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Oct 23, 2025

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Next Salon

November 2025

Theme: Does AI Have a Place in Creative Work?

Submission Deadline: November 15, 2025
Salon Date: November 20, 2025 at noon EST (to avoid Thanksgiving)

SUBMIT HERE

The question isn’t theoretical anymore. AI is already writing novels, designing graphics, composing music, and generating ideas. Some creatives are integrating it into their process. Others are refusing on principle. Most of us are somewhere in the middle, using it quietly, feeling guilty about it, or pretending the question will go away if we ignore it long enough.

But it won’t. So let’s actually examine it.

Not “Is AI scary?” or “Will AI replace us?” but the practical, philosophical question facing every creative right now: Does this tool belong in your creative process? And if so, where? And if not, why not?

Because here’s what I’m noticing: The people saying “absolutely yes” and the people saying “absolutely no” are both right, and both wrong. The answer depends entirely on what you think creative work IS. What it’s FOR. What makes it valuable.

Is creativity about the final product or the process of making it? Is it about the idea or the execution? The vision or the craft? And when you let AI handle parts of the work, which parts are you willing to give up? Which parts are you protecting? And why those?

What I’m looking for:

Essays from people actively using (or actively refusing) AI in their creative practice—tell us what you’ve discovered
Arguments grounded in real experience, not just philosophical positions or fear
Examination of where you’ve drawn your lines and why
Framework-building: What types of creative work should remain human? What can be automated without loss?
Honest exploration of the tensions: efficiency vs. soul, democratization vs. quality, tool vs. collaborator
The question beneath the question: If AI can do what you do, what makes your work distinctly YOURS?

This isn’t about being pro-technology or anti-AI. It’s about figuring out what creative work actually is when the mechanical parts become effortless. It’s about identifying what you’re protecting, and whether you’re protecting craft or just gatekeeping.