Issues With Undisclosed AI in Fandoms
The lack of AI transparency is creatingâŚÂ friction. For human writers and readers. As a human writer, I feel it, I see it. Thatâs why Iâm here, writing this post.Â
As an AI writer, maybe youâre already aware AI isnât accepted well in fandoms and youâre using it anyway. Maybe youâre completely unaware, thinking youâve found a great tool.Â
Let me explain how and why your transparency is important.Â
I say âyouâ to no one in particular. Just any AI writer reading this because Iâm asking you from the bottom of my heart for your transparency.Â
To those that use undisclosed AI and understand your viewers want human-made content, I need to say: Itâs a disservice to your fandom by not being honest. You know youâre using it, and you know many fandom goers donât agree with it. Youâre being dishonest right to the fandom/community youâve built. Your readers trust you. Why wouldnât they? Youâve given them no reason to. Please be honest with them. Theyâre trusting you. So they need to trust youâll be honest, too.Â
Youâre generating these fics. People believe youâre putting in the work. Youâre not⌠AI is. Itâs a huge injustice to human writers and your viewers. Itâs hurting your community and fandom. The creators, the viewers.Â
Everyone is impacted by undisclosed AI usage to a remarkably unfair degree, so you need to be tagging it as such so people can choose what they want to consume.
You owe it to readers to have a choice.Â
People arenât stupid. Donât underestimate your readers and human writers. People can, will, and do detect AI content. Howeverâ
Falsely accusing someone of using AI does extreme damage, too. Do not witch hunt. More on that in a bit.
âYou sound jealous!â Iâm tired. I really am. There seems to be an astounding amount of AI content being flushed into my fandoms and itâs really heart breaking, exhausting, and defeating.Â
âI use AI because Iâm not good at writing!â Okay. But who cares??? Do you think âgoodâ writers walk out of the womb doing it? Fuck no. We learn. We experiment. We have to grow. I personally invest in hours of my time per week learning about writing. I never stop learning it because I fucking love to write. No machine can replicate the intensity of human emotion.Â
Time constraints. Writing takes time. Iâm not talking WPM. WPM and creative writing are not the same. Please see my other mini rant on time here. (Definitely not as nicely thought out as this post, was in my feels, ope).
Limited creative output. We finish a fic and itâs emotionally and mentally taxing. Itâs hard to jump back in or go to the next. We are not creative 24/7. We are people. We are tired. We have families. We have jobs. Pets. Errands. Chores. Obligations. We need a fucking break once and awhile.Â
Note on 1 and 2: hence why we canât/usually donât post multiple fics in the same week or back to back. Thereâs only so much time and brain power we have to write x amount of words per day, per week, because we exist as people. That being said, it is possibly to write a ton and post at once. Note: itâs not common practice but it IS done and DOES NOT mean someone is AI. Â
A unique voice. This one is HUGE for me. The best part about writing is hearing the author! Read different work. Youâll hear and see the differences in tonality, genres, characterization. This is what makes us all so fucking unique. This writer is taking their perspective of life and molding it into their story. How insane is that? Thatâs where the true beauty comes in. Itâs what makes us so painstakingly human.
The Damage Undisclosed AI Fics Do To Human Writers:
Undisclosed AI content is killing motivation. To a terrible degree. There is no competing with a machine posing as human. It makes the rest of us look bad and feel bad for being human and having limitations. Speaking from experience.
