Allows you to choose the origin of where you want the name to be from, whether you want a more feminine vs masculine vs androgenous name (as voted by users), random surname generator, and clicking on the name gives you important info like if there are any famous people with the same name, where it’s from, how common it is, and how people tend to see it, etc.
You can also search their name database by letter or meaning or origin, so if you know you want a character who has a name/surname that starts with an A from Ireland, there’s a whole list for you to choose from.
Census sites
Especially useful if you’re looking for a name from a specific place and/or time period. Just search “(country) census (year)” and you’ll find a database of real people who lived in that place at that time. No one can ever call your names unrealistic again.
For coming up with place names:
Fantasy name generator
This site can basically come up with any name for any person, place, or thing you might ever need. There are also specific generators for different fandoms if you’re looking to make an OC in an established world.
For finding that one word on the tip of your tongue:
One Look Thesaurus
This is my go-to. Not only can you find synonyms like a regular thesaurus, but you can also describe words like “unhappy smile” or “quiet laugh” to find the more specific word you’re looking for.
For coming up with ideas:
Word cloud
When I need to inspire a new idea, I write down all the things I’m interested in (hauntings, academia, lesbians, etc.) and put them into a word cloud to shuffle them next to each other. Sometimes seeing a concept in a new context can spark new ideas!
WWF Discord
This is my discord channel (shameless plug) for when you need to brainstorm off other people but don’t have anyone irl to talk to. We’re also happy to read and give feedback on writing, answer writing questions, or just chat!
For visualizing places and characters:
Pinterest
Pinterest can at times be a bit too sterile for my tastes, but if you use the right words, you can find more realistic photos of places. For example, adding “aesthetic” after basically any word will bring up a more broad collection of photos to help you flesh out places.
This is also a great way to find photos of people and fashion to help visualize characters. I’m bad at describing clothes, so I usually collect photos of outfits to help me know what my characters are wearing. Searching up “character inspiration” will collect more interesting photos and drawings of people who might not exactly be of our world.
(However, to make Pinterest not show you AI results, you have to go into your settings and check the “reduce AI” box. Luckily, it does mostly work.)
Death to Stock
Like pinterest but completely AI free (hooray!) Only drawback is that you have to pay a monthly subscription (about $20 CAD).
Cosmos
Very similar to pinterest but slightly more "artsy". I'm not super familiar with this one but I believe all the photos are human and you can save them and create collections with a free account.
Dupe Photos
Royalty-free stock image site with very Pinterest-core photos!
Minecraft
If you haven’t built your entire fictional city in Minecraft instead of writing, why not? It’s fun.
The Sims
This one is dual purpose because you can not only create your characters in Create a Sim, but you can design their houses. If you really want to go for it, you can bulldoze all the lots in your town and build your world from scratch.
For checking grammar:
Grammar Girl
Easy to follow definitions and examples, and if you learn better by listening, every article comes with a podcast to follow along with instead.
Grammar Monster
This one is my favourite for checking grammar rules because there’s tons of examples in graphics that helps for any situation.
Reedsy
Among other things, reedsy can connect you to professional editors within your budget.
For writing advice:
One Stop for Writers
This one was recommended from my discord channel and has all sorts of tutorials and resources for the writing craft.
My Blog Directory
Another shameless plug, but if you need writing advice on something specific, you can search through my directory to see if it’s there. If it isn’t, you can always send me an ask about it!
For an alternative to Google Docs:
Ellipsus
Think google docs but without AI. Yay!
(will update this list with any more suggestions or resources I discover 😊)
Plan your character's backstory with this list of emotional wounds and the resulting fears, habits, and personality traits that shape who th
I like their cheat-sheets (most of which I downloaded) and some of the worksheets, but these seem like they'll take more time and care to go through.
All sorts of scarring scenarios to help shape your character-
Then, when you click one - for example, not being believed - there is much more... (if it's 'unlocked' or you sign up. if not, there's still the general details but not some of these categories).
So you can avoid them stealing things from you, the artist/writer, etc.
Note: The list has gotten so long that I had to reorganize. (Thanks for the suggestions.) I UXed it best I could. I'm updating the best I can as notes come in. As such, I'm adding an update date since Tumblr doesn't update the old blogs with the newer version.
Update: US time. April 16, 2026 There's an update on the Krita section added by reblog by Erkhyan. I give credit.
Previous change:
I changed UBlacklist so there are clearer instructions on how to add to Duckduckgo's search engine. ^^;; Feel a little dumb it took me this long to figure out.
There have been several requests to add programs, but either they aren't well populated, their projects are short, or they have the murkiest anti-AI statement I've ever read.
For example, I was told about this company, here, they were forced into anti-AI, but this seems a bit passive aggressive corporate speak for we hate you.:
Companies building AI tools must be ethically responsible in their products and with their audiences.
AI systems developers need to make a genuine effort to educate their users on how to use their tools responsibly and how to find ways to promote ethical practices.
