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Lately I've seen a lot of AI-generated fanfiction on archive of our own. I can see a good fic that feels very intriguing and look to the description and see "written by ChatGPT". As someone who has a lot of thoughts about this I have decided to write them down.
I don't feel like it's big enough of a problem yet, not at the point where it's become it's own big category, but I still think it's worth talking about.
The "art" of writing fanfiction if you will, isn't the same as writing books that will be published or essays for an audience. You do not write fanfiction with the intent to earn money or gain widespread fame. It's just a hobby, but it's also not. You are writing simply because you love to write, and share your texts for an audience with the same interest to appreciate. It's a way to engage with media and a community.
There is nothing to gain from it in material means.
And because writing fanfiction is something you do just cause you want to and love to, I do not see why posting generated text is in any way as good.
Simply generating fanfiction for your own use is another matter, but posting it is in my eyes is not beneficial to anything.
I will not get into the ethics of AI and the impacts it has on the environment, since those are much more general topics. Still, if you aren't enlightened on it's damages it does, read into it, and please take it heavily into consideration in this discussion as well.
I'm not a serious writer myself, political satire is not really a big thing on this site, but I still put effort and thought into my writing, and there are people who appreciate every chapter of it. I think I speak for us all when I say that we prefer to consume a real person's hard work instead of a text composed by a soulless computer within seconds.
"But what if I have an idea I want to publish, but can't write?" Yes you can. Fanfiction might possibly be the most accessible option out there in terms of publishing your texts. It doesn't matter how bad your writing is, you put work into it because you wanted to create something to share with others and that matters more than anything. I have read some texts here that have had middle school level writing, but I still read through every single word because of how intriguing and interesting the narrative was. You have a beautiful mind, and you don't need a computer to tell stories for you. Bad fanfiction is no less fanfiction.
Therefore I feel a crack of annoyance every time I see the tag "AI generated on a fanfiction". It's not just about entertaining people, it's also just as much about the human need to create.
I know that this will not make an impact on Ao3 at all, and many people will not bother reading my thoughts at all, but I wrote them out and published them because I had them, and those who read them we're interested in my own opinions. The opinions formed by a unique mind.
Wouldn't it be weird if this text was written by AI?
My final message for those who somehow discovered and read this is to publish your own creative visions, and let others joy at them as well. You can do so much more than type prompts on a computer.