Addressing Concerns Re: AI Fic in the WillMack Tag
As a preface, I am one person and as a human I am capable of making mistakes. Any misconception or error is my own. However, AI-generated yaoi is my last fucking straw after a day of having to metaphorically beat back AI-poisoned college students with a stick while they claim I'm "impeding the way of progress" so I'm taking a bat to the hornet's nest with glee.
Writeup below the cut - I haven't used this site in years except to look at pictures of leon draisaitl but I think basic etiquette is not to slam everyone's dash with a huge chunk of text LMFAOOO
AI Generation and AI Assisting
First, I would like to point out that many AI checkers are unreliable, and just because something passes the AI tracker check doesn't mean that it hasn't been generated. For the purpose of this memo, I do not intend to make use of AI trackers, as I have used them prior to making this post and found them to be lacking. This reddit post goes more in-depth on how AI checkers are basically glorified pattern detectors and ways in which to fool them; additionally, OP provides a pretty good writeup of their own personal accuracy metrics, and what they feel are effective uses of AI checkers.
Another thing to add is that I am not considering AI spellcheck or grammar check as "use of AI" because I have noticed that Google had the temerity to start training their spell check using it, so now I have to write in the damn notes app. Anecdotal evidence here, as well as Google's own page on this and an eight-minute video from someone who explains all of the new features.
In my own anecdotal experience as a tutor, undergraduate, and graduate student, many people have gotten pretty good at going back and touching up to include just enough variation that large chunks are not easily recognizable as AI at first glance. A common practice is to write the general gist of an idea and feed it to AI to "clean it up" or "touch it up", after which you will likely edit afterwards to make sure it has enough of "your" voice to retain plausible deniability. Another way of using AI is to accessorize chunks of prose and fill in the rest with what you think happens in between. I'm sure there are other ways to use it, but the main flaw when doing this FOR FUCKING YAOI is that the AI itself has been trained such that it has one defined and easily-flaggable personality and dialogue style for Will, as well as one for Mack, and composes very similar speech and narrative patterns in fanfics from completely different users. A third identifier is that AI LOVES em dashes and uses them as much as possible - this is a fairly recent development, and while entertaining, it gets old fast for those of us who actually like to use the em (and en) dashes. There are other identifiers, and of course I'm only one person, so I accept that there is always a risk of error. Maybe you just write like that, or you read too much of the same fic and decided to replicate patterns for clout or notes. Who knows. With that being said, please see below.
The Writers
ALLTIMECHARLO
alltimecharlo's AI usage style is characterized by extremely frequent usage of the same words, phrases and stylistic choices in dialogue and narrative, consistent use of negatives in exact patterns, and a dialogue pattern I will be referring to as "not-not-just": "Not [noun/adjective]. Not [second modifier]. Just [half-sentence with other modifiers]."
A spin on this is the "not-just" or "no-no-just" pattern. See:
There is also "doesn't-just", "maybe-just", and "and-just-because":
Works cited are tape review, anywhere you want me, birthday boy, second serve, breathe me in, a soul in tune, and need a big boy (mattgabe).
DALSY
dalsy's AI usage is characterized by similar patterns to alltimecharlo's - a writing style that seems to be regular across works, but reveals similar pattern usage. The most damning of these is what I will be referring to as the "too-too" pattern, and its offshoots: "Too [noun/adjective], too [second noun/adjective] (sometimes paired with a sentence instead)."
A variation on this is frequently found with a singular "too":
As well as the "so-so" pattern:
Works cited are cross your heart, picture perfect, sounds like trouble, dumb about you, slipping through my fingers (nicojack), and heatstroke.
MAXENCEANDREBISSET
the evil was defeated before I was able to catch any of their fics. Sorry guys!
COFFEEGOLDFISH
This one is a special case - apologies for the extremely crunchy screenshot, but this author was part of a Twitter writers' group chat where she posted her wips and there was literally still formatting from the copy/paste and generators she used included in one of the documents. Additionally, she made an AI-generated tweet several weeks ago.
Conclusion
As of this post, I am missing two authors, and have been informed of two others, but I'm almost out of image space and I'm quite tired so I'll update on the rest when I feel like I have time. Hopefully this suffices as an answer. Thanks for the ask!
i simply must hear more about vet!matthew and rookie!leon !!👀💗
I got by far the most asks for this one wow.
So this got started when someone sent me this ask for a recent ask game. Life has been a lot lately, but I still managed to get some writing done for it, only for it to get wildly out of hand the way my fics are prone to do.
