nonprofit’s stance, saying, “NaNo is basically claiming that disabled people don’t have what it takes to create art when they repeat the lie that disdaining AI is ableist.” The author added, “Saying that disabled people need bland, unoriginal writing is a load of nonsense.”
Longtime participants, some of whom have been taking part in NaNo for decades, have also been reeling from what they feel is another betrayal by an organization they say has ignored ongoing problems with the platform and alienated members and volunteers.
Jenai May has been involved with NaNo for more than two decades and was a volunteer leader, also known as a municipal liaison, for her local region for about half that time. NaNoWriMo typically has a volunteer force of nearly 800 leaders and coordinators, but many have recently left the organization, according to multiple sources.
May credits NaNoWriMo with giving her the confidence she needed to believe she could write a book, “with such a powerful internal transformation that I dedicated 10 years of my life to volunteering for them year-round.”
May is neurodivergent and says many writers in her region are poor or disabled. “NaNoWriMo’s stance that poor and disabled writers should use AI to write well and be successful is disgusting. And calling those who criticize AI ableist and classist is really bizarre,” she says.
Rebecca Thorne, a fantasy novelist who has participated in NaNoWriMo since 2008, when she was a teenager, turned to TikTok to… Viral video which criticizes NaNo for ignoring public sentiment around AI and filling its statement with “politically correct language so that its position cannot be argued.”
Thorne met several of her closest friends at NaNo-sponsored gatherings and parties, and she cherishes those bonds to this day. She was struck by the part of NaNo’s statement that seemed to equate being economically disadvantaged with needing to consult an AI for help. “The whole point of NaNo was for you to meet other humans and not pay them. You exchanged labor in a friendly way,” she says. “You’re saying you don’t need humans to work on your art, but art is inherently human. We can’t rely on technology to do that work for us.”
Update: 4/9/2024, 12:30 p.m. EDT: This article has been updated to clarify Rebecca Thorne’s fictional genre.
