Recently, after a minor kerfuffle on my Facebook page, I said I would be writing a bloggy thing about A.I., my rare former use of it and my reaction to those who oppose it with a vehemence that can get a little scary. But, first, this…
Several times a week, usually while watching MSNOW or The Daily Show, I see an ad for the Freedom From Religion Foundation with Ron Reagan, Jr. as its spokesperson. To be clear, I agree with the basic principles of this organization. I think there should always be an adamantium wall between church and state. I think politicians and judges who perform their functions on the basis of their personal religious beliefs should not remain in office. I think those who claim the United States is a Christian nation don’t know history or their religion.
Here’s the thing. Reagan is such an arrogant twat as he delivers a message I agree with. His mantra of “unabashed atheist, not afraid of burning in Hell” is smug and self-congratulatory. It’s why I think he has one of the most punch-able faces in the world today. The way he delivers the message is more anti-religion than pro-democracy. Is there a reason this worthy organization can’t have a spokesperson who’s not a dick?
Which brings us to people who oppose A.I. with the same smug and self-congratulatory demeanor as Reagan. They stand up for the countless unknown creators getting ripped off by A.I. outfits. It would be nice if they showed the same fervor for the known creators who have been ripped off by comics companies and other corporations. But, seemingly, they’d rather be defenders of the abstract than defenders of the specific.
I have had my issues with A.I. Before I came out to the comics community as trans, I would use an A.I. site to try to picture how various looks and outfits might work for me. I rarely shared these images with any of my allies and trans friends. They were sort of fun, but not really useful. I could never get the images to look remotely like me. They were more an exercise in fantasy as I was embracing my new reality. I’ve not looked at the images or site in years.
My next private use of A.I. was in designing characters for the comics and other stories I was creating. I never sent the images to any artist. They were images I would look at before using my words to describe the characters. Ultimately, I decided this was an unnecessary step. I could picture the characters better in my head than I could with A.I.
My first and only real public use of A.I. in my work was when I came up with a Last Kiss gag sans public domain image. I thought it was funny and so did John Lustig, lord of Last Kiss. Since we had no image to go along with the joke, John used A.I. to create one. It was not a satisfying or satisfactory experience. Worse, it got vehement blow back from a long-time friend of mine.
I was stunned by the level of her reaction. It was if I’d eaten a puppy in front of her. That one “sin” of mine caused her to write me off, seemingly forever. I’ve not heard from her since. I remain baffled by this as I can think of literally hundreds of worst things I could have done. I bet you can as well.
You probably saw this next bit coming a mile away. As I wrote above, she was someone who, to be best of my knowledge, didn’t show the same fervor for known creators who have been ripped off by comic-book publishers and other corporations. She’d rather be a defender of the abstract than of the specific.
I can’t wholly agree that A.I. is always a bad thing. It’s been used to create biting and hilarious parody and satire. Novice that I am, I can’t see how the creators of this A.I. content are making bank off it and, more importantly, in doing so, cheating people. I mean, are you really upset that Stephen Miller’s image is being used in ways he hates? And, yes, I fully expect to get blow back on this statement.
My most recent public brush with A.I. was when I listed Mana to Miniskirts by Tanya Mondragon as a thing that made me happy. This is a transgender romance wherein a gamer nerd gets hit with a gender virus and then navigates her new life as if she were planning a D&D campaign. I read it on my Kindle for free and ran an image of the apparently A.I. generated cover art. A zealot or two made sarcastic comments about this.
Most of these transgender romances, many of which are not nearly as interesting or well-written at this one, are available for free via Kindle Unlimited. I pay around $12 a month for this and read a few dozen books each month. Most of these transgender romances are basically short stories. With the exception of a handful of insanely prolific authors, I can’t imagine any of the writers making money from this. The books strike me as labors of love, much like the countless fanzine articles I wrote during my teen years. Since these books are likely not profitable, I don’t see how the authors could have paid actual artists. Honestly, I don’t see the A.I. images as doing financial harm. No more than when parody accounts make use of cover and other comics images to create their satire. I see it as a fan thing.
I save my ire for the artistic pirates who set up at conventions selling their often plagiarized images of comics characters. They are profiting off the work and intellectual property of others. The vastness of their booths make it clear they are not in this for the fan love of it.
It should be noted that comics publishers almost never go after these pirates. I assume their reasoning is that they would also have to go after actual comics creators who are trying to offset their lack of long-term benefits and work from the publishers they once worked for. I have great sympathy for these artists and for writers who are selling copies of original scripts. The comics industry has no pension plans to take care of us as we get older and less employable, at least in the worsening vision of editors and publishers.
I am likely minimizing the dangers and harm of A.I. When you’re a trans person living in a country that seems determined to end your very existence, that seems a lot more threatening than folks misusing this new technology.
I’m sure many will disagree with my viewpoint. I merely ask they keep their disagreement reasonable.
If you were wondering, I did look into writing some transgender romances after some friends asked me to consider it. That didn’t seem like a path for me. I am writing a kind of romance novel with a transwoman lead, but my hope for that is to place it with a publishing company that could put it front of movie makers. A girl’s got to have dreams.
I’ll be back soon with more stuff.
© 2026 Tony Isabella
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