Morris, another member A member of NaNo’s writers board, she first learned of the statement in a Facebook post from a friend early Monday morning. She took immediate action, publicly disassociating herself from the organization and deleting her account from the NaNo site, which she had held for decades. “I take a very hard stance when it comes to these generative AI programs,” she says.
In a blog post, Morris detailed her issues with the use of AI in creative writing: the platforms are unethical, the technology scrapes published authors’ content without paying royalties and fees, and denies writers the opportunity to find their voice and learn from their mistakes. Every time another organization partners with an AI platform, she feels defeated. “This is a battle creative people have to fight on so many fronts, and it’s exhausting,” she says.
C.L. Polk, author of the Hugo Award-nominated fantasy series of Kingston CyclePolk, who identifies as disabled “on multiple axes,” called Nano’s stance “bad fiction.” Polk denounced the nonprofit’s stance in Blue Sky, saying, “Nano is basically claiming that disabled people don’t have the talent to create art by perpetuating the lie that disparaging AI is ableism.” He added, “The idea that disabled people need mediocre, unoriginal writing is complete nonsense.”
Longtime participants, some of whom have been with Nano for decades, are also upset at what they perceive as yet another betrayal by an organization that has ignored the platform’s ongoing problems and alienated its members and volunteers.
Jenai May has been involved with NaNo for more than 20 years, serving as a local volunteer leader (also known as a city liaison) for about half of that time. NaNoWriMo typically boasts a volunteer corps of about 800 leaders and coordinators, though multiple sources say many of them have recently left the organization.
May says NaNoWriMo gave her the confidence she needed to believe she could write a book: “It was such a big inner change that I dedicated 10 years to volunteering for them all year.”
May, who has a neurodevelopmental disorder herself, says many of the writers in her area are poor or disabled. “I find NaNoWriMo’s stance that poor and disabled writers should use AI to write well and succeed tirelessly. It’s really weird to call critics of AI ableists and classists,” she says.
Rebecca Thorne, a YA fantasy novelist who has been participating in NaNoWriMo since she was a teenager in 2008, posted a viral TikTok video accusing NaNo of ignoring public opinion about AI and of “filling their statement with politically correct language to make it difficult for people to disagree with their position.”
Thorne met some of her best friends at Nano-hosted “write-ins” and parties, and she still cherishes those connections. She was struck by parts of Nano’s statement that seemed to equate economic disadvantage with asking an AI for help. “Nano’s purpose was to meet other humans and not get paid, it was a friendly exchange of work,” she said. “They say art doesn’t need humans, but art is inherently human. You can’t rely on technology to do the work.”
