still thinking about wolfbird ai situation:
when something goes wrong, i want to use it as an example/ create a discussion about what other choices could have been made:
like maybe .... fess up u used ai back when u stopped posting. not play the victim of "another ai witch hunt".
apologize to ur betas for lying to them.
take some time off to process.
if u want to return to the story do it slowly without any AI. take a another beta, if they will trust you. do the work! to repair!
then you can post chapters again, moving forward without ai, with a clear conscience. (like make a disclaimer at the beginning of the fic, then another one when you took a break and stopped using ai) let the fic stand as an example, warts and messiness and all.
then if it got an agent, it could be done with a clear conscience. but i would argue, after all that, wolfbird should stay in fandom spaces as an example, as a lesson.