As AI integrations become more commonplace for creative design tools, we feel strongly that it is imperative for developers to consider the impacts being made to the creative communities at large, and if need be, be willing to take a stand and adapt or forgo unethical AI models.
The industry must monitor the impact of new tools in terms of both positive and negative effects.
We believe that it’s our responsibility to build art tools, which ultimately make us smarter and more skilled - contributing to a happier and better society.
So no talk about environmental impact, passive aggressive around the edges, "AI systems developers need to make a genuine effort to educate their users on how to use their tools responsibly" is really passive aggressive considering it was users trying to get them to change their policy.
And even when they have support for the artist, the statement seems to undercut it...
Artists who have devoted years into developing their skills and individual style made generative AI possible, and they deserve recognition.
I also attempted to contact the company with no response.
So I'm reluctant to add them because it seems like they really, really want to add it, and will backstab the userbase as soon as possible.
Additional Note: GenAI, an algorithm and AI tools aren't the same.
GenAI requires vast servers to constantly run 24-7, kicking up harmful fumes which are killing people, absorbing hospital energy, vast amounts of water, and generally killing the planet using data stolen from real people. This is bad. (links at the bottom)
Algorithms I've gone into detail before what they are and how they work on my post about Why Spell Check is not GenAI. Click the link. Too long for here.
AI tools run on your computer and are programmed using your power, not external servers. It depends on your RAM. It's not taken with stolen data from other users. Things like Gaussian Blur, etc might borderline be considered AI to some people (though not really) and things like smart tools (smart lasso), but this is not equal to GenAI in an ethics violation. So environmental impact depends on where you live, but certainly isn't purposefully giving other people cancer because they want a picture of Miyazaki-style selfie of themselves while totally being ignorant of the meaning of Miyazaki's films making people want to bash them over the head with a clue stick. These tools CAN run on large servers, but most scientists aren't running say, how to find the next prime number on vast huge servers in poor communities. GenAI, which is being used for cancer cure stuff, etc is in poor communities. Chess AI is run locally on your computer, but doesn't have as huge ethics issues. Tools the save time, but don't kill people isn't an ethics problem.
As such this focuses on GenAI, itself and the servers it runs on being an ethical violation on so many fronts.
Pro AI Stance is:
their user's data in and data out.
All companies that are willing to sell their customer's data for AI.
Gross support of GenAI, saying GenAI is the future, screw the poor people, goes here.
GenAI is added to the program at any level belongs here. App or program is a deliberate add.
Neutral Stance is:
For websites only: No data into GenAI or an easy opt out, but doesn't protect against AI content of any kind for websites explicitly. Sliding scale for how much of each. (Why different rules for websites v. programs/apps is about the bots.)
I try to tell you by how much with links.
For program/Apps, where they don't have a clear stance, or it feels like they might want to add it anyway and backstab the userbase. (See Toonboom. They are about to slide to the evil side...)
Also some not sure or no clear Anti-statement goes here.
Freeware and shareware without a clear statement also goes here.
Anti AI Stance is:
No data into AI no GenAI machine.
No GenAI added AND a clear anti-AI statement in their TOS and policies.
No Chatbots, LLMs anywhere in the program. Cannot prompt.
Open source, but do not list any third party plug-ins with genAI/LLMs on the website.
Extra points and higher listings for programs that are well populated, older and have a stable UX.
Pro GenAI websites/Programs:
Social Media
Facebook
Threads (owned by facebook)
Instagram
X/Twitter (Remember, Grok's servers gives people cancer)
Duolingo Language learning App
Discord went pro-GenAI:
Youtube went pro-genAI. This is different from the algorithm. They are owned by Google. They are using people's handmade subs for hearing impaired for the Large Language Models, which has shaky legal ground. It's currently being sued over. They are also adding to it anything to detect facial scans. Which has shown problems with racism before: (ACLU): https://www.aclu-mn.org/en/news/biased-technology-automated-discrimination-facial-recognition (Facial recognition note by Buds-and-baubles. See reblog.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjnQ-s7LW-g They are also forcing creators to look like they are GenAI, genuine people, so they can pass their GenAI users under the radar. Creators aren't happy. Things like forced GenAI translation and weird "improvements" to art on shorts so that creators are complaining that their genuinely made content looks like it is genAI. This is where we're at. If they can't make creators embrace them, they will make human-created art look like GenAI.
Writing
Pro Writing Aid
Grammarly
Re: Grammar Programs
BTW, I'm firm on the idea that grammar programs are really racist. So asking about grammar programs to replace Grammarly, will always be met with, use your own brain. If you want a long linguistics reasoning for this, or my long rants about Google Docs being too Texas-based on its grammar corrections, I can give it, but you wouldn't give a shit anyway. I know English is a fucked up language—I struggled through learning the illogical of it. I've said as much, but you know what you can do to get around that? Ask another human. Rely on the community around you to teach the rules instead of a machine and you'll maybe make some friends along the way. If you think this is cruel to actually be asked to interact with the writing community, and other humans, I would think more about what stances you are taking that you are that afraid of other humans. You shouldn't be using crutches for life and the best of grammar programs are also wrong. Longer linguistic/programming essay here: https://www.tumblr.com/kimyoonmiauthor/805143849449275392/why-grammarly-and-other-grammar-ai-is-secretly?source=share
Google Docs/Google- Going full on pro AI including Youtube. They are also suppressing anti-GenAI results on their search engine. (Duckduckgo isn't, BTW because I can see it on SearXNG.)
