Michael Widebrook

I write (science) fantasy with deep worldbuilding that breaks with the usual tropes. Check out my channel:

[Michael Widebrook @Widebrookauthor]

@AuthorTRobare

[Michael Widebrook @Widebrookauthor]

'Poisoned Past' is available for free on KU!

[Michael Widebrook @Widebrookauthor]

@AuthorTRobare That Tasmanian Devil also looked stoked to meet the one and only Timothy Robare. 😁 Looks like an amazing place!

[Michael Widebrook @Widebrookauthor]

@AuthorTRobare @anexoticorange

[Michael Widebrook @Widebrookauthor]

@AuthorTRobare @timmckay52 Looks great! Best of luck with the launch!

[Michael Widebrook @Widebrookauthor]

Two-year-olds and heatwaves really don’t mix.

[Michael Widebrook @Widebrookauthor]

@TAR_Kirk

[Michael Widebrook @Widebrookauthor]

@ToraBrinn Today I learned. Thanks for sharing!

[Michael Widebrook @Widebrookauthor]

To my fellow struggling authors: Remember that even some of the greatest writers have had their doubts about their chances at success. A short passage by H.P. Lovecraft:

[Michael Widebrook @Widebrookauthor]

I can already hear it…

[Michael Widebrook @Widebrookauthor]

@secretcoran Dog muses rock.

[Michael Widebrook @Widebrookauthor]

@AuthorTRobare @secretcoran @KWBussard_

[Michael Widebrook @Widebrookauthor]

@AuthorTRobare @cterlson I read somewhere that about 300,000 books are uploaded to Amazon each month, up from 100,000 pre-chatgpt…

[Michael Widebrook @Widebrookauthor]

@AuthorTRobare 🙏🙏

[Michael Widebrook @Widebrookauthor]

A dying world. A haunted Templar. A daughter who still dares to dream. Free on Kindle Unlimited.👇

[Michael Widebrook @Widebrookauthor]

@YuvalKordov Looking good! Well done!

[Michael Widebrook @Widebrookauthor]

https://t.co/HQN1F6tiWe

[Michael Widebrook @Widebrookauthor]

https://t.co/wFnZ49qCHh

[Michael Widebrook @Widebrookauthor]

A dying world. A haunted Templar. A daughter who still dares to dream. Free on Kindle Unlimited.👇

[Michael Widebrook @Widebrookauthor]

@DelendaStories @Reddit I had the exact same experience. Really shitty platform. Bots ban new people while every subreddit is crawling with actual bot traffic. People are overly negative and stand-offish against “non-insiders”. And every subreddit is dominated by a handful of terminally online people.

[Big Brain AI @realBigBrainAI]

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick on the most misunderstood limitation of AI in creative industries:

When asked about his overall viewpoint on AI, Strauss didn't hedge:

"All things technology that can create efficiency. I'm all in."

But then he drew a line that most of the AI conversation avoids.

"Remember what AI is, despite the fact that there are people in Silicon Valley who don't want you to believe this, is big data sets, lots of compute, and large language model mushed together. That's what they are. So data sets by their very nature are backward-looking. Creativity by its very nature is forward-looking."

He acknowledges that creativity is informed by data. The books you read, the podcasts you listen to, all of it shapes what you make.

But there's a difference between being informed by something and copying it:

"If yours was just a really high quality clone of Patrick's, who would watch yours? And the thesis that wow, with AI, we can more efficiently create a completely derivative property—like derivative properties don't work."

This is where Strauss makes his sharpest point:

"AI so far is really great at asset creation but hit creation is [not] asset creation. Asset creation is a necessary but insufficient condition for hit creation."

He then tears apart the "anyone can make a video game" thesis that has weighed on Take-Two's stock:

"Anyone could make a video game last week. Anyone could make a video game 5 years ago. The technology is readily available. It's commoditized. You know how many mobile games get put out a year? Thousands. You know how many hits are made in a year? 0 to five. You know who makes them? We do."

His thought experiment makes the point even clearer:

"If I told you with this technology, you can create something that looks exactly like GTA, and it's going to take 3 years, not 30 seconds. You'd be like, I'll spend 3 years on it. It's worth it. But that exists. In 3 years technology exists prior to AI to clone GTA, but it won't be GTA. Clones don't sell."

Strauss closes with the line that explains why data-driven creation has a ceiling:

"All hits are by their very nature unexpected. That's the most important thing to take away. Things that are data-driven in their entirety can't be unexpected."