This zine collects some of the perspectives that have been helpful to me as I, like everyone else, navigate this historical moment and the rise of chatGPT, claude, gemini, and all the other ones. Personally, I am critical and deeply suspicious of these “tools,” and the pullquotes/links below point in the direction of why.

That does not mean, however, that “I think if you use chatGPT you’re a bad person” or whatever absolutist hot take someone might read into it. These tools have become normal to a lot of us, and part of my argument here is that it’s worth thinking critically about that, and that normal doesn’t have to mean inevitable.

And while it’s important for everyone, in every field, to have these kinds of conversations, I also want to be clear about whom this zine is for. I think of a spectrum:

• On one end of the spectrum: If you’re like, a radiologist or an astrophysicist or whatever, and you use some kind of AI tools to comb through data, that’s not really what we’re talking about here. The term “AI” has come to mean a range of things; this zine is more about the consumer-facing LLMS and gen AI tools.
• On the other end of the spectrum: As a writer, as an artist, I do not ever use any AI tools, for any reason, at any part of the process. Not for idea generation, or outlining, or making promo flyers for events, or answering emails, or even writing alt-text for images. I do all that myself, because I believe we grow by doing. Even the boring stuff (especially the boring stuff) makes me a better writer.
• In the middle: Should a busy single parent use a chatbot to help meal plan for the week? Should a teacher use an AI assistant to to organize their thoughts into a potential lesson plan? Should you use a gen AI tool to write a difficult email to a co-worker, or an essay for a class you don’t care about? I am not here to tell anyone what to do, or shame anyone for their choices. The title here refers to “thinking critically” about how we use these tools, and that’s the key point: even when there are pros, there are cons too. Even in “innocent” use cases, these tools are not neutral. Even when they’re free, we are paying for them.

As writer John Scalzi put it: I don’t know how to explain to the people who pop up when creatives complain about “AI” to say there are legit uses for it just how much they sound like someone saying “Well actually fire is used to make bread” when people are talking about an organized arson ring burning down their [expletive] houses.

Where can I get a copy!? I’ll have (free!) copies of this zine with me at my next gig: the launch for Witness: Poems to Address the Past, Present, and Future of Policing. That’ll be Tuesday, September 1, 2026 at the New City Center in Minneapolis (3104 16th Ave S) at 7pm. More info.

Want to print, fold, and share your own copies?

• Here is a PDF sized to print on 11×17 paper. It features hand-written text (not mine, but from a very cool anonymous volunteer) and links back to the sources on this page. A million bonus points if you recognize the background image.
• Here is a PDF of an alternate version: a mini-zine sized to print on 8.5×11 paper. If printing 11×17 is a hassle, here’s a version you can print on standard paper from a home printer. Because the text is smaller, it’s just regular computer text rather than hand-written, and it cuts out a couple quotes, but still links back to the full info at this page.
• And here’s a video tutorial on the folding process for either version.

Here is the full text; actually the “fuller” text since this includes even more quotes, links, and resources that didn’t fit in the physical zine.

(Post-event update, 1/13/26): Wow – what an event. We had 1200 people register, and a really affirming—and practical—conversation. THANK YOU to everyone who stopped by.

HERE are the full notes & slides in a Proton document. Plus a few related links:

• Proton sometimes has issues on certain browsers, so HERE are the notes as a PDF, as a backup.
• HERE is a piece I wrote for Racket synthesizing our event notes into something more like an essay.
• A summary of the event’s big-picture takeaways over on IG.
• My kind of “home base” for a lot of links and resources right now is at resources for creative troublemakers.

I’ve also done a few interviews to share what we talked about at the event:

• City Cast Twin Cities
• Convergence Magazine’s “Block and Build” Podcast
• A great conversation with Morgan at the “Art is the New Wall Street” podcast in this video:

Are We Going To Do This Again?

There was a lot of interest in another session, and of course people who couldn’t make it. Our hope is that the notes are robust enough where you get all the content there, but we also know it’s not just about content; it’s also about community. For now, we’ll see. We live in Minneapolis, and you all know there’s a lot going on here. But if other people want to hold similar discussions, there definitely seems to be some hunger for them.

Bringing this Discussion into Other Spaces

All that being said: sometimes, organizational collaboration can be a good excuse to bring the content into another space. So if you want to bring this workshop to your organization, school, or other community space, get in touch here.

We wanted to do this first installment completely independent of any org collaborators so we could experiment with the content/format, but most of my actual work is in partnership with groups, whether in-person or virtual. Thanks.