Microsoft Word/all Microsoft products Takes from and will feed their machine.
Proton as suggested by SF Stories (see reblog) is pro AI (as the reblog from McBitchTits pointed out) They are missing a spreadsheet, but have online and offline capabilities, plus a built-in VPN. They came out with their own AI tool: https://proton.me/blog/lumo-ai But also swears never to use their user's data: "Acknowledging these concerns and recognising that three in five (60%) workers would like to use AI despite four in five (79%) being concerned about the use of their private data for training purposes, Proton Scribe promises never to use data from users’ inboxes. The company backed up its claim by asserting that the standard end-to-end encryption makes this impossible." (https://www.techradar.com/pro/proton-is-launching-an-ai-tool-to-help-you-write-better-emails) I'd feel wary about that, especially if they get close to GenAI collapse. (Also that stat is crazy, either you're for it, or you're against it, if you're for it, you need to be on board with it using your data to feed the machine.). Proton's CEO also supported Trump.
Notion (I feel this was like a troll).
Novlr While they say they have an Anti-AI stance (last post) here: https://www.threads.com/@novlrofficial/post/C_immJrotiC Earlier thoughts on AI here: https://www.novlr.org/the-reading-room/ai-and-you-emerging-technology-and-what-it-means-for-writers/ Unfortunately they are still partnered with ProWritingAid, which is pro GenAI.
So it goes like this, originally Nanowrimo crashed out over GenAI because of ProWritingAid. Then Novlr SWORE they were anti-AI. Then they decided to backstab everyone and INTEGRATE ProWritingAid when got its data from GenAI. Not all grammar programs use AI as I've delineated before, but this one uses stolen data and their TOS is very murky. In case of total ignorance, I pointed this out to Novlr on Blue Sky (because what's the point of lecturing when you don't take action yourself?) They tried to back that it was integration only and would not correct either the claim that theirs was the first program to be made by a writer (As I said, I fact checked this and the creator of Scrivener was also writer first, a programmer second. And then Ywriter was on its heels soon after and blatantly said they were a writer when they created it).
Lifting open projects on grammar isn't that difficult since word processors are one of the first programs to be made. So making a grammar integration isn't that difficult, especially one without GenAI and LLMs attached. But they continue to blatantly support ProWritingAid. This makes them pro-GenAI.
They KNOW that ProWritingAid is pro GenAI and that Nannowrimo crashed out over it, 100% because I told them so. And then they doubled down. I would say this makes them shady at best and pro-GenAI. When they kick out ProWritingAid they can be anti again. In this case they are fat-faced lying their butts off on two counts and continuing to do so even after being notified. If a company lies while doing the thing they swear they aren't doing while making false claims, should you trust them? I say no.
Art
Sites
Deviant Art Not only supports AI, but put a tool in and said they are going to steal your work if you like it or not for their machine. There is an opt-out, but they made it labo[u]r intensive. You have to check it off EVERY TIME. And you can reduce, not eliminate GenAI in the results. This tips it over into being Pro-GenAI still. (last note modified per Usagi-Zakura's reblog) Find a better site below.
Pinterest went pro-GenAI [link] making the site unusable since it was often used for inspo from the REAL WORLD and REAL images to create weddings, etc. There is a way to "opt-out", but it's overrun with AI images even then.
ArtStation Leaned more pro-AI. Bills itself for "portfolios". Has no restrictions against AI in the TOS, but you can do the Deviant art thing of "check it every time if you don't want it". Urrgghhh No thanks. They also don't protect from AI scrapers, which they selectively could. They do "sternly warn" that AI has no copyright protection, and don't think it's morally wrong to put into portfolios AI art. (Yes, snark) Oh, yes, that'll really help. (Sarcasm).
Instagram As part of Facebook's meta, of course they are pro-AI, there is a way to opt out, if you're willing to give up your left kidney to get it. (i.e. they make it really difficult.)
Art Programs (Raster, and Vector)+ Suites
Adobe Products. All of them. If you HAVE to use them (Some businesses require it), save offline because there is a film of at least some privacy protections there, so if you have to sue, you can say it violates US privacy law. Remember, contracts do not circumvent US law. Adobe wants to claim they don't feed their machine with your art, but that's not in the legal agreements and famously the legal agreements changed. Legal agreements can supersede other claims on the website, though one could theoretically sue for predatory practices, it's a harder case.
