Statement of Originality: Not By AI
Every word of my poetry collection was authored by me, Angela Woolcott. No artificial intelligence was used in the creation, drafting, or editing of these works. My writing journey began in 1988, long before modern generative tools existed. These early poems serve as a physical and digital record of my development as an Australian writer. I continue to use the creative force within me and inherent in every human connected to source energy to create poetry, stories, and other artistic ventures. I have not and will not use AI to create these works in the future – I would rather sit in a mud pile and eat worms than give my divinity away.
I have no interest in the polished, empty perfection of a machine. I value the grit and the honesty of a human voice. Like a singer that inhales a shaky breath, the texture of a brushstroke, a rustic twang of a guitar string echoing while the musician or artist wipes sweat from their brow – I wrote that, yup, me. We are all spiritual beings living a human experience (bar a few politicians, lawyers, and evil scientists… I’ll stop there; the list may grow and I have to believe they are inherently good deep down). I believe my readers deserve the truth of my own human devotion, not hollow words with no soul.
Every audio recording and YouTube video on this site features my own voice and performance. Where I have used my own photos, I have clearly stated my ownership. Although I have experimented with and used some AI-generated images for certain posts, I do not claim creative rights to those images, and I will always strive to be open and honest regarding the use of this technology. I am passionate about photography and videography, and, when time permits, I always strive to use real photos and videos, captured and created by other humans or by me. I am looking to replace the images I have experimented with AI on. I have used Pixabay and other photo services for posts and memes in the past, and now realise that it is hard to tell whether something was taken by a human, so I am moving toward using only my own photos and videos for all my creative work.
I used tools like PicMonkey and Canva to create my memes and visual quotes, spending many hours choosing fonts and photos, adding logos, changing colours, and editing to perfect the visual artistry I am aiming for. I created many memes featuring positive, encouraging thoughts and quotes for author and spiritual leader James Redfield for his Facebook page.
While AI is a handy tool for structuring backend settings and descriptions in posts, quick tips for a blog, and social media, I use it strictly for SEO to help my human voice reach a wider audience and as a time-saving device in a busy world of changing algorithms. AI is now used in nearly every industry and can be useful for organisational and informational purposes, but I always research things to double-check accuracy and do not rely on AI to make decisions in my life or career.
I use Grammarly for spellcheck and grammar now, but the bulk of my archived collection of over 400 poems was edited by me. This was done with the aid of a dictionary and a thesaurus, pen and paper – fuelled by human effort, dedication, and many hours of devoted time. These works are the result of decades of real-world experience and the simple persistence of a writer committed to her craft. I refuse to support art produced by machines in place of the human spirit. This includes music, painting, drawing, poetry, and stories produced by AI, as I believe a world without a true, authentic human voice is a world without soul.