It's overwhelming. I go to work, my bosses are pushing us to use AI. I take my break, unlock my phone, and there's tonnes of AI slop on YouTube. I try to order lunch, the pictures are AI. Now I look for patterns and have to deal with AI there too. I'm just so thankful for Ravelry, I know for sure that the patterns I look through there are legit!

I'm just getting into embroidery too , and the mountains of slop you have to get through to find any real patterns on Etsy are unreal. I love your message. It's so important to support creators and business owners in our yarncraft communities. We need to keep knitting human.

I'm almost 70, and ending a 40 yr career in IT. I'm also a lifelong knitter/crocheter/spinner/weaver. IT used to be a creative endeavor, but it's all being replaced by AI. I'm miserable and frustrated. To have to sift through AI for yarns and patterns is ridiculous. I've gone back to old craft books and magazines for inspiration, and always check your uploads for reviews and your excellent tutorials. We can't stop AI, but we can reject it on a personal level, for our own peace of mind. Collaborating with Real Humans is the best way.

I am constantly saying “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should” and I personally hate that so many people are being hoodwinked by AI.

AI is destroying everything. Future generations will never know the true creativity of their ancestors.  I am buying older books and creative magazines as I can not trust that things are not AI anymore.  Just sad.

So much artificial stuff around us, that makes me value handmade  items and personal creativity more and more every day

Norman, thank you. so much for enlightening me! Please keep it up, you are very much needed in our community!

Norman, you are amazing!  I would never skip you.  You have helped me in so many ways, and I am grateful for you and all of your hard work.

Your most important episode yet.🌟 My local library, where I check out free books to listen to, is now flooded with AI-generated books with voices like "G" or "M".  It's dystopian.  We want to see our real Norman.  We want to hear real voices.

I recently borrowed an Irish Crochet book from my local public library that was pure AI slop. These books are being bought and distributed by libraries. I reported the books and my local librarians were shocked. I hope that they took it out of circulation.

Hello Norman, Thank you for addressing this important topic. I find my knitting patterns on Ravelry, on the designer's website or on reputable online shops such Purl Soho. Unless a book is published by a reputable company such as Laine, Abrams or similar, I move on. I quit cable tv, Facebook and Pinterest years ago, only shop Amazon when I have absolutely no other alternative (I shop local whenever I can to support my local economy, including farmer markets, art shows, etc.), and have never had, nor do I plan to have, an Instagram account. AI is pervasive, and we must all be critical thinkers and do our homework before handing over our hard-earned money. It's unfortunate, too, that governments around the world did not insist on having various regulations in place to protect consumers prior to the release of AI. But as we've seen here in the USA in recent years, the wealthy, powerful and "unscrupulous entrepreneurs" (aka scammers and the like) are more concerned with lining their pockets than protecting the public. Sad times. Bottom Line - I am extremely careful and discerning about who and what comes through my front door so I may protect my home, my sanity, and my peace. You should be, too.

One of the most disturbing things I have learned in the past week is this: Amazon, aka Jeff Bezos, who started out as booksellers, is buying up massive amounts of out of print books, including rare and treasured libraries, cutting off the spines, and scanning the pages into their AI, then destroying all the pages afterwards. I am incredible upset by this. It’s exactly like destroying the ancient library of Alexandria. Imagine the loss in the world! How do we recover from this???

I am 69, so maybe just too old to understand. But what I do not see about AI is, who is going to buy all the things when AI has replaced everyone's job? And no one has a job anymore?

I will keep rejecting AI content and stay loyal to watching your amazing tutorials. You’ve been one of my most important knitting teachers. Thanks for all you do.

I’m considering writing (not with AI) to KnitPro, Hobbi, et al, who use AI, to let them know that I’ll not longer patronize them if they continue to use AI.  
Thank you for letting us know, Norman!
Please continue giving us such great content.  Not only info like this, but especially your knitting knowledge and skill!

The biggest problem with generative ai nomatter where it’s used is that it doesn’t actually create. It just rehashes whatever is fed into it and spits out what it’s told to; there’s no learning. No experience. No advice. It’s a glorified, over inflated photocopier. I don’t even trust AI in the medical field because of how often it just gets things wildly wrong.

Even with the thumbnails thing; it’s taking away another small joy from the process of creating and sharing. It takes away that little boost your brain gives you when you accomplish a task which is a big reason a lot of younger people aren’t actually learning. It’s not solving or figuring out. It’s just repetition that makes it vastly less helpful.

I don’t even think that it would be useful in tech editing; there are people out there and more experienced knitters/crocheters that can offer advice even if you can’t afford to pay. Substituting real knowledge and experience for a mass produced service is what people really don’t enjoy or need.

Not to mention the fact that AI, which isn’t a necessity at all, requires the most horrendous use of power and water just to answer something you could probably find out from a forum or your local knitting group.

You are definitely not overreacting! Thank you for this!

Between Etsy and Pinterest accepting AI, I don’t even bother anymore. I’m sure it’s even creeping into Ravelry.

I don’t think you’re overacting.  Thanks for addressing this.  You’re the best!

Absolutely, Norman!! Patty Lyons did a beautiful job explaining & showing examples to teach everyone!!  The amount of anti-AI I feel from the depth of my soul!!

I love to listen to you, as a new knitter whenever I would like a good advice I look at your videos and as always they are very useful.  Grateful for your knowledge.