Corel won't feed the machines, but still uses AI stolen from other artists. Which sucks since Corel Draw is the second best overall for vector programs. (Plus I love Painter, but I bought the offline version to avoid AI). (Canadian company)
Photopea which is an image editing program went pro GenAI according to cat-of-many-faces in comments.
Affinity (Suite program) swore to be AI-free and does Vector and Photos (I haven't checked out their InDesign equivalent). They SOLD to Canva (so much for that promise. This is in the same realm as Novlr. A huge backstab.)
Canva then officially added GenAI to Affinity and took the three programs and combined them into one. Then made it "free"
After version 2, do not download or buy. It's likely to use GenAI and is giving Canva profit. Right now it's borderline because it's a moral panic of if you want to give Canva profit.
My review for Affinity Designer is here: https://www.tumblr.com/kimyoonmiauthor/776698728716337152/affinity-designer-2weaknesses-and-strengths
Online Art Programs
Canva Takes and feeds their machine. Alternatives are Presentation software. (See LibreOffice) and Moodboard software. Not sure? Milanote doesn't have GenAI (or the search engines are suppressing the results, which I found recently is a thing), but also no anti-AI stance. Creativit on Mac has a Moodboard function without AI (for now) No anti-AI stance, but snap.
Snappa has GenAI
Pixlr (This one hurt me personally)
3D Modeling
Sketchup went Pro-GenAI. The thing is that you can do the same thing in Blender these days with precise measurements.
Epic Games: Sketch Fab Caveat:
Autodesk has stated they are Pro-Gen AI here. It is not clear if they will use your models to feed their machine. But be on guard. They make Maya and 3Dmax. You can replace it with Blender.
Art Sharing Clouds, Website Creation, etc (Specialized, not part of a Suite.)
DropBox went Pro-AI causing massive backlash against the company.
QuarkXPress added GenAI in 2025 [Link]
Figma has GenAI
Pro GenAI Colleges and Universities
Ah, yes, we're at this stage of late stage capitalism. DO NOT submit to these places without a clear contract and writing that you do not consent on every piece of art to feed a GenAI machine. Or simply instruct all people to not submit.
Please, please add to this list. You can send it to me anonymously. I am safe because I'm going to an anti-GenAI college with no plans to try to get a BA or a Masters. I will check your claim. They can be within the US or outside of the US.
Cal Arts is Pro GenAI. Students are protesting, but they are suppressing their free speech. This confirms Walt Disney is also Pro GenAI. It's risky to even apply here. Scraping is next step. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cbpu7IQEts
Otis College of Art and Design is pushing GenAI (according to the comment section of the previous video) and I confirmed it here:
Otis College LibGuides: AI Literacy: Defining AI, GenAI, & LLMs
They couldn't even bother to have pictures of real students at the college?
Neutral ground:
Social Media
Tumblr (there is a way to opt out [Link] and they don't have an active AI machine.) https://www.tumblr.com/dookins/743519550598987776/heres-how-to-disable-third-parties-like-ai They did sell the data to OpenAI, but there is an opt out, and they block GenAI bots. The report about it is here. Shaky ground. Leans more toward Pro-AI. (See comments for correction and added last sentence).
Etsy allows GenAI, but still has some (minor) restrictions. I'd still be cautious. (Also be cautious of drop shippers). Complaints about too much AI and AI images+patterns made by Ai still exist on the website. They lean slightly more pro-AI, but still won't let it run completely amok, say like Facebook. They won't feed your work into a machine, but also don't ban it through robots.txt.
Bluesky They don't use an AI algorithm except for in the "Discover" section of their website, but while they are anti-GenAI strongly, they don't seem to block the Gen AI bots from entry, so you'd still have to use Nightshade or Glaze (links below). They also still allow people to post AI images/text on the website. There is no opt-out because they don't need an opt out. (Leaning towards strong position on AI, but I wish they would block GenAI bots). Theyrrefused the restrictive Mississippi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku3VpRIFEcM
Mastodon *might* have some anti-AI art community servers on it. When I looked there are some servers that are explicitly aggressive about being anti-AI in moderation. It's a bit difficult for those not tech savvy to use. Because of its decentralized nature (more so than Blue Sky) it's easier to filter for anti-AI art. Because it's decentralized, though, the rest of the servers ould have AI art.
Cannot find AI stances for:
Final Draft who refuses to make a stance either way.
Celtx threatened to go proAI/LLM during the screenwriter's strike of all times. I wrote them a really strongly worded letter (without swearing) which basically was a, "Are you serious when you know what this strike is about?" and then they went radio silent. I think they are hoping it blows over so they can be pro again.
By the way, I worked on two (free) templates for Scrivener to replace Final Draft and Celtx somewhat:
UK version: https://www.tumblr.com/kimyoonmiauthor/791598143262392320/better-uk-screenwriting-scrivener-template?source=share
US/AUS/NZ/CAN: https://www.tumblr.com/kimyoonmiauthor/791465354153082880/better-screenplay-scrivener-template-north?source=share
Here are two extra language charts I also worked on.
