ChatGPT · The Guardian Technology
‘They’re supposed to be handmade’: zine creators fight to resist AI influence
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The self-published zine has long been central to cultural revolutions, from queer activism to Black feminism and the riot grrrl punk movement, producing titles such as Sniffin’ Glue and Sweet-Thang along the way.
Key facts
- In 2023, Steve Simkins, an IT engineer, used AI to help produce an online photo zine while working at a US tech startup
- Goldfinger created her counter-AI zine, the reporter Should Be Allowed To Think, named after a 1994 song by the American alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, as she feels AI is making it harder
- The product designer Jesse Pimenta and the writer Cheyce Batchelor produced a 97-page 90s-inspired zine using Figma’s AI tools, praising the fact it allowed them to “reorder things without a lot
- Maddie Marshall spent a year working on a 92-page zine opposing the technology that she now sells on Etsy, the online craft marketplace
Summary
AI may seem incompatible with the these cult DIY booklets, but some creatives, designers and artists have begun to experiment with the technology, causing alarm in parts of the underground publishing world. “AI is eliminating a lot of people’s ability to think critically for themselves,” says Rachel Goldfinger, a Philadelphia-based video editor and illustrator who has published an anti-AI zine. “Of all art forms that the reporter partake in, the reporter feel like zines are the ones that make the least amount of sense to use AI for. Zines are typically self-published on ordinary paper with much smaller print runs than traditional magazines, and are often hand-illustrated.