Written by Kyrie Jenkins, Staff Reporter
Generative AI needs no introduction at this point. It’s become so prevalent in our daily lives that schools are required to develop AI policies to combat the increased usage of it over the past few years. Most people have formulated their opinions of the subject and arguments have been made on when it is or isn’t appropriate to use. However, while many have written their stances on AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Copilot, that isn’t specifically what I’m here to discuss.
Over the summer, I started getting an ad for an AI driven choose-your-own-adventure style app and didn’t think much of it. My first thought was that, since I do a lot of research for creative writing and play a variety of TTRPGs, ad services thought it would be something I’m interested in. Over the past month, however, almost every ad that’s appeared for me has been targeted towards these AI stories, games, and videos, so much so that it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to overlook and ignore.
These are apps with plots, animation, and character voice all artificially generated in the most irritating ways possible. These apps don’t hide that they’re created with AI either, many of them have the word in their name and description. For sheer curiosity, I sat through one of these ads, and observed as what I would assume was a chapter was poorly animated and voiced. It was almost 10 minutes of the most confusing narrative, repeating lines and concepts, and characters that don’t make sense to the setting. It felt heavily like the programmers of these apps spun a wheel that contained everything single trope and concept people have written about online and decided to toss them all together into slop.
The worst part about this was then editing my ad recommendations on YouTube to try and get rid of them: They’re all labeled under the most absurd categories. Noted, some of the categories make sense for the apps that they are: books and literature, games, ads for the app itself, but others make absolutely no sense: shooter games, beauty and lifestyle, TV programs– one was labelled as a Grand Theft Auto ad.
Having these story apps categorized under so many different categories accomplishes two things. First, it makes it near impossible for me to block and stop an algorithm from recommending them to me. Second, it prevents me from getting ads and recommendations for products that I might actually want to look at and enjoy.
The reason this is so insulting to me, aside from having very strong opinions on generative AI, is because of how important art and creativity is in my personal life. Outside of being a writer for the Brackety-Ack, I’m the president of the creative writing club and had originally planned on attending school for creative writing before switching to an education major. Two of my closest friends are art majors with one studying digital art and character design while the other studies animation. My brother graduated from VCU with a music degree and my sister originally wanted to attend school for music and theatre before switching to law.
Seeing all these different ads for AI “stories” means enough people engage with the concept for programmers to keep making more apps, meaning I’m still stuck looking at them. I can’t say for certain how many other people might have to deal with these ads specifically, but AI existing in advertisements is everywhere. I see commercials and ads for apps that were made with AI or promote a new AI extension they created and every single time it forces me to stop and think: Is this really what the world of AI has come to?
I’ve been told time and time again that AI is unavoidable in the future and I should simply learn to live with it, but how can I live and accept something that makes a mockery of my passion for writing, storytelling, and art all at the same time? How can I be expected to stare at an ad for something most likely labeled as “self-care” or a “TV program” knowing no amount of reporting, blocking, or ignoring will actually fix the problem? All I can really hope for is that the majority that do see them react the same way and force these apps to stop existing, but I have a feeling deep down it’s mostly wishful thinking.
