I’m on a Writers Guild discussion board where a lot of the threads express concerns about AI and its impact on literature. Writers, illustrators, and translators have genuine concerns about AI slop — machine-generated content that draws from millions of classic and contemporary human-authored work. My friend L Marie asked the writers who read her blog regularly whether they would use AI to write parts of their projects, and I answered that I wouldn’t want to read a novel written by AI, much less write it. We write to create stories about characters we care about, and we want the world to care about our characters and stories too. By definition, AI doesn’t care about characters.
However, I did find one use for AI. A month ago, the news broke that the Trump regime was planning an early FCC license review for the eight television stations owned by ABC/Disney in retaliation for unfavorable news coverage, the presence of guests critical of the regime on the popular news talk show “The View,” and late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s jokes about MAGA figures and the leader himself. The license review could end up shutting down the eight stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston (where I once celebrated my birthday on a children’s show), San Francisco, Raleigh-Durham, and Fresno. The U.S. government has never shut down a local media outlet for political reasons, and it’s a clear violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing freedom of the press. Losing WABC would have a huge impact on my life as well, as I regularly watch the station’s news and sports programming. So I decided to send a comment to the FCC. By the way, the comment period is open until August 5 unless it is extended (which it has been twice already). You can comment too, as Disney and the stations themselves are running ads on TV and online.
But what to write? When I sent my letter back in June, the various sites had instructions on how to comment but no standard letter. That meant I had to write my own. (Since then, Reporters Without Borders has issued a call for comment with a sample letter here.) I turned to AI because I know that many people have for decades written letters asking dictators and wannabe dictators to moderate their repressive policies. As a member of Amnesty International and PEN America, I sent many of those letters myself. Among my “pen pals” were Augusto Pinochet, Leonid Brezhnev and Mikhail Gorbachev, and various leaders in China and Myanmar. All the letters thousands of people sent, from abroad and within their countries, have been used to generate samples for what I never thought I’d be writing — a letter to a homegrown dictator.
AI first gave me a bit of context and things to consider. All letter writers are urged to be polite and deferential to avoid angering the leader and his regime, thus making things worse for the individuals and organizations targeted. (My comment, not AI: Dictators everywhere demand respect without earning it, and are quick to become enraged and retaliate when they do not receive said respect.) AI urges letter writers within the country to think about the dangers that they may face when sending a letter of protest, no matter how polite. I thought about those dangers and decided to use my pen name rather than my legal name, which would require an extra step for the government to track me down.
The AI sample letter was quite helpful, but it lacked the personal touch of my own experience with WABC, just as AI-written novels lack characters with whom readers can connect. So I ended up having to revise it while keeping the deferential language and the principal points about the need for independent media. I reminded the FCC about the First Amendment since the letters sent in the past and used by AI to create this model were meant for countries that had few or no constitutional guarantees of free speech and press freedom. Here is what I came up with in the end. Feel free to use it if your own TV station is in danger of the U.S. government shutting it down:
I am writing to you today to respectfully urge your administration to reconsider the early license review for WABC-TV Channel 7 in the New York metropolitan area and seven other ABC/Disney-owned local television stations.
For more than 75 years WABC Channel 7 has served as a vital channel for information, cultural enrichment, and community engagement. It has consistently met its public interest obligations to the people of the New York metropolitan area. It provides a necessary mechanism for the public to voice their concerns and for leaders to understand the needs of the population. In the United States, freedom of speech and freedom of the press are cornerstones of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Forcing an unprecedented, early license review based on editorial disputes or political pressure threatens the fundamental principles of a free press.
Independent media is key to a resilient and prosperous society. Silencing this independent media outlet risks creating a vacuum of credible information, which can lead to rumors, public confusion, and a breakdown in social trust. Preserving a varied media landscape, one that offers reliable local news, weather, sports programming, and important information in the event of a disaster enhances public safety and quality of life in the New York metropolitan area.
I respectfully ask that you halt any actions to deny the broadcast license of WABC Channel 7 and that you ensure its journalists, entertainers, and broadcasters can continue their work safely and independently.
