Messages

Use of AI

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Hi everyone,

I've seen a few posts recently about AI writing so I wanted to address where the site stands on this.

FanStory has always been about sharing original writing. That hasn't changed. When you post work or enter a contest, you're agreeing that it's your own writing and that AI wasn't used to create it. We recently made that agreement a little clearer when you post something.

Behind the scenes, our committee uses a few tools - including multiple AI detectors - along with other checks to help keep things fair. These are just quiet safeguards, not something most writers ever need to think about.

FanStory also uses AI checkers to review content. We will be making tools available to the committee to help make their job easier. If AI use is detected in posts or reviews, the site administration steps in. Use of AI is a violation of site terms and could lead to an account being closed.

To be clear, AI use really isn't an issue on FanStory. Which makes sense - why join a writing site if you plan to use AI? The great majority of work here is written straight from the heart. I think that is part of what makes this community special. And to be clear, there is no need to be concerned, the overwhelming majority of posts are not AI generated. And if AI is used - we will know.

Thanks for helping keep FanStory a genuine and creative place to write.

- Tom

RE: Use of AI

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Thanks, Tom.
It is good to hear that you have multiple ways of checking for the use of AI in a post.
It's also good to know that most writers continue to write from the heart.
Thank you for addressing this important issue.
Jesse

RE: Use of AI

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Is it all right to use AI for a prompt?

RE: Use of AI

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Is it all right to use AI for a prompt?

RE: Use of AI

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As Tom said above, "When you post work or enter a contest, you're agreeing that it's your own writing and that AI wasn't used to create it." The only context in which AI text would be socially acceptable would likely be in a quotation, like the following example:

CONVERSATION WITH MY ROBOTS

Me: Hey, it's your turn to do the dishes.

GPT: I am happy to do my part, father.

Autistic Roommate: The sound of dishes clashing together and water running over them makes me feel like my circuits are frying.

Me: Who's going to help me file my tax return?

GPT: Sure, I can help you with that. Below are some free resources you can use to --

Autistic Roommate: don't listen to GPT. I'll show you how to write off your grow lights and 90% of our electrical bill that you wasted on your dumb banana trees.

Me: My banana trees are not dumb. Bananas are an excellent source of potassium.

GPT: Actually, that's right. Would you like to hear a list of other foods that are high in potassium, such as plantai--

Me: [rage-deletes GPT from my phone]

Kidding people, I clearly did not use AI to write any of this. But I hope I got the idea across that this is roughly how AI is permitted in academia, as a quoted source in conversation. It's the deception of using AI to falsely represent one's work and take winnings from the site and other members that folks are all mad about. Here are a couple points of clarity on site policy that would be helpful to hear:

-use of AI for accompanying media in posts (images, audio, video). The site itself has an AI image generator. And if it's fine to include those things, do they need to be cited.

-policy for reporting/handling AI entries in member-dollar contests, if these ones won't be auto-checked in the same way that the cash contests are auto-checked

Thanks Tom.

RE: Use of AI

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Thank you. Yes, all committees have access to AI tools. We are releasing improvements that will highlight posts to committee members if AI is detected.

I thought the AI Contest question was about creating a contest using AI related ideas. That is fine. But any post, including a contest post, should not use AI in any way.

Thanks,
Tom

RE: Use of AI

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Thanks Tom, this is an important issue. I know I've shared with you some blatant abuse. I would like to think that this site is indeed, people who write from the heart and are looking forward to legitimate feedback!

RE: Use of AI

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Just a quick update. FanStory has partnered with a reliable third-party AI detection service to automatically check every post at the time of posting. If a post comes back as AI generated, it will be rejected and flagged for review by the administration. This is simply one more safeguard to help keep things fair. All the other precautions will also remain in place. While AI use has never been a real problem here, I think it's important that we stay ahead of it.

Thank you to everyone who has contacted us about this. We may be 25 years old, but we still want to keep the writing as close as possible to how it was created 25 years ago!

Thanks,
Tom