This has been the most amazing spring and summer of the past few years. No heat dome here in north central Texas. Lots of rain. Some days I would be monitoring the weather channel and it would have no rain in sight and then boom, a thunderstorm. Not great for the people in central Texas who were caught by excessive storms and flooding near Kerrville and some people died. For us, however, all that rain led to some growth on trees and bushes I have been trying to get to overcome some very hot summers and this year they are responding. Supposed to get up over 100 degrees in the next week.
I dumped a project I have had for the last 20 odd years… entirely. I still have the database but removed the front facing pages. My reason for this is that, despite being vastly popular, I was mainly the one doing all the work, and I sort of felt like I had painted myself into a corner. I thought, what if for whatever reason I CANNOT work on this, it would be just as abrupt as cancelling it now when it is still under my complete control. Also, over the past years, the methodology for the project has changed. It occurred to me that if AI is stealing content from websites, all the work I have been putting in will be for naught OR incorporate in AI software such as ChatGPT. I mean, why spend all the effort for something else to just take it away? That, of course, leaves a hole in what I normally did regularly and I’m looking into other hobbies to fill that void. Publishers see traffic plummet as Google’s AI answers keep users from clicking links
I am absolutely NOT a fan of AI and if I can possibly never use it, and avoid it, I will. What concerned me with this project in particular is that AI snarfs up data to use as content, without permission or paying attention to copyrights. etc. Here is a recent federal case from June 2025 that ruled that tranining LLMs on copyrighted books is legal under the doctrine of fair use. What happens, then, to creators who have written books, made music, art, etc when AI can just take it over. This is not happening everywhere, at least at this point, as the EU has a mandatory template for AI developers to use.
BREAKING: The EU Commission has released a mandatory template for AI developers to disclose training data. Unlike the Code of Practice, this is not optional. It could have global fallout, as rights holders abroad might use it to sue over copyright. digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/e…
— Luca Bertuzzi (@lucabertuzzi.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 5:10 AM
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Two members of my family love AI. My sister uses Midjourney to create stuff in lieu, since she says she has no artistic talent, of drawing, painting, photography etc. Another member of the family has created a book for sale that ChatGPT created; I asked if she had drawn the pics. Nope. I cannot fault anyone from wanting to use AI but I CAN if the software to do so is stealing content, in particular from already copyrighted works, to do so. Also, I want to KNOW if what I’m seeing is a fake, generated image. Also, I like that Meta, which I cannot stand and do not subscribe to, is being sued for pirating porn movies to train AI
Two US senators have introduced a bill to prevent #AI companies using copyrighted material without consent. https://deadline.com/2025/07/senate-bill-ai-copyright-1236463986/ #copyright
— Author Help (@office.gts.authorhelp.uk.ap.brid.gy) July 28, 2025 at 4:40 AM
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I have pulled out my art pencils to do some drawing, and also have a large pile of books that I have been meaning to read, and am engaged with kdramss this last year. We also have a ton of activities planned for the rest of this year, hope you all do too!
