Throwaway account

It used to be only a handful of people. Now, there are so many, and most people seem oblivious to it. A friendly reminder to keep an eye out for these hallmarks (with the typical disclaimer that these signs are non-conclusive and shouldn’t be seen as “gotchas” in isolation):

• The “X, but Y” Construction: E.g., “it wasn’t fear, but something darker”. “He wasn’t X; he was Y”. Genuinely, this is the most overused AI-ism.

• Somatic Cliches: Words hanging in the air or space, words or actions “hitting like physical blow/force”, keys opening locks, shivers down spines, breath catching/hitching, needlessly specifying that the heart is in the person’s chest (I.e., “his heart pounded hard in his chest”), releasing breaths they didn’t know they held.

• Economical Movements: What the title says, plus “fluid grace”, “unnatural stillness”, “pregnant pauses”, overuse of the word “diligent”, “like he owned the place” (and other variations).

• Cosmic Melodrama: The world narrowing, tilting, shattering, falling away. Time hanging.

• Overuse of “As if/As Though”: Rampant overuse of similes, especially if they’re unoriginal.

• Excessive Filter Words: “He felt”, “he noticed”, “he was aware of”. Heavy tell-don’t-show and pacing issues.

• Predatory Trope: “He offered a predatory smirk”, circling, dark hunger, primal growls, stalking, describing eyes as darkening, weirdly misplaced caveman speak. Repetitive depictions of dominance that feel wholly OOC and trope-y.

• Over-explained Voices: Voices described as “things”. Specifying voice/tone almost every time somebody talks. Tying into the last point, “he released a low, guttural growl”.

• Participle Cascades: E.g., “He stood there, looking at him, waiting for a sign.” Double or triple stacked adjectives are also super common, e.g., “he slowly, deliberately X”.

We’re having fun writing about two men from Ohio and you’re sending people to scrutinize work and for what. It’s not fucking serious.

Write your own shit. If english isnt your first language or you're bad at grammar then... imrove. You wont get better at it using ai.

I don't understand people who forego the process of creating and growing.

Genuinely! This was my exact thought process. There was a time when it didn't even occur to me that people would post AI fic. After all, FanFic is inherently transformative. The ability to share your scenarios and communally engage in ideas is part of what makes fanwork so great.

Then this author, doing a daily posting challenge, dropped a bombshell in their Author's Notes. They'd been using AI to "help" because English isn't their first language... which felt like a betrayal since English is not my first language either. It was so frustrating. Beta readers exist! Fandom is a community, and people will have your back if you simply reach out and ask if somebody more experienced in English will read your work before you post it.

I use your ask to post a list of things to look out for. None of these should be treated as a "gotcha" since LLMs are trained by scraping real people's writing. However, since LLMs are calculation models, they use predictive wording and structure, and it's possible to clue into something being AI-written.

[Edit for the people with no reading comprehension: "things to look out for" =/= "here is irrefutable evidence of AI usage!". I'm talking about LLM generation patterns.]

1. Overuse of Similes

Almost every author will use similes. However, AI over-relies on them and typically uses them every other sentence. You will see many of the same similes word-for-word repeated across AI-written fics.

“He walked in like he owned the place.”

“His voice cracked like glass under pressure.”

“The silence was heavy, like a wet blanket.”

“The anger surged through him like a tidal wave.”

2. Overly Formal Dialogue

Some AUs make this type of wording far more fitting. However, both Tyler and Josh speak in an informal Americanized way, using conjunctions and filler words (uh, like, you know).

“I am not sure what you mean by that, but I would appreciate some clarification,” he said.

I want to read the latest chapter of human-written masterpieces such as “drain my dirty blood” or “strangers”, not plagiarism machine concoctions. I hate how these generated fics make me feel self-conscious about my own use of em-dashes, too. They all have the same cadence. Death of originality.

There is a shop on Etsy called SammyArtsStudio who is taking people’s free brushes and resources, selling them for roughly AU$13.01 a pop. She has stolen the free work of amazing artists such as Devin Elle Kurtz and Attki, both of whom generously provide free brushes that are being misused for monetary gain.

According to her page, she has made 4,722 sales with 800+ reviews, most of which are five-star. Assuming all of those listings are AU$13.01, that's AU$61,386 or US$41,282 of profit. She is a five-star "star seller", meaning that her work is prioritised in the search engine.

This isn’t intended to be a call out post; it’s more of a heads up to people who create free brushsets. Only the creator of the brushes can submit an Intellectual property infringement form to stop this person from commercially benefiting from your work. Sadly, Etsy is very lax about art theft, so this is the only way to stop it. It’s apparent by the glowing reviews that thousands of well-meaning people are falling victim to this misappropriation. Please refer to Etsy’s IP Policy here. Below is proof of content being stolen, including screenshots.

There is a shop on Etsy called SammyArtsStudio who is taking people’s free brushes and resources, selling them for roughly AU$13.01 a pop. She has stolen the free work of amazing artists such as Devin Elle Kurtz and Attki, both of whom generously provide free brushes that are being misused for monetary gain.

According to her page, she has made 4,722 sales with 800+ reviews, most of which are five-star. Assuming all of those listings are AU$13.01, that's AU$61,386 or US$41,282 of profit. She is a five-star "star seller", meaning that her work is prioritised in the search engine.

This isn’t intended to be a call out post; it’s more of a heads up to people who create free brushsets. Only the creator of the brushes can submit an Intellectual property infringement form to stop this person from commercially benefiting from your work. Sadly, Etsy is very lax about art theft, so this is the only way to stop it. It’s apparent by the glowing reviews that thousands of well-meaning people are falling victim to this misappropriation. Please refer to Etsy’s IP Policy here.  Below is proof of content being stolen, including screenshots.