💬 0 🔁 1 ❤️ 4 · Sorta an easier way to language chart Phonemes within Scrivener? · So I spent 2.5 days in really bad heat TT HTMLing the ch
No one else is making Scrivener templates on this website... so...
PaintTool Sai *only* works on Windows. Located in Japan. Updates are slow. It only does raster (Clip Studio Paint technically does both raster and vector). As it's shareware, it's not reliable to say if the creator is anti or pro. Unlike the defenders say, it's NOT open source, so no, that doesn't guarantee anything at all.
Search Engine Replacement
Searxng- If you super want to screw over Google, in general, and have some tech savvy, you can set up your own search engine through searxng. It's easier on Windows and Linux than it is on a Mac. (Mac you need Docker), but if you're determined on privacy, Searxng adds a layer of privacy. Some of it sometimes uses bits of AI, but most of it doesn't and you can fuss with the settings so it doesn't spit out AI results. At sheer minimum Google will stop spitting out weird videos on Youtube at you because in your private browsing, you searched for the origin of ball bearings while not logged in for a book and Google likes to break privacy laws.
DuckDuckGo (Find in the pulldown menu)- You can turn off the AI results for images and AI. Link shared by selkie-on-land in reblog. It's not perfect, but can be done. Change the default search engine default to: noai.duckduckgo.com (This is better results than web.google.com) DuckDuckgo (from my searxng search engine) also gets consistently non-slanted results for topics like ai, etc. For Firefox go to Search->Search Shortcuts->Add->plug in for the Site Name: No AI DuckDuckGo; URL: https://noai.duckduckgo.com/?hps=1&q=%s->scroll up and hit "Default search engine" and change it to "No AI DuckDuckGo"
Ublacklist extension: DuckDuckGo is not perfect, so how do you make it perfect so it'll block places like Diffusion AI and the other egregious and gregarious websites? Firefox version: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublacklist/ Chrome: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ublacklist/pncfbmialoiaghdehhbnbhkkgmjanfhe?hl=en Note that the default setting is for it to work ONLY for Google, but you can expand it to other results.
Options->"Other search engines"->flip the switch on the search engines you want it to apply to.->It'll give you a dialogue box when you first do it, confirm.
There will be some blank results on your page and it might take a little longer to load, but it is better than having a fit every time you see another picture of waifish waifu in non-hanbok. (And yes, I know waifu is a Japanese word, that's the point) or historically inaccurate clothes that make you want to stab someone, preferably the programmer who thought that Victorian clothes all look the same by decade and location. My search results are much, much better.
Remove GenAI from Firefox
Super annoying. Especially with pop ups. 2. The person who had this idea needs to be corrected repeatedly. 3. Poor implementation.
Not going to click the link... even though it gives you visuals. Three hamburger menu->Settings. Uncheck "Use AI to suggest tabs and a name for tab groups" This results in annoying popup menus. (The link misses unchecking this)
Under General->Browser Layout->Show sidebar Uncheck AI chatbot in the sidebar.
Then go to about:config, accept the risk, search for "chat" and change the settings for: "browser.ml.chat.menu" to false (click the double sided arrow). If you hate it that much, you can also change the footerbadge, menubadge, shortcuts, shortcutscustom, and sidebar also to false.
Go curse the people who decided to add this and implement it and ask them to permanently remove it.
Writing
Obsidian-It's a writing and organizational tool. Plugins may contain genAI company doesn't vet them according to borealtwilight in comments.
AO3 (Archive of Our Own)- Gets Data scraped. So they made an AI statement, but it's on Neutral ground. They are protecting lightly from scraping: https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/25888 But you still have to do the work yourself to block the bots and put yourself on private. They will allow GenAI words. They've been scraped twice already. https://www.reddit.com/r/AO3/comments/1k6a3t6/ao3_has_been_scraped_again_for_genai_purposes/ O.o; I've never seen a site cooperate this much with "researchers" that they are willing to get scraped and not block scraping. They are blocking the specific GenAI bots. Your choice in this case. Leaning more neutral neutral, in this case, given the statement.
If you would like to block scrapers (suggested by Benwvatt, see reblog), then try:
WARNING, though, that it will block text readers, so may block dyslexic, Low vision, blind, etc readers.
It randomly inserts words into the sentence at random intervals when the fic is downloaded.
Art
Sites
Newgrounds: Stronger on the no AI art side, but still allow pieces in specific cases, it's not a total ban. Allowed AI is highlighted in bold to make it easier to skim.:
AI-generated art is not allowed in the Art Portal. This includes using tools such as Midjourney, Dall-E, and CrAIyon, in addition fractal generators and websites like ArtBreeder, where the user selects two images and they are combined into a new image via machine learning.
There are cases where some use of AI is ok, for example if you are primarily showcasing your character art but use an AI-generated background. In these cases, please note any elements where AI was used so that it is clear to users and moderators.
Tracing and coloring over AI-generated art is something best shared on your blog, as it is much like tracing over someone else's art.
