Poets & Writers Magazine welcomes feedback from its readers. Please post a comment on select articles at pw.org, e-mail editor@pw.org, or write to Editor, Poets & Writers Magazine, 90 Broad Street, Suite 2100, New York, NY 10004. Letters accepted for publication may be edited for clarity and length.
Letters
Feedback from readers
It was disappointing to read Bonnie Chau’s dismissal of the social and economic threat of AI-generated imagery and text as “overblown” in “ChatGPT Revises Authorship” (May/June 2023). The data models, which are the backbone of these bleeding-edge commercial software tools, are generated through the vast, untracked consumption and storage of human creative output. The hard work and intellectual property rights of unknown hundreds of thousands of authors—possibly millions, nobody knows for certain, not even the engineers creating these systems—have been appropriated, with no credit given to those who did the original work. This ongoing, sprawling act of quite literal cultural appropriation not only defies established academic standards against plagiarism, but may also well represent the largest violation of copyright and other intellectual property law and policy in human history. I hope Poets & Writers Magazine is more thoughtful of the legal and ethical implications of AI and more considerate of the legal and creative interests of human poets and writers in future discussions of this dangerous and poorly understood new technology—one that is already eliminating creative jobs previously performed by humans.
Leo Schuman
Helena, Montana
When Jen DeGregorio, in “Literary Prizes Under Scrutiny” (May/June 2023), writes, “While conceding that there is a fine line between mentorship and cronyism, [Claire Grossman, Juliana Spahr, and Stephanie Young] tracked a complex web of interconnection among poetry judges, prizewinners, teachers, and students—implicating some of the biggest names in contemporary poetry,” it is disappointing that she doesn’t elaborate. Those of us who have been writing for some time are all familiar with instances when an instructor of creative writing from a prestigious university MFA program will recognize the work of a former student, despite reading anonymous entries, and award them a prize nonetheless. There have been attempts to add caveats intended to prevent entries from former students, close friends, or relatives of the judge, but I’m sure it still occurs.
Jamie Brown
Milton, Delaware
Thank you for the gift of Brenda Ferber’s essay “Letting Go: How I Found an Agent After Giving Up” (March/April 2023). Ferber’s honest prose gracefully exposed a number of bugaboos that I, up to this point, have been too afraid to address. Like Ferber, my “mothering” and pursuit of publication can each tangle painfully with my sense of self-worth. “Letting Go” helped me face the most terrifying question of all—What if this book never reaches an audience?—a necessary step, I now believe, in nurturing a healthier worldview.
Elisha Emerson
Windham, Maine
Thank you to Brenda Ferber for dramatizing many of the contradictions of the writing life: the conflicted stance of the observer who has a need to be observed but only in certain ways, the necessity for truth in one’s work while fearing the truth of the fate of that work, the management of expectations—how letting go, paradoxically, is the engine of persistence. Deconstructing Ferber’s essay provides a master class in how ideas and narrative bevel together. Whatever path her career takes, I hope Ferber knows she is one hell of a writer.
Robert Clark Young
Mexico City, Mexico
[Corrections]
“Bringing the Joy” (May/June 2023) by Bethanne Patrick incorrectly stated that Luis Alberto Urrea was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for The Hummingbird’s Daughter; in fact, Urrea was a finalist for the prize in nonfiction for The Devil’s Highway: A True Story. “Blooming How She Must” (May/June 2023) by Renée H. Shea erroneously stated that Camille T. Dungy moved from Randolph-Macon College to teach at San Francisco State University in 2011; in fact, she moved in 2006. Additionally, Madgetta Dungy did not graduate with a BA from Cornell University, as previously stated; she was the first African American woman to graduate with a BA from Cornell College.