I'm sure that a lot of you have heard of the platform Scratch. If you haven't, it is an online code and gaming platform that lets users create, share and play games that are fun,  quirky and completely original.

Or, at least that's what it used to be.

A few days ago, I was looking for games on Scratch when I noticed a game with credits talking about AI use. Curious, I clicked on it and read the screen. And what I saw would completely rock my world.

Scratch has recently began allowing training generative AI on their programs, and have been experimenting with it. This is completely twisted and wrong, and other Scratch users agree with me. They mentioned a "line in the sand" regarding AI. Line in the sand? There should be no line in the sand. There should be no AI on this platform, period. AI use makes you second-guess if your favorite creator's content is real. It makes you feel almost naked, knowing that some people's content isn't real. You feel naive for trusting them.

This is because Scratch is supposed to be a place where you can be creative, original, and completely free of the world that we live in today, with computers deciding our day to day lives. If you bring AI on, you are completely ruining all of these principles and for what? These principles, and the joy of children everywhere, should be more important than anything else. Over 140 million people use Scratch worldwide. That is 140 million children's projects and games that are being tarnished with AI. 

If you don't immediately sympathize with me, think of the things that made you and your friends laugh behind your palms during class, what made you and your friend really connect for the first time. What made you see what other people  could do that you couldn't. That is Scratch to me and my friends.

Join with me to fight back against AI use on Scratch. We have to let  this platform that is supposed to honor creativity get back to its old self.