Making art from scratch that is inspired by an AI piece is ok. Here are two good examples: Maiden of Flames and Hermin. Both pieces reference the AI art they are based on while being original pieces in their own right.
Bottom line: We want to keep the focus on art made by people and not have the Art Portal flooded with computer-generated art. https://www.newgrounds.com/wiki/help-information/terms-of-use/art-guidelines
Cara is totally anti-AI in contrast. You would be too if someone profited from your artwork by simply reversing it and changing the color scheme a little.
BTW, It's BS to call Backgrounds not real art. Tips it more towards pro-AI.
Wacom?: This one confuses the hell out of me, but apparently Wacom is running contests, etc with GenAI. Apparently they did this a few times. Proof: https://x.com/meganroseruiz/status/1743759432268607843. Honestly makes me a bit reticent about Yuify... https://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/yuify Look, I love Wacom, I really do, and was a loyal customer long before screen tablets were a thing, but this seriously confuses the hell out of me. Why support the technology that will make your tech obsolete? The problem is Wacom has done this repeatedly. For contests, promos, etc, in Japanese and Japanese people have also called them out repeatedly. (They are now owned by a pro-AI company testing out users). I get you want more reliable source, so here: https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/9/24031468/wacom-wizards-of-the-coast-mtg-artists-against-generative-ai
This is seriously confusing where to put Wacom. It's split loyalties at this point.
Other tablet companies? Huion continues to "teach a course on AI" and XP Pen says they don't promote GenAI and got scammed by an artist, but have not used AI art in their promotions since. Reddit, but they link to the evidence in the thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/wacom/comments/190lubo/promoting_ai_art_and_forgoing_real_artists_just/
Suites:
ToonBoomHarmony- This is an animation suite, since it has a set of programs. No Anti-AI statement. There are AI tools (not the same as AI) which is heavily being questioned on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ToonBoomHarmony/comments/1j8s9yc/ai_tools_harmony_is_cooked/ with some implications they are stopping listening to customers since they took down their forums and are now switching to the next mode of enshittification Stage 3. People objected heavily, hating on the AI tools, the implementation was horrid, they didn't fix any of the base bugs before launching (which UX people would tell you not to do). When customers flooded in to complain about the AI tools being terrible, they shut down ALL of forums by DELETING THEM (which is enshittification step number 3). While not GenAI, it's implied that might be a next step to please the investors.
They are a hair way from putting in GenAI anyway, despite objections to the AI tools.
Enshittification
1. Good to their end users, but needs to find a way to lock those end users in.
2. Platforms abuse their users to tempt in business customers. Business customers become locked into the platform.
3. Claws back all the value from business customers and end users.
(Oh look, a cloud the company owns. Oh look, we own that cloud. You're OK with that, RRRRIIIGHHHTT). And then it's betraying the customer base for the stockholders and the program becomes hell and then the company shuts down when it loses it's customer face in a huge Pikachu move. I Didn'tKnowYouHadtoPleaseCustomersFirstToMakeMoney So they are at step 3 out of 3. Harmony essentials is USD 29.00 / month, Advanced is USD 73.00 / month, Premium is USD 133.00 / month. Storyboard Pro: USD 75.00 / month Producer "cannot access files unless they are uploaded" How much is your first born worth? Oh and UX people would have effing told you to fix your bugs with the release of new features... say like SIMS4, without adding new ones. SIMS4. I paid over 5,000 dollars for a game that functionally breaks because it's built on a house of cards of not fixing the base code and doing patches instead. (My Dad [a programmer] had an hour lecture on why this was a terrible idea too and told me this was why Microsoft Windows kept getting hacked).
Online Art Programs
Milanote?- Moodboard software. To get full features you have to pay per month (which isn't ideal since the free version is very, very limited) There is no pro or anti-genAI statement I can find. But so far there is no GenAI on the platform. This is a *not sure* category.
Creativit- is offline, free and on Mac only Moodboard software. It's a pretty straight forward program, so no AI. Has snapping features and no frills. Since they are small, it doesn't have AI, but there is no anti-AI statement either.
Art Sharing Clouds, Website Creation, etc (Specialized, not part of a Suite.)
WeTransfer has a murky TOS statement. https://www.tumblr.com/kimyoonmiauthor/789157028107010048/we-transfer-went-to-the-genai-dark-side?source=share which I covered here. They swear they won't, but then they didn't specify they wouldn't in the TOS. As I said, you can sue for deceptive practices, but doesn't mean you will win.
Strong positions against AI
Social Media
Pillowfort- This is a social media website. Somewhere between Tumblr and Deviant Art. They banned all AI images. They don't have a social media algorithm. (So you won't be on top of each other. You have to earn your own followers.)
Item 13 of the Banned images section of their terms of service: https://www.pillowfort.social/termsofservice
A bit of a jab to put the item between "No prohibited images of minors" and "revenge porn". (basically lack of consent)
Suggested by lindwurmkai
I read the other TOS too, and it seems pretty fair and in plain language.