Have some opening paragraphs!
When Leon got picked by the Panthers last year, he got plenty of messages from the guys on the team. He was polite - because holy shit Sasha Barkov knew his name now - but after going back to Juniors in Western Canada, Leon knew he could never love the team that hacked and slashed their way to robbing Connor McDavid of a Cup.
Sure, the odds of Leon getting picked by the Oilers were never going to be great, but he thought he did well on his interviews and… Then pick #56 came and went, and Leon tried to be thrilled with #63 instead. Because it was still the second round, and it meant the scouts had noticed him after all - no matter the shit that Pronman said about his skating and how it was never going to be good enough.
Proving him wrong is going to be fun. It sucks that he has to do it on the Panthers though. With guys like Bennett, and… Tkachuk.
Alltimecharlo's fics still being recommended 🙄 Good thing is they decided to put asks off so now nobody can request for more ai slop. Prayers all the others self-called writers stop posting too.
them turning off asks is extremely funny but also, I think it's worth noting when one of these names ends up on some people's fic rec lists. LOL. Always vet your follows guys lest you be subject to seeing definitive AI bullshit in your yaoi tag (happened to me on my other blog! Yikes!)
alltimecharlo is threatening to post another long ai slop fic on ao3 REF DO SOMETHING
I laughed really hard at this but alas I can't do anything until the slop hits the tag. 54k and counting... no wonder editing takes you longer, it's because you have to go through and do double the work to take out all the shit me and many others have pointed out in your narrative instead of sitting down and writing it yourself
i have something to confess: as a fan of alltimecharlo’s fics, i had a really hard believing your assertion that ai was used to write them. now though….charlo just published their first fic since your post, and oh boy is it bad! it’s not written in the style of any of their previous fics and there is SO MUCH EXPOSITION. it’s hard to explain, but they just spell so much out for the reader. and the way the sprinkle real-life tidbits—like willmack watching american pie together—is awkward. this is a writing faux pas that, in my opinion, a lot of amateur and beginner writers are guilty of. if charlo had actually written any of their previous works, then i have a hard time believing that they’d only start doing this now.
i don’t know, maybe this is a mean ask to send because it seems like they’re actually writing their own words now
I think it's not necessarily mean-spirited to write an ask like this, especially since they have been so blasé about the accusations, sent their echo chamber to attack myself and others, and insisted repeatedly that their works were not assisted despite multiple glaring fallacies. I haven't read the latest fic because I can't bring myself to unmute them on ao3, but I will take your word for it; if they're no longer using AI then watergate worked, it's for the best, and I hope they learn to find genuine enjoyment in posting their own writing. Thank you for sending this in!
It’s really discouraging that the ai has not stopped completely BUT id like to note that the alltimecharlo(?) blog has mot posted anything on ao3 since you called them out :) maybe even on tumblr but I have them blocked here so idk LOL it goes to show that if you do shame them they DO stop (esp in the cases where they deactivated)
well they did post on tumblr (I also blocked them, but I have a bunch of alts) but it's like, not only is the writing horrible, it's like if they fed in a prompt that said "hey generate me a fic without using all the monikers this guy pointed out" and then just edited out the specific identifiers. But you can still tell it's AI - the dialogue is nonsensical, the writer's voice switches POVs without warning, it's ridiculously out of character, and it has all the hallmarks of the second coming of SlopChrist
& speaking of public shaming: there's a new AI "writer" hitting the towers in the tag rn with a mafia AU I genuinely have no words
Lowkey suspected charlo for a long time too, mainly when they started posting a lot of MattGabe all at once. Gabe in particular in those stories just had the most bizarre characterization that was in no way like the Gabe that has been presented to us through media/stories from people who've actually interacted with him (not that we'll ever really know but I digress). It's one thing if you write an OC, it's another when it doesn't even blatantly resemble the person it's supposed to be about.
it was the mattgabe fics that absolutely sealed the deal for me because khia asylum and I have been following the tag since it's literal inception :^) like do not come to us as false prophets we were there to watch the tag be created and the rangers video be released. You will be handled swiftly
we don’t have time to dissect this before your imminent departure but people in the f1 fandom have suspected charlo of paraphrasing their fics for a long long time so i wouldn’t doubt that someone who has never had an original idea would start using ai.
ima just go ahead and add this to the alltimecharlo tag because good lord. if someone else wants to take up the mantle by all means do your thing omfg I'm sorry to the f1 fans
