How did this happen? We’re already at the final link-up of September!
If you’re new to Five Minute Friday, a special welcome to you!
Learn more about the link-up and how to join here.
Also: If you’d like to receive these weekly writing prompts in your inbox, join the mailing list here.
Our final FMF writing prompt of September 2023 is: COPY
Setting my timer for five minutes, and . . . GO.Â
When my kids were little, they used to do a lot of their learning by copying others. They would copy sounds to learn language. They traced letters to learn handwriting. In art class, we used to learn skills and techniques by copying the masters.
It made sense then, but now the lines have seemed to blur a bit for me. Ethically, when is it okay to copy someone else?
This issue and topic seems to have become more prevalent in recent weeks and months, particularly with regard to various art forms.
I’ve seen posts and articles from well-known authors like Jane Friedman who have become victims of plagiarism from some of the new AI tools that exist.
Fiction author Susan Meissner just shared online that she discovered that five of her books are now part of an AI search engine and are used to “help” people who want to learn “how to write a novel like Susan Meissner.” Of course, she did not give permission for this to take place. Nobody asked her.
In a nearby town, we have an annual festival called ArtPrize. Apparently one of the Top 25 finalists was called into question for “copying” an existing photograph and using it as a basis to create a realistic drawing by hand.
Have the lines blurred? Or is it still black and white?
At what point is it okay to copy someone and their work, and when is it not?
While I realize this is a larger conversation with plenty of nuance, ultimately, as Christians, our primary aim should be to copy our Master — the Lord Jesus Christ.
STOP.
+++
Join the link-up with your own five-minute freewrite below, then visit your link-up neighbor to read their post and leave an encouraging comment:Â
Subscribe to rediscover the motivation to write, plus get our latest updates via email.
Please go ahead and duplicate
anything that I may write;
I will not storm and fulminate,
nor will I lawyer up a fight,
for I truly really do believe
that imitation’s flattery,
and I’m grateful to receive
this recharge of my battery,
for now the sands are running fast
and every word’s a struggle.
I hate it but I cannot last,
and when death comes to burst my bubble
if you copy what I said,
in that way I’ll still be read.
Just under five minutes.
AI has blurred lines and brought many topics to light , which need to be discussed and addressed. It’s disconcerting to say the least knowing that our human work can be stolen, copied without permission, and given over to AI.
But God…
I feel like AI has really muddied the waters when it comes to plagiarism and fair use.
But it is true that we learn by copying. Even as adults, if I want to know how to do something I ask someone to show me – it’s not enough to tell me.
Stealing somebody else’s ideas is altogether different though, if we are to pretend they are own.