Thunderbirdmail (not released yet)
At DarkHorse IT, we love seeing tech that aligns with our values—privacy, transparency, and putting the user first. That’s why we’ve always
Released to be competition to Google mail without the privacy glitches of Gmail and have NO AI. It's open source, yet private, and has a lot of the features of Gmail, no equivalent of Google Docs and no equivalent to online spreadsheet, but still free. But will have other appendages, like scheduler, etc.
Writing
Offline (mostly)
Scrivener (Creator vowed against adding GenAI during Nanowrimo scandal #2 on Twitter. Request for AI features has been denied.) Writing program. There is an active forum, and versions for Mac, Linux and PC. It is paid, but at ~60 USD, it's cheaper than most programs. There is usually a holiday sale around Christmas. It has a learning curve, but with an active forum with the programmer of it there to ask obscure questions it's not a dead zone. They often take suggestions and implement them over time. (Especially if you rank the importance, applications, etc) US company.
Scrivener works with Mac, Windows and Linux (with some fussing): https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/tutorial-running-scrivener-3-1-5-1-under-linux-w-wine-64bit-with-activation/136046
Also has sharing and comparing versions capability as long as you have a cloud harddisk. (Be sure to check out cloud services that are safe)
There was a question of if they added GenAI, but that proves to be false. Up through November 2025 they have sworn against GenAI. https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/scrivener-and-ai-why-do-i-see-ai-prompts-in-my-scrivener-projects-on-mac
I have made a Better Script Template for US/CAN/AUS/NZ:
💬 0 🔁 0 ❤️ 3 · Better Screenplay Scrivener Template (US/ CAN/AUS/NZ) · Posted: Saturday, August 9, 2025
Updated: Monday August 11, 2025
I
One for the UK: https://www.tumblr.com/kimyoonmiauthor/791598143262392320/better-uk-screenwriting-scrivener-template?source=share
I have a Better Novel Template as well: https://www.tumblr.com/kimyoonmiauthor/750865969317052416/better-novel-scrivener-template?source=share
I am in no way affiliated with Scrivener. If you have issues, with the program, please direct it to the forums.
With any of the templates, be sure to read ALL instructions first BEFORE downloading, including the Read Me in order to get it to work. I never write any instructions that are unnecessary.
LibreOffice Open source and free Spreadsheet and Word processor program that can replace Microsoft Office (Word processor, spreadsheet, presentations, drawing, formula, database creator). Some people might have seen older versions where it was called Neo Office (now extinct) and Open Office. LibreOffice is still populated, plus the forums are super helpful if you get stuck. The UX is pretty intuitive if you've used Microsoft Word. Scrivener, BTW, supports exporting to odt (the native file) as well as .doc, and this can open both. The slight thing is that sometimes it doesn't export to .doc smoothly. And I DO wish more magazines, and agent (big clue here) supported .odt files since it is free. Part of the reason .odt isn't as supported is because Microsoft and Adobe have a deal with the devil with each other, so Adobe's Book formatting program InDesign doesn't support ODT. (BTW, if you have a good open source replacement for InDesign that supports ODT, let me know.)
yWriter is a free Writing program and like Scrivener, and has vowed against AI Last I looked it had some UX issues, but some people swear by it. The learning curve is higher than Scrivener because of the worse UX.
Dabble (as suggested by SF stories, see reblog) is a writing program. Similar to Scrivener. Has vowed against AI and to resist it. 108 dollars a year for Basic. It is almost twice the price of Scrivener who lets you update for fairly cheap. 29 dollars a month, v. 59 dollars for the whole program (Scrivener). Scrivener, for the 59 dollars a month has all of the same features of Dabble at Premium, making Dabble in total more than triple the price of Scrivener. You choose.
NovelWriter is an Open source writing program done offline. It has less capabilities than Scrivener or YWriter or Dabble. (Can't make templates, Can't save to cloud to compare) The GUI isn't as slick, but because of that it's super easy to use and lower entry in learning curve. (anonymous suggestion through inbox)
StudioBinder- is a script to video production software. Made an Anti-GenAI statement on their Youtube channel (see below).
This is not an official Anti-AI stance and might be tongue-in-cheek. But does look serious as something they are NOT interested in. Pricing is here: https://app.studiobinder.com/pricing
Phone/Online Writing
Ellipsus is an online writing program and vowed against AI [Link]. The main feature I like (which Scrivener doesn't have) is the ability to change spellcheck based on region/language. It is a requested feature of Scrivener, but lower priority. So if you have a Brit, you can get the spelling for the character. They are a German-based company in Berlin.
Writer P AKA Writer+ (app for when you're on the go) is a simple word processor app for your phone that doesn't use AI. (Find on the Android app store) The original programmer stopped updating, so Writer+ programmer took over and isn't out to make a profit since it's free in the spirit of the original app. It has subfolders you can use. Since it was programmed before GenAI it doesn't have AI. Intuitive, easy to use. Fairly easy to upload the files through three dots->share. The files can save to your card or phone with some settings fussing. Simple word processor.
