Russell Carroll

Sunday, March 8, 2026

My Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stance

Today I was attacked by a fellow Independent Author who has accused me of being hypocritical and nefarious around my position on the use of AI. They claim I tout no AI when in fact I am a pro-AI supporter. She basically called me a liar saying I do not have a 'nuanced' take on AI, even though I have consistently stated that,

What is her evidence? She says the cover of Relentless Blades is created by AI and that I don't disclose that and that I have AI narration for my audiobooks, so I am pro-AI and am only telling people I have a nuanced perspective.

I take great offense to this because I have never attempted to deceive anyone. I feel I've been very transparent about my feelings around AI and my usage of it, and resent anyone impugning my integrity.

Let's begin with the cover of Relentless Blades. You can see my blog post about it in the link at the top of the page. I very clearly point out who did the work and show all the steps of its creation. For full transparency again, here is the artist. www.fiverr.com/kaleem1233?source=inbox. In his profile it states he is an AI artist among 20 other categories.

I have been very upfront that when I hired Kaleem I told him I didn't want AI used and he said he would not. After he completed the cover and I published it, my belief was that it was AI-free. After that I had a couple people say they think it has AI in it and pointed out areas they believe support that. I was surprised and asked Kaleem again. Here is the conversation.

Is he lying to me? Perhaps. I acknowledge now and have in the past that I can see the definite possibility of AI usage in the cover. This is apparently not good enough for some people. In this case the person attacking me had an expectation that I would label my book cover as AI. I'm not doing that because even I do not know for sure, and was told no by the illustrator, But, I have acknowledged that likely it does contain AI usage. After this revelation I have made sure not to tout my book cover as AI-free. Call it coping or me justifying it, but I do have a nuanced take on AI. I chose to hire and support a human artist. I paid him (and the new artist for my Ashbound Oaths cover) good sums of money. I feel good about that. If one or both did use AI in the book cover(s) I can live with that.

I was also attacked for using an AI audio narrator. I have been up front about that as well. I never tried to hide it or deceive anyone. You can find this video from August 2025 on my YouTube channel

https://youtube.com/shorts/rwa08vLjZ8E?si=o7koBuPV0s50XS36

where I let everyone know that I used Amazon's AI narration. Again, I'm fine if you don't like this and choose not to buy my books because of it. That is your right and I am good with it. What I'm not good with is anyone claiming I'm misrepresenting myself as Anti-AI when in fact, I'm pro-AI.

I have my boundaries and acknowledge that AI is changing so rapidly that my feelings on the subject tend to change. What I can say is that I did not use AI to write Relentless Blades or Ashbound Oaths.

I do see a lot of nuance and gray areas. On one extreme I do not believe someone can simply prompt AI to create their book and call themselves an author. On the other extreme, I have no issues with people who use AI for research, to make promotional videos or pay an artist who may use some form of AI. In between, I do see a lot of gray areas. I think more will emerge the more AI progresses. Agree or disagree, this is my truth.

Some can say I'm a sell-out and am pro-AI for this feeling and they are entitled to this opinion. If you reading this choose not to buy my book because you feel it has an AI cover, you are entitled to this position. I'm fine with those who are completely against AI in any form, but what I will not abide is someone calling me a liar or implying that I am misrepresenting myself or my position.

Sunday, February 1, 2026

Monday, January 19, 2026

January 2026 update

Hey Everyone. Been a busy start to the new year. I wanted to hop on and give an update for Volume III of the Prophecies of Zarune. I just crossed 100k words. I'm currently sitting at 100,126. It's hard to gauge how much longer it will be, but I'm guessing the finished first draft will come in between 130,000-140,000 words, which will make it significantly longer than either Relentless Blades or Ashbound Oaths.

I'm racing toward the grand finale and praying I can stick the landing. I'm feel like it's coming along well, but you never really know until you read the draft back in its entirety.

I'll try to hop on more frequently with updates. For now, it's back to the grindstone.