Seed Bank, Co-op, Stoop Swap: Metaphors for Governing Language Model Data for Creative Writing

TL;DR

This paper explores creative metaphors generated by writers to conceptualize governance of language models, emphasizing community, consent, and open models for better control and participation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel metaphor-based approach to understanding language model governance through workshops with creative writers, highlighting community-centered solutions.

Findings

Metaphors like seed bank and community garden support governance ideas.

Themes include consent, community boundaries, contributor recognition, and scale trade-offs.

Advocates for smaller, open models encoding group values.

Abstract

How might we govern a language model run for and by creative writers? While generative AI use is on the rise, many language models are created and owned in ways that limit writers' consent, participation, and control. We report on four workshops where over one hundred creative writers came up with and analyzed metaphors for language model governance, resulting in over two hundred metaphors: objects, places, processes, groups, and infrastructure that support reasoning about language model governance. What if a language model was like a community garden? Or a seed bank? Or the bathroom in a dive bar? We report on four themes: (1) the importance of consent, (2) how to define community boundaries, (3) ways to give contributor recognition, and (4) trade-offs in scale of language models. These metaphors point towards smaller, open models that encode group values. We discuss concrete ways to make community language models a reality.