Art
Sites
Cara.app (The creator of the website sued GenAI there is no chance they'll convert) is an artist website. Cara is trying to institute an auto Glaze/Nightshade into the website if given enough funds. People see it as a soft replacement for deviant art. (which went fully AI) If you believe in human art, please donate if you can. Zhang Jingna, the creator, is Chinese-Singporean. She lives in Singapore.
Artgram is an art posting website with a super strong Anti-AI statement It will delete all Ai art and has detection measures in place. And signatures added to the art so they can form you legal protection and make takedown requests. It is free to use.
Fur Affinity Hard ban on All AI use, not even backgrounds. Furry Art posting website. BTW, found this and Artgram on this website: https://brushwarriors.com/art-websites-that-ban-ai/ which does not show as any kind of result on Google, because Google is trying to block anti-AI content as of last week from the search results. (About the day after I posted the Grok gives poor people cancer). You can only find it using a searxng search.
Handmade vowed against AI (Selling any artwork with AI, and also drop shipping, etc) and promised to never sell itself for stock prices to prevent AI (as a replacement for Etsy.)
Discover a world of creativity and craftsmanship through Handmade, an innovative platform connecting passionate artisans with discerning buy
Art Programs (Raster, and Vector)+ Suites
Clip Studio Paint is a mostly raster, somewhat Vector program that does comics, illustration and animation. They added genAI, but saw the light and decided to protect artists instead because of protest and removed it. It can do 2D animation, and generally is a replacement for Corel Painter and can do manga/comics, etc. I'd still recommend paying for the offline version rather than monthly subscription just in case they change their minds back, at least you'll still have the program AI free without worry about them stealing directly as you're drawing. There are tutorials and a good forum if you get super stuck. Based in Japan, so the UI and UX is really clean [Explanation].
Tahoma2D is anti-AI and open source animation program. Takes a little getting used to, but is good for animations and doesn't crash as often as Animate. Programmers are in the forums and some bugs are fixed within hours. The forums are super responsive and helpful.
OpenToonz is an anti-AI open source animation program. It's almost identical to Tahoma 2D, but has less responsive forums (I tried both) and on a Mac, you can't customize which drive it saves to. Tahoma's forums responded within hours, Opentoonz, I gave a week and got no response. Tahoma, in these regards is ahead. Tahoma has their own forum, v. OpenToonz which is on github, so your response gets lost. (If anyone wants to fix it). (Suggested add by anonymous via inbox, opinions my own.)
Krita is a raster-only open source and free, no AI. I'd rank it secondary to Clip Studio Paint (which is paid) I haven't tried the forums, but it's pretty intuitive and can stand for a lower level replacement for Painter, and do a lot of the basics of Photoshop. It's usually ranked higher than the equally open source Gimp.
As gathered by erkhyan: As of 15 April 2026, discussing or distributing genAI plugins and related tools isn’t allowed on the Krita forums anymore.
Rebelle- Honestly tipping towards Neutral with their Anti-AI statement found here: https://www.escapemotions.com/blog/escape-motions-stands-by-artists but just enough to make them anti. I'd keep an eye on them. Here are some of the neutral statements I'd red flag: "Rebelle's NanoPixel export, for example, allows you to scale your images up to 16x for larger export files, which would not be possible without machine-learning technology. Many artists agree that AI art is a powerful tool but believe it shouldn't be celebrated in the same way as human-created art." "We believe images created with AI can serve for inspiration but to just put a whole painting together through AI is not in alignment with our vision."
They are on Cara, though and their protections against scraping and attempts to prove copyright for their artists is heartening. Still, GenAi is terrible for the planet and doesn't serve as great inspiration.
Inkscape is a free vector program and no AI. It is harder to use than illustrator and has less features. But if you're doing smaller vectors for one-offs with less complexity, it'll do you after some learning curve. Best of the lot. I hate Affinity Designer which is the same thing, only paid. (Neither Affinity program was worth the money paid)
StudioBinder- is a script to video production software. But I put them also down here because it can also do Moodboards. Made an Anti-GenAI statement on their Youtube channel:
This is not an official Anti-AI stance and might be tongue-in-cheek. But does look serious as something they are NOT interested in. Pricing is here: https://app.studiobinder.com/pricing
GIMP- Open source 2D Image editing software. Works natively on Linux, can kinda port to Mac, and kinda works on Windows. It has less features than Krita and has generally fallen out of favor with the public for not being able to keep up as well. The UX isn't bad, but use Krita instead. You'll be happier. Krita is Mac and Windows stable and works on Linux. There isn't any extra fancy things you need to do with Krita to DL it and Krita is fairly intuitive if you know Photoshop.
Moho- is a 2D animation software. Anti AI Stance is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMFeLjLWFd4 . This was originally made by Mike Clifton at Lost Marble and then the name changed to Anime Studio under Smith Micro. Then it was changed back to Moho and then sold back to Lost Marble, LLC, who now has taken