Policy on Generative AI Use

The breakneck speed at which artificial intelligence is transforming our world — without clear, enforceable social policies or guardrails — is cause for deep concern.

True, AI is being used for human betterment — for instance, enhancements to medical care, agriculture and environmental science. However, under robber-baron–run capitalism, AI comes at unacceptable costs: the growing loss of employment in the creative and knowledge sectors; the depletion of already-scarce water and energy, at a time when humans must conserve both for our very survival; and the increasing risk of a human extinction event.

Given all of the above, it has taken me some time and thought to develop a policy for how I engage with this technology. Here is where I stand as of spring 2026.

Adobe makes “ethical” AI, which is trained on data with permissions, available across its Creative Cloud apps. Lind Design currently uses Adobe Photoshop’s generative AI tools for mechanical tasks such as the removal of unwanted objects in images and the extension of photographic backgrounds to enable optimal crops.

I use AI-powered Gigapixel for scaling images. I may also use AI for organizing and summarizing data, research, taking meeting notes and other administrative tasks.

I avoid AI that is known to have contracts with the U.S. military or ICE.

I do not use AI to create “original” images, either photographic or illustrative, as this is done at the expense of the millions of creative people from whom the training data was stolen. Nor do I use AI to write emails or copy (like this screed).

I believe that craft and creation are core to what it means to be human: If we robot-source this work, human skills will atrophy or, worse, be lost entirely. Plus, I enjoy designing, drawing and writing far too much to farm it out to robots.

Computers are supposedly our tools. But more and more, it feels as if we are becoming their tools — or rather, the tools of the billionaires who control them for shareholder profit. As the meme goes, “I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not do my art and writing so I can do my laundry and dishes.”

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