Animation. Just Animation.

first of all, I forgot that twitter is Like That. site's a fukkin time sink.

but second--and what's really kind of concerning me--are the posts that I'm seeing coming up about ai-generated fics. apparently, there's one particular ai thing which will leave a source code if pasted directly into ao3 (I don't understand how that works, personally, and I haven't exactly done a deep dive here, so take that with a grain of salt), and there's also apparently been an extension created which, if it finds that ai code, will turn the entire background an eye-searing bright red.

the problem I am having here is that this is going to tear fandoms apart. the attitudes I'm seeing are so gung-ho to go hunt down witches, and the extension won't catch all of them, but it's waving a red flag in front of a bull. it's fanning flames of warranted anger into something that's going to get out of control.

generative ai has NO PLACE in fandom spaces. none. but what this is going to do is speedrun turning it into the new hot button accusation. I'm honestly getting concerned that ai accusations are going to start being thrown around to bully authors that people have problems with, or that The Righteous will be so rabid for the glory of outing an ai user that they won't care. we already know that you can't use those "ai tells" bc it's stealing the tells from fics it previously scraped--it's just copying ways fic has always been written. but people either don't care or don't think. twitter's honestly gotten me worried that "fans" policing fandom are going to start accusing authors who would never touch ai of having used it--maybe because they ignore where ai got the quirks it includes, or maybe just because they don't like a particular author--and they're going to break hearts doing that shit.

I came across a fic that I am 90% sure was ai-generated. all I did was privately point out the things that concerned me to my fandom friend. I didn't message the author, I didn't post any details about it. because I don't know for sure. and that's a real person on the other side of that fic. what if I'm wrong?? they could have poured their heart into that and just not done a good job editing different drafts together. most of the time, we can't know for sure unless the poster admits to it or forgets to delete the prompt (which I've heard has happened with actual, published print novels at this stage, so we might just be fucked, honestly).

but now there's that extension, and it just feels like the edge of a cliff. it feels like it was brought into being to justify going after authors. I don't believe accusations are going to remain confined to fics that get doused in red. (it's so...it's SO INFLAMMATORY. they say they aren't encouraging anyone to harass those posters, but then why make it such a harsh, brilliant color dying the entire page??) and there's no sure way to tell just from reading aside from transparency or slip ups with the prompts.

and another post was talking about how fanartists have done a better job of cancelling ai users, but, like...it's apples and oranges. there are tells in art which are far and away more obvious than what happens with fics. not only that, but fanart is leagues more social media friendly. it gets reblogged and retweeted at a much higher ratio than fics do. fanart is more publicly shared. word gets spread because you can see who's enjoying it. fic is quieter. unless you leave a comment or kudos and people are searching those up, odds are no one is gonna know what you're reading. you can get away with reading ai generated fics in a way that you can't get away with putting ai generated art on your blog.

I mean, I know there's blogs in the mdzs community which share fics in the tags here, but the volume of that going on is unique in my fandom experience. and maybe that's par for the course in larger fandoms. but there is still an indisputable divide in how widespread art is shared versus fics. there are time constraints involved. there are language barriers. it's less likely that a piece of fanart will include one detail out of dozens that doesn't click with the person looking at it and cause them to write off the whole thing. there's a plethora of reasons, I GET IT, but you CAN'T compare the use/spread/rejection of ai in fanart to that of how it works in fanfic because the vectors of who sees what, and how far the reach is aren't comparable.

and it's like...it's entirely possible that twitter's fucked up algorithm has me worried over nothing--that's it's showing me a vocal minority bc I retweeted a very simple anti-ai tweet or two. but it's so disturbing to see people more concerned with finding transgressions than with having a bit of caution over the fact that real people are going to get hurt if false accusations start flying around.

To 2025:

Hell, they even cover the devastating heaviness of MASS SHOOTINGS without censoring or watering anything down.

They've been doing this for YEARS, and it's ALWAYS handled with dignity, respect, seriousness, understanding, and love.

Or how about when someone is put into the foster care system because their home isn't safe anymore and their needs aren't being met?

Maybe some discussions about group therapy/getting help and support?

Hey look! Here's a segment about gender expression vs taught expectation, including unlearning harmful biases and what to do when you hurt someone on accident because you didn't know it was wrong!

Look! The topic of race and diversity! The importance of unity and equity!

They even also have a more allegorical take on discrimination and being looked down on for who you are, featuring Big Bird. The conflict is about how he's not being let into a club because the one bird running the club personally decided he didn't want someone like Big Bird there.

Big Bird goes out of his way to keep changing parts of himself in order to "prove" he can fit into this club if he just changed enough. The truth comes out though, and there's nothing he can do to gain the approval of that bird. He will never be good enough in his eyes, and Big Bird starts to hate himself. His real friends see this finally put their feet down, emphasizing that you should never change yourself just to fit into one singular narrow idea someone else has.

There's A LOT of different situations this can be an allegory for. Racism, sexism, homophobia, basically ANY form of exclusion is put on full blast in this 15 minute clip. Sesame Street can be both blunt and allegorical when approaching difficult topics, and it NEVER misses or looses the point.

It does an exceptional job in both styles of representation WITHOUT watering anything down. The more sanitized everything gets, the more radical Sesame Street is suddenly considered, hence why so many "particular groups" want it gone. Hmmm! I can only imagine why that could be, in this current political climate! (I'm being sarcastic)

When Sesame Street is suddenly labeled as "questionable" or "politically/agenda motivated" content...it says A LOT about where we currently are and who gets to decide what's "best" for kids or not. Don't fall for the censorship and topic-dodging excuses that are covered by the "But think of the children!!!" movement. Never fall for it, because you know which side you're on if you do.

Sesame Street proves kids can be taught and trusted with learning about these topics when it's handled with the right amount of understanding and care. It shows what all this "controversy" is all really about. What it's always been about, actually.

Or a fucking Garfield phone

an entire wasteland of what are lovingly known as “penis fish”

Or a huge-ass prehistoric tree.

Here's the snake and berry illustrations together as a set now that they're all finished: