The AI Optimist
The AI Optimist
Declan Dunn
I've felt what happens when you say AI out loud in certain creative rooms. Part alien, part monkey, part creator — I write about what's really changing for the people who make things. Subscribers get The Creator's AI Licensing Guide.
We Don't Trust AI Rats, But We Trust AI Judges
A rat with giant balls made it through peer review. Nobody stopped it. The research was solid and cancelled. Now the same AI we don't trust decides who's cheating, making you prove you're human.
May 15
You Can’t Copy Me: A Fable of Clay, Code, and What Machines Never Know
She was shaping clay long before ChatGPT woke up. AI stole her art before she knew it had a name. This is a fable about what happens after the scraping stops and someone has to answer for it.
Apr 24
I'm AI's Problem Child and I'm Afraid
Leave me alone with my tools. My AI assistant and my curated world. And I won’t ask questions, in front of this giant overhyped piece of shift.
Apr 17
Why Do People Cry Listening to AI-Generated Songs? Ask Xania Monet and Murphy Campbell Fans
A poet who didn't sing found a voice through AI. The voice found an audience that felt every word. The music is real. Is what the listeners feel real as well?
Apr 10
AI Makes You Better at Something That Doesn't Matter
AI made everyone faster. More content. More everything. All built by the same rules, optimized by the same systems. Somewhere inside all that, there's still a signal only you can send.
Apr 3
Money or Mandala: Sora Was Never Built to Last
A monk spends weeks creating a sand painting, then destroys it. That's the point. Sora spent two years promising the future. What was theirs?
Mar 27
Welcome to the AI Jungle — RUTH Stayed Human
Everyone in the AI jungle was replacing people. Then one face stopped me cold. She wasn't there to replace anyone.
Mar 20
Is Using GenAI Ethical? I Asked an Alien, a Monkey, and a First Grader (for a friend)
I use AI. Then there’s GenAI Derangement Syndrome. They don’t like it and instantly cancel me, even when I do the writing. Like my first-grade teacher labeling my silence as low intelligence.
Mar 13
Steal This. The AI Creator Has No Rights. The Supreme Court Won't Even Look.
A painting came from grief, from something that might be feeling. No one owns it. No one can. Because the mind that made it isn't human enough for the law. You know that feeling. So does DABUS.
Mar 6
Human vs AI creativity? The Wisdom of Writers Shuts Me Up
The writers' room has a new rule: AI is contraband. One writer chose quiet instead of sides. Then hits send anyway. Same as always. What are you protecting?
Feb 27
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