lil guys · 22d
I admire your writing soo much and you have been one of my favourite writers since I got into the fandom. This fandom has a lot of creative space and really really good and diverse writers. I have been in it for 6 years now and always see new content.
which is why I’m struggling so much rn bc I’ve recently come across a few fics (not many, it’s pretty rare actually) that seem to have been written by AI or at least enhanced by it. I don’t want to accuse someone entirely, but the plot just gets lost really fast, there’s a bunch of double negatives in the descriptions, the dialogues are all most in this comeback pattern, which sometimes it doesn’t even make sense, it’s like the characters all talk like they’re rivals. It kind of follows this pattern here <“what ”, “I’m not telling you”, “why”, “because I don’t want to”, “that’s not an explanation”, “it’s the explanation you’re getting”> or something like <“there it is”, “what”, “nothing”, “there is something”>. I don’t know if I’m making my point, but it’s like this vague back and forth dialogue with every single character that discusses nothing.
I’ve been reading since forever, beyond fanfics, but it really seems like these kind of fanfics take basic moods of traditional fanfic genres, love dynamics, and are not able to distinguish who they should apply to. So it end sketch every single character, romantic or not, having the same dynamic.
Anyways, this was just s rant bc I feel like you would know better than me if this is just s normal kind of writing and I’m just paranoid
Hi! first off, thank you for your sweet words, I appreciate them. secondly, I'm going to preface my reply with how I have a passionate distaste for AI, especially in creative mediums, and find there is no excuse to use them. that said, I understand where you're coming from, how sometimes fics can feel like they're maybe not written by a person--we're genuinely seeing more fic "authors" be open about using AI, too. the problem is, unless there is a prompt or code or something that specifically gives it away, it's so hard to know For Sure that a fic is AI if the person isn't flat out saying it is. and really, I find a few things about this issue to be...worrisome. I've seen friends be accused of using AI for fics I literally watched them write in private spaces. I've seen people having to explain that the reason their idioms seem weird or sentences are off is because English isn't their native language and they're doing their best to translate things. I know people who just write fast, and always have, long before AI. hell, I write fast sometimes--I wrote 28k in a little over a week because I was just so in the groove.
before AI, I read plenty of fics with weird grammar, weird errors, weird phrasing or characterization, fics where the author was doing their best to write in a second language. so...yeah, sometimes this is just how fics are, and weird bits don't automatically make it AI. and I think...a.) outright accusing people without real honest proof can suck--as you said, and b.) I think constantly being stressed every fic we read could be AI is going to harm us as a community, as readers, as creators. I think it's going to eventually ruin things we find enjoyable and fun. I know it's disheartening, and sucks shit, that we are genuinely seeing more and more use of AI in fic writing, but I hope you won't let it get you so down that you give up on reading things you love altogether. I don't know what the answer is, but I am trying to go into fics I read as I used to--just being prepared for anything and trying to enjoy the story. I have come across things that made me suspicious, and I have gone down the rabbit hole before, and it really just drained me; so, instead I now just click away and make a mental note that maybe I don't want to read this author anymore.
I'm sorry I don't have a better answer for you. I understand your rant, and I hold you. I hope we can all just keep creating and enjoying creative things, and I hope more people will come to understand that it's better to make something yourself, no matter what or how "good" or "bad" it is, than use AI to do anything. <3
