1

genAI fanfic discourse is happening again, and i have something to add related to the “why don’t they just tag their slop?” question:

it depends on why the person started using AI in the first place (and sometimes to what degree)

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2

type 1 genAI fic poster: unabashed grifters

the goal is deceit, likely to convert readers to some sort of paid service (comms, patreon, novels they’ve “authored”, etc.), and tagging their slop would undermine their goal

thus, they don’t label it appropriately

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3

type 2 genAI fic poster: unskilled idea-havers

the goal is social validation, so they use LLMs as “a tool” to flesh out the ideas they lack the skill to write

many of them have duped themselves into thinking they are writers + that LLMs are an assistive tool like spell-check

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4

type 2s who don’t tag their AI-gen’d fics do so bc they either know it would reduce their reach (and thus “rob” them of praise from their peers) or bc they “don’t want ppl to get the wrong idea” about their work (since the idea was definitely 100% theirs even if the words aren’t)

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5

type 3 genAI fic poster: slippery slope riders

the goal was never to let LLMs generate fics for them, but there they are— and they don’t know how to dig themselves out of this hole

it probably started out as using an AI-powered grammar checker, ++

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6

and then it was accepting AI-gen’d rephrasing suggestions, and then it was prompting AI to rework a scene for them, and then it wasn’t just one scene but several, and now the entire root system of their writing process has been poisoned

these ppl tend to feel great shame

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7

type 3s were seduced by the promise of “improved efficiency” and “novel-caliber polish” that LLMs offered, and they quickly got in over their heads + allowed the model’s “authorial voice” to smother their own

many type 3s were writers before the advent of LLMs

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8

type 3s don’t tag their fics as AI-assisted for myriad reasons, but most of those reasons relate to the guilt they feel for passing off LLM-produced words as their own

labeling their works honestly would lose them the respect of their peers, their readership, etc.

so they don’t

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9

type 4 genAI fic poster: in denial

these ppl do not view their use of genAI tools as worth disclosing bc the bulk of the story is their creation; perhaps they used an LLM to translate dialogue, or to code a skin, or to draft a tricky scene transition

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10

their logic typically goes: tagging their fic as AI-assisted would get a target painted on them + cause ppl to think the words/story (the meat of the fic) wasn’t their own creation, and bc they want to avoid those types of “misunderstandings,” they don’t disclose their AI use

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11

type 4s are just type 3s in the making bc the thing about regular LLM use is that it engenders cognitive laziness

offloading tasks to LLMs erodes one’s ability to problem solve (bc the “easy solution” is right there!!), so over time they reach for “the tool” more and more