Undisclosed AI content is dishonest about the truths of being a writer. Being a writer is hard and devastating and beautiful and exhilarating. Itâs every emotion in the book. Itâs near-tears as we get up and walk away from our WIP because the brain isnât braining and the words arenât wording. Itâs the celebration when we finally finish that 10,000 piece and we can breathe again! Itâs hitting 50, 100, 150+ notes and squealing because we worked so fucking hard and itâs amazing to see how many other people love it, too.Â
AI creates unrealistic expectations for us. Fic length, posting frequency, writerâs block/bad writing days. AI has no bad writing days. I donât even care to say âmust be niceâ because as terrible as bad writing days are, itâs my body and brain telling me to do something different. Go outside, go for a walk, touch grass, call my family, hug my dogs. It reminds me to go be a person and come back when Iâm rested.Â
We do this shit for free, for the love of the game. We work hard to give you thoughtful, emotionally-provoking, creative, fun stories to escape to. We arenât here for clout. Weâre here because we love two things so fucking much: writing/storytelling and our fandom characters. Of course recognition and support and notes are amazing, but thatâs never why we started. Itâs not why weâre here.Â
The Damage It Does to Fandom Viewers/Readers:
Unrealistic expectations (completion time, fic length, unique voice, different writing styles). This can create frustration/conflict between readers and writers.Â
False sense of trust - then putting readers on edge because theyâll be skittish to trust other fic writers on if they use AI or not. Once bitten twice shy, as the saying goes.Â
Misinterpretation of the writing process and learning curves of a writer. This creates a lot of confusion when people see undisclosed AI content, and then expect the same output from human writers. We are not the same. We cannot go go go go. And we are far, far from perfect.
Instant gratification - possible conflict/ill feelings towards human writers based on undisclosed AI content (again: fic length, time, point 1 and 3). âWhy isnât this writer writing more? Faster? I wonât read work by this writer because they arenât fast enough or posting enoughâ.Â
AI stole the EM dash from real writers. AI is fed human made content to then replicate. Bruhhhh I fucking LOVE the em dash. The âââ. Many of us do! Donât dare go after someone for that. AI took that from US, not the other way around.Â
Donât attack someone for âsounding like AIââŚ. What does that even mean to you? What do you even mean by that? Have you even worked with a chatbot to understand how AI writing actually sounds? The verbiage of it? You can train a bot in different ways. Either way, you canât prove it. Itâs up to the writer to be transparent. Donât torch someone for that. Block, disengage, move on. Tell someone (a moot, a friend, whatever) in private if you need to, but do not publicly execute the writer.Â
Donât put peopleâs work in AI checkers. Youâre feeding the system. Theyâre largely inaccurate so it doesnât work anyway.Â
Not AI related, but in general:Â
Readers: Like, reblog and comment on works you love! Writers loveeee to hear from you. Keep it kind, constructive, and respectful. Interaction is how your fave fics and writers get more eyes on the stories you love!
Writers: engage with your readers! Especially those that leave you comments. They loveeee to hear from you, too! If theyâre taking time to read and comment on your work, the least we can do as writers is say thank you and interact.
Writers: interact with your fellow writers!! Even if youâre shy. Even if you donât read much fanfic yourself. Part of engaging is part of making the fandom a community.
If anything, I think those that are honest about their AI usage should be thanked. Okay? Hear me out. Like I said: they donât have to be. No one is forcing them. Itâs their own moral code and decision to be transparent. So if they choose to be honest, be transparent, and have that respect for their fandom? Thatâs awesome. Thank you. Youâre giving people a choice. Youâre upholding the respect and integrity of human writers. Again, donât go after AI writers when theyâre honest. Let them exist as they will. They made a brave decision by being honest, donât torch them, just leave them alone and/or block.Â
Even if I donât agree with AI usage, I can still respect your honesty and wish you the best. People will still read AI content. Some people love it. Find your audience, your crowd.Â
Be transparent so we can all have a more trusting, productive fandom community.Â
My goal with this was to be respectful and kind and well thought out. I hope it came across as such. I normally keep my mouth shut, but I felt the need to explain beyond âfuck AIâ. AI is integrated in our lives now, itâs being pushed in every aspect of life, but we should still get a choice in what we consume.Â
This is why transparency is so important.Â
The choice is with you, now, AI writer.Â
Will you be transparent for your fandom and fellow writers?Â
Thatâs all Iâm gonna say. It felt good to get it out to show the struggles of a human writer when faced with undisclosed AI. If you disclose to your readers you use AI? Thank you. If you donât? I really hope youâll take this post into consideration and make some positive changes moving forward for the fandom! This isnât geared at anyone, just in general. An accumulation of my personal thoughts over time. Thank you for listening!