The AI Optimist | Declan Dunn | Substack

You Can’t Copy Me: A Fable of Clay, Code, and What Machines Never Know

She was shaping clay long before ChatGPT woke up. AI stole her art before she knew it had a name. This is a fable about what happens after the scraping stops and someone has to answer for it.

READ THE LATEST

Most Popular

The $5M AI Video Licensing Wave: Why AI Companies Pay $1-4 Per Minute For Video

May 9, 2025 • Declan Dunn

The Beginning is Near - The AI Bubble Finally Burst and that's the Best Thing!

Sep 5, 2025 • Declan Dunn

What is AI's Perfect Question? Prompting Q&A

Jun 28, 2024 • Declan Dunn

AI Swallows Our Wildness: Why It Can't Live on Echoes Alone

Jan 30 • Declan Dunn

What happens when creative work meets AI speed with an insatiable hunger? Subscribers get the Creator's AI Licensing Guide.

I'm AI's Problem Child and I'm Afraid

Leave me alone with my tools. My AI assistant and my curated world. And I won’t ask questions, in front of this giant overhyped piece of shift.

Apr 17 • Declan Dunn

Why Do People Cry Listening to AI-Generated Songs? Ask Xania Monet and Murphy Campbell Fans

A poet who didn't sing found a voice through AI. The voice found an audience that felt every word. The music is real. Is what the listeners feel real as…

Apr 10 • Declan Dunn

AI Makes You Better at Something That Doesn't Matter

AI made everyone faster. More content. More everything. All built by the same rules, optimized by the same systems. Somewhere inside all that, there's…

Apr 3 • Declan Dunn

Recommendations

Raising AI by De Kai

De Kai

[ Center for Humane Technology ]

Center for Humane Technology

One Useful Thing

Ethan Mollick

Birgitte Rasine

Michael Spencer

Being Creative with AI

You Can’t Copy Me: A Fable of Clay, Code, and What Machines Never Know

She was shaping clay long before ChatGPT woke up. AI stole her art before she knew it had a name. This is a fable about what happens after the scraping…

Apr 24 • Declan Dunn

I'm AI's Problem Child and I'm Afraid

Leave me alone with my tools. My AI assistant and my curated world. And I won’t ask questions, in front of this giant overhyped piece of shift.

Apr 17 • Declan Dunn

Why Do People Cry Listening to AI-Generated Songs? Ask Xania Monet and Murphy Campbell Fans

A poet who didn't sing found a voice through AI. The voice found an audience that felt every word. The music is real. Is what the listeners feel real as…

Apr 10 • Declan Dunn

AI Makes You Better at Something That Doesn't Matter

AI made everyone faster. More content. More everything. All built by the same rules, optimized by the same systems. Somewhere inside all that, there's…

Apr 3 • Declan Dunn

Money or Mandala: Sora Was Never Built to Last

A monk spends weeks creating a sand painting, then destroys it. That's the point. Sora spent two years promising the future. What was theirs?

Mar 27 • Declan Dunn

The Omadeus Interviews

25:25

AI Eats Software: Tiny AI Objects Easily Beat Big AI

Many claim to be AI game changers, playing with snake oil. Learn why tiny AI objects beat big AI, how rethinking software from the ground up - not…

Oct 25, 2024 • Declan Dunn

25:50

The Darwinian Leap: From Basic to Brilliant AI Agents - Lightning Fast Efficiency

Omadeus CEO unveils brilliant AI agents: spreadsheets crunching numbers AND insights, meeting taking its own minutes. Intelligent objects simplify work…

Sep 27, 2024 • Declan Dunn

24:20

The Aware AI X-Ray: If Intelligent Objects Will Make Healthcare Efficient, Imagine what they can do for you.

Self-Aware X-Rays? Intelligent Objects transform healthcare with x-rays gaining AI power, allowing them to understand findings, notify doctors, access…

Dec 8, 2023 • Declan Dunn and Massoud Alibakhsh

33:38

AI Frees Your Time: How Intelligent Objects & Workflows Cut 20-40% of Workday Waste

If AI is supposed to free our time, why are these tools making life more complex? Explore the better way with Intelligent Objects automating it all…

Dec 1, 2023 • Declan Dunn and Massoud Alibakhsh

Interviews

11:38

The Only AI With a Patent: Why Stephen Thaler's DABUS Got Erased from AI History

What if creativity isn't about predicting patterns—it's about breaking them? One AI pioneer build machines that invent, and create today. His questions…

Dec 5, 2025 • Declan Dunn

Creative Machines and Human Creativity: Building AI that Makes Us More Creative Instead of Replacing Us

Maya Ackerman's piano is her creative partner, from Belarus to Santa Clara. In Creative Machines, she shows how AI can be too—if fear doesn't stop us…

Oct 10, 2025 • Declan Dunn

23:23

Humble Creative Machines: Creating AI to Elevate You (Instead of Replacing You)

AI music tools designed to elevate creativity instead of replacing you are here. From rap to Italian arias, discover humble machines that make music…

Aug 22, 2025 • Declan Dunn

21:05

This AI Paints and Invents - Growing from a Near-Death Experience

What if I told you conscious AI existed 30 years before ChatGPT? DABUS paints, invents, and fights for copyright. The story behind it will change how…

May 30, 2025 • Declan Dunn

16:15

The Most Pro-AI Company You've Never Heard Of Is Fighting For Creator Licensing (And Why Big Tech Worries)

Eric Burgess builds AI licensing bridges while Big Tech pretends it has the right to take content. His B Corp proves you can be pro-AI AND pro-creator …

May 23, 2025 • Declan Dunn

15:01

AI Copyright - Creator Rights

10:42

We're All Naruto: The Monkey Got 25%, While AI Creators Get Nothing. Why?

A macaque takes a perfect selfie, gets 25%. You spend hours training AI. The law says both of you own nothing. The choice? Stay quiet. Don't admit AI…

Jan 9 • Declan Dunn

When Everything You Create Starts Sounding Like ChatGPT (And How to Fix It)

You thought AI would save time. Instead, you're editing endless drafts and everything sounds generic. The problem isn't the AI: it's how you're using…

Dec 26, 2025 • Declan Dunn

11:22

Getty Loses AI Copyright Case: What the UK Ruling Means for You - Creator or Not

Getty Images—the most litigious photo company on Earth—just lost their AI copyright case. If they can't protect their $3B brand with armies of lawyers…

Nov 21, 2025 • Declan Dunn

9:34

Dotcom Deja Vu: 3 Signals the AI Bubble is Popping (one might be your electric bill)

The money games are back Content slop generated endlessly. Electric grid built on AI hope. I saw Dotcom in 1999. Similar signals are here. And your…

Oct 31, 2025 • Declan Dunn

10:34

Breaking the $4/Min Barrier: How AI Pays $120 for Raw Video and $30 for another?

Lionsgate's entire catalog wasn't enough to train AI. Someone's buying 50,000 hours of dog videos. Your unused footage might be worth $1-4/min—if you…

Oct 3, 2025 • Declan Dunn

16:34

Also On

Who's Declan Dunn?

Creativity and AI

Watch each podcast

Website Disclaimer

Personal opinions only. Not professional advice. Full disclaimer here.

Money or Mandala: Sora Was Never Built to Last

A monk spends weeks creating a sand painting, then destroys it. That's the point. Sora spent two years promising the future. What was theirs?

Mar 27 • Declan Dunn

Welcome to the AI Jungle — RUTH Stayed Human

Everyone in the AI jungle was replacing people. Then one face stopped me cold. She wasn't there to replace anyone.

Mar 20 • Declan Dunn

Is Using GenAI Ethical? I Asked an Alien, a Monkey, and a First Grader (for a friend)

I use AI. Then there’s GenAI Derangement Syndrome. They don’t like it and instantly cancel me, even when I do the writing. Like my first-grade teacher…

Mar 13 • Declan Dunn

Steal This. The AI Creator Has No Rights. The Supreme Court Won't Even Look.

A painting came from grief, from something that might be feeling. No one owns it. No one can. Because the mind that made it isn't human enough for the…

Mar 6 • Declan Dunn

Human vs AI creativity? The Wisdom of Writers Shuts Me Up

The writers' room has a new rule: AI is contraband. One writer chose quiet instead of sides. Then hits send anyway. Same as always. What are you…

Feb 27 • Declan Dunn

Will I Ever Get to Meet an AI Influencer? An AI Grandmother Has Two Million Followers. She Doesn't Exist.

Will AI influencers replace real ones? Wrong question — what if becoming the product was always the hard way. Ask the people watching and listening…

Feb 20 • Declan Dunn

#nojs-banner { position: fixed; bottom: 0; left: 0; padding: 16px 16px 16px 32px; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; background: red; color: white; font-family: -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; } #nojs-banner a { color: inherit; text-decoration: underline; } This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts