You know, I've seen some interesting nuance brought to the generative AI debate, from what it is and isn't to how to deal with it, and at this point I think for me the one big beef I have about its use for fanart and fanfic is like
If you don't care enough about a character/story/fandom to make fanwork yourself, I simply don't think you should be wadding into that pool.
There are plenty of lurkers in fandom, plenty of people who just wanna vibe and read the fic and look at the art, and that's FINE. Vibing is literally the core of what we're doing here, you don't have to produce anything to be part of the group—Hell, you don't even have to particularly engage with our work in any way, or even let us know that you're looking at it (no matter how much we authors/artists/gif makers/etc hope you do xD)
But using generative AI to put fanfic or fanart out there is basically trying to get in the Club For People Who Make Shit without making shit. Sure, people are gonna look at your stuff! Hell, some might even enjoy it, and as far as banning you, frankly, there's not a practical way to do that so... Sure, congrats, you're in
But you can't expect people who are actually making shit, even shit that looks worse than yours at first glance to have respect for what you do. You can't just put a hi-vis vest and a hard hat on and expect the actual builders to treat you like you're the real deal, that's just not how it works
