Addressing Concerns Re: AI Fic in the WillMack Tag
As a preface, I am one person and as a human I am capable of making mistakes. Any misconception or error is my own. However, AI-generated yaoi is my last fucking straw after a day of having to metaphorically beat back AI-poisoned college students with a stick while they claim I'm "impeding the way of progress" so I'm taking a bat to the hornet's nest with glee.
Writeup below the cut - I haven't used this site in years except to look at pictures of leon draisaitl but I think basic etiquette is not to slam everyone's dash with a huge chunk of text LMFAOOO
AI Generation and AI Assisting
First, I would like to point out that many AI checkers are unreliable, and just because something passes the AI tracker check doesn't mean that it hasn't been generated. For the purpose of this memo, I do not intend to make use of AI trackers, as I have used them prior to making this post and found them to be lacking. This reddit post goes more in-depth on how AI checkers are basically glorified pattern detectors and ways in which to fool them; additionally, OP provides a pretty good writeup of their own personal accuracy metrics, and what they feel are effective uses of AI checkers.
Another thing to add is that I am not considering AI spellcheck or grammar check as "use of AI" because I have noticed that Google had the temerity to start training their spell check using it, so now I have to write in the damn notes app. Anecdotal evidence here, as well as Google's own page on this and an eight-minute video from someone who explains all of the new features.
In my own anecdotal experience as a tutor, undergraduate, and graduate student, many people have gotten pretty good at going back and touching up to include just enough variation that large chunks are not easily recognizable as AI at first glance. A common practice is to write the general gist of an idea and feed it to AI to "clean it up" or "touch it up", after which you will likely edit afterwards to make sure it has enough of "your" voice to retain plausible deniability. Another way of using AI is to accessorize chunks of prose and fill in the rest with what you think happens in between. I'm sure there are other ways to use it, but the main flaw when doing this FOR FUCKING YAOI is that the AI itself has been trained such that it has one defined and easily-flaggable personality and dialogue style for Will, as well as one for Mack, and composes very similar speech and narrative patterns in fanfics from completely different users. A third identifier is that AI LOVES em dashes and uses them as much as possible - this is a fairly recent development, and while entertaining, it gets old fast for those of us who actually like to use the em (and en) dashes. There are other identifiers, and of course I'm only one person, so I accept that there is always a risk of error. Maybe you just write like that, or you read too much of the same fic and decided to replicate patterns for clout or notes. Who knows. With that being said, please see below.
The Writers
ALLTIMECHARLO
alltimecharlo's AI usage style is characterized by extremely frequent usage of the same words, phrases and stylistic choices in dialogue and narrative, consistent use of negatives in exact patterns, and a dialogue pattern I will be referring to as "not-not-just": "Not [noun/adjective]. Not [second modifier]. Just [half-sentence with other modifiers]."
A spin on this is the "not-just" or "no-no-just" pattern. See:
There is also "doesn't-just", "maybe-just", and "and-just-because":
Works cited are tape review, anywhere you want me, birthday boy, second serve, breathe me in, a soul in tune, and need a big boy (mattgabe).
DALSY
dalsy's AI usage is characterized by similar patterns to alltimecharlo's - a writing style that seems to be regular across works, but reveals similar pattern usage. The most damning of these is what I will be referring to as the "too-too" pattern, and its offshoots: "Too [noun/adjective], too [second noun/adjective] (sometimes paired with a sentence instead)."
A variation on this is frequently found with a singular "too":
As well as the "so-so" pattern:
Works cited are cross your heart, picture perfect, sounds like trouble, dumb about you, slipping through my fingers (nicojack), and heatstroke.
MAXENCEANDREBISSET
the evil was defeated before I was able to catch any of their fics. Sorry guys!
COFFEEGOLDFISH
This one is a special case - apologies for the extremely crunchy screenshot, but this author was part of a Twitter writers' group chat where she posted her wips and there was literally still formatting from the copy/paste and generators she used included in one of the documents. Additionally, she made an AI-generated tweet several weeks ago.
Conclusion
As of this post, I am missing two authors, and have been informed of two others, but I'm almost out of image space and I'm quite tired so I'll update on the rest when I feel like I have time. Hopefully this suffices as an answer. Thanks for the ask!
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Hi! As a humanities Grad student who has been trained to catch Ai as I teach my own courses, I’ve been struggling to find the Ai in fanfics by Untilwefind. You added them to your post and I’ve been trying to find any follow-ups on your page about what specifically made you flag them? I believe whole heartedly in the anti-Ai mission but have enjoyed their fics and am just trying to se if there’s something I’m missing. I apologize if you did do a follow up and I just haven’t seen it, but if not, I know they’ve denied using it as well so I wonder if rescinding accusations (if you did make an honest mistake) would be beneficial too?
Sorry Ive been in fandom spaces for a decade+ but stopped using tumblr when life got too crazy so I only just logged back in after years and am engaging with fandoms again so I’m only just catching up on all the drama + I’m new to the wilmack and still learning all the major players here so if I’m totally missing something I’m really sorry. (I’m also sick with the flu so pardon my messy grammar pls and thnx)
hi, thanks for sending this in! I got tired after going through six separate authors and wrote at the bottom of the OG AI post that I would finish the writeup later, upon which my inbox was flooded with assorted vitriol for quite some time and I completely forgot. (My bad LOL) Also, get well soon!
There are quite a few red flags for me, the first being that this author has chosen to rewrite their most recent work from the bottom up, likely for the purpose of removing the AI markers I and several others have highlighted over the last few months. The work constantly oscillates between third person close to third person omniscient POV; while this can also be a hallmark of inexperience or lack of attention to detail for amateur writers, it's not a particularly common one. More damningly, it was a longstanding pattern in the other works discussed on this blog that I chose to omit in light of more egregious flags. The dialogue in AI-assisted or generated works also tends to lose track of its choices by providing adjectives that don't actually make sense in context, as well as generating nonsensical dialogue and one-liners that often fly under the radar because they're just chippy enough (+ the already-established AI characterizations of Mack and Will that have grown extremely popular thanks to the alltimecharlo effect.) The end result is that a lot of these fics sound normal because the nuance of AI is familiar, which in turn makes it even harder to pick out. Alone, any of these details would be something to shrug off (aside from OP going back and rewriting the entirety of their ao3 catalog) but in tandem with other visible patterns that emerged when trying to avoid the ones from this post ([person speaking, action, description] and [action, description, action]) I feel that it's pretty damning evidence.
I believe that there is a much greater nuance than "drama" to be had about the usage of AI in fanworks, but I'm not going to rescind anything. Operate on your own judgment and read what you like, and if you feel that I am wrong there is a very easy way to avoid seeing my posts.
