We have always been the most-copied website for Spirit Keeping information as we were the first website devoted to Spirit Keeping - what is means, what the facts are, what it really is, etc. However, the exponential explosion of listings on these marketplaces is cause for concern.
The fly-by-night shops have been an issue since 2008, as Spirit Keeping gained popularity, but AI means anyone can come read information from any part of this website and seemingly write their own informative books, guides, companion listings, etc. in mere minutes. The overwhelming presence of AI software available to read reputable information, re-write and re-package it, and then create a version for the user to sell/post is a problem.
There is more than a lot to be said about context and authentic knowledge when you are writing something. When AI is reading something and re-writing it so you don't get in trouble for blatantly ripping off the life's work of other people, the AI software isn't knowledgeable, it's regurgitating something you presented it. These anomalies can cause a lot of misinformation and confusion for people genuinely wanting to learn about Spirit Keeping.
Misinformation and confusion was bad enough before AI, but this has raised the problematic bar to a whole new level. The need for vigilance, to know WHO you are learning from, what their real experiences are, what their tenure and experience genuinely is in the field, is more important than ever. Complicated by the fact that Etsy and eBay continue to have terms of service prohibitive policies that restrict the sale of metaphysical items. Which means, these shops are going to come and go like whack-a-mole continually and you can't reopen under the same name when you are banned from these platforms, so when they reopen they are under completely different names. Not only is the AI an issue, but now you can't get in touch with a seller about your purchases because they were banned.
We are reviewing options for safeguarding the community, as well as our life's work. We write everything by-hand, because it is authentic. It comes from our experiences, our notes, our knowledge, and our books, classes, guides, encyclopedia articles, forum posts, shop listings, are all written by us - NEVER AI of any kind. The single and only way we implement any AI on CH is with images, you can read about it here.
This isn't an argument about the place of AI everywhere in the world, it's specific to using AI to replace the authentic work that is performed and keeping the integrity as part of the framework of Spirit Keeping and the practice of magick and the supernatural.
The actual practice of casting spells, performing rituals, performing conjurations, performing readings, etc. all require the practitioner to actually perform the work. The more experienced
This is a craft, a trade, a learned path that requires practice and experience to master. That cannot be replaced by AI.
Authenticity of Work
If you rely on Artificial Intelligence to write your listings, create your descriptions, write your readings, create spirit conjuration information, etc. It's not authentic. It can't be. The computer has done the work for you. You didn't read the person and write down notes and then convey what you experienced as the reader into a reading.
Being a true craft means you should be doing the work from start-to-finish. They come to you because there is nothing that replaces real work, authentic experiences, gathered and gained knowledge from doing something over and over and over and over, until you can identify even the most minute of variances and nuances.
Honor your gift, honor your craft, honor your clients, honor the community and do the work organically. Because, that is authentic. That is real.
Stolen Power
With the onset of AI, anyone can feed the AI software publicly available spells, rituals, those who have publicly shared their spirit's information or bios, those who have publicly shared readings, listing information on various species and races of beings, etc. and suddenly, they appear as an expert! Except, they aren't. It's stolen power.
Anyone can hang a shingle on Etsy, eBay, TikTok, etc. and say "I'm an expert of 20 years" and use stolen legitimate information to fluff their bios and create their listings. Just look at the surge of sellers on these platforms from 2021 to now. There was a surge of experienced practitioners and experts unlike anything that has been seen in the community since 2006! We've been here this whole time - same name, same website, same Forum, same place - where were all of these experts in all this time?
It's not like the community was hidden, it's public. Granted, some are legitimate, but the volume of newcomers in the last 5 years is remarkable. They didn't exist before and they weren't part of any communities prior to the covid pandemic, but it spawned an onset of practitioners unlike anything since the 2006 surge on eBay. Which, for all those around 20 years ago, you know exactly the authenticity of that situation
Even in initial conversations, as they gain insight and information from the AI tools in answering questions, it looks like they are legit. But, the cracks will show. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, in the Universe that can supersede organic experience. AI makes egregious mistakes because it only knows what information it is fed. And, since we all know AI is routinely fed misinformation either deliberately or mistakenly (on any topic, not just supernatural-related), then you will see the cracks appear.
Erosion of Trust
it should go without saying that using Artificial Intelligence to do the work of writing conjuring notes, performing readings, etc. that should be done by hand and with experience, creates an enormous erosion of trust between the practitioner and the client. As evidenced in this popular thread, AI creates very real and personal "readings" and "listings" that aren't real information at all. They are randomly assembled words and phrases that come from AI being fed previous information to discern the best output. If a client wanted an AI reading, they can ask AI for a reading, and get a completely hollow and truly meaningless response. It's not a real reading. Yes, AI is reading previous input and previously-generated readings that you and everyone else has put into AI or asked AI to generate. Which is how it learns and gets more accurate in its responses. But, it's not a reading.
If practitioners aren't actually doing the work to perform the reading, and instead just feeding AI questions and prompts, it's not a reading. The only thing read at all is AI reading previous results and prompts to generate marginally meaningful word salad.
This isn't what clients pay you for. They pay for your time, your expertise, your experience, and you actually performing the reading.
Risk of Lost Art
This is something that resonates through all civilizations across the globe with all trades and crafts. When you forgo the work, the actual manual labor that makes something a craft, it risks becoming a lost art.
AI is a mishmash of knowledge and it has very appropriate and helpful uses. Magick, spirit conjuring, and the supernatural is not one of them. If you give up the actual hard-earned work of mastering the craft of magick, spirit conjuring, and work within the supernatural, then it will become a lost art.
The whole collection of real experiences and knowledge associated with practitioners who pass away without passing on their craft, run the risk of creating a lost art. Couple that with suddenly no one wants to do the real work, the hard work of learning, experiencing, and creating - they'd rather feed it into AI, get results, pop out something they can hand a customer immediately, get those 5 stars and lock them in with a response so the feedback cannot be altered - wham! You will ultimately get a lost art.
You will end up with far fewer practitioners who actually know how to do the work and an onslaught of shops that genuinely have no idea what they are doing, it's all up to AI.
The power of spells written by hand, rituals created by hand, conjurations done by hand, those are all things that must be done from the heart, with blood, sweat, and tears, real sacrifice of time and absolute devotion to get it right.
When real practitioners write spells, or create rituals, it's not just a pop-out. You take the time to craft the words and phrases to mean something and they come from the union of a living soul aligned with the Universe. That's sacred, that's real, that's integral to the beauty and importance of being a true practitioner.
There are great and appropriate uses for AI. Images are a great example. Prior to AI trying to find images that actually matched the species/race of being was nearly impossible. Sometimes, even trying to find images that conveyed any principle of magick was impossible. It's not an overly popular subject matter, and extremely limited in any kind of cultural, ethnic, or body-shape features with humanoid species - real photos done in-studio were almost exclusively young, pretty or handsome, fair-skinned people. Either way, that's an example of reasonable AI use.
Posted are the results from 40 days of running the AI poll. For full disclosure, there were sellers and buyer/sellers who participated in the poll as it was open to the public. There were "Other" comments that were largely against use of AI overall, but stated use of AI for grammar or editing was okay as long as fact-checked by the shop before providing it to the customer.
If you suspect anything you've received from other sellers or shops has been AI-generated (especially those who were previously unknown in the community before AI existed and popped-up in the last 2 years), you can check on tools like this:
https://www.scribbr.com/ai-detector/
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