while I never read past the first couple of chapters, I'm really disappointed at the news that such a popular fic as super soaker was written using ai. I know a lot of people loved that fic. I took the time to read through the pdf expose where super soaker was mentioned and, out of sheer curiosity and using their own directions, I spent my precious time searching through the fic to see when exactly the author began using ai--or rather, when they started using claude, as there seems to be no verifiable way to check for other generative ai rn--and I think, despite the disappointment, there's a lesson to be learned here.
super soaker started including verifiable ai around chapter six. now, I have no idea when the fic started becoming popular, but I wouldn't be surprised if it started taking off around that time. I'm in no way defending the author for using ai and passing it off as their own work. but I do wonder if part of the reason why this author chose to resort to ai was because of intense--and perhaps entitled--demand from readers. "OMG WHEN IS THE NEXT CHAPTER?" "PLEASE DON'T ABANDON THIS" "PAPA ME WANT MORE FIC" "NEW CHAPTER WHEN?" <- I can imagine getting those kinds of comments every. single. day. might feel like a lot of pressure for some people. I know I couldn't handle the kind of attention some of these fic authors are getting, tbh.
I'm not defending the author. I think ai is awful and I hate it. I would never knowingly read anything made with it. but people are imperfect and make bad choices sometimes. maybe the lesson to be learned here is that we need to learn a little patience, learn to say something kind when leaving a comment, encourage authors through love instead of through entitlement. not because the author of super soaker deserves that, but so that this doesn't keep happening.
maybe if we stopped treating authors like content machines, they wouldn't feel the need to resort to using literal content machines to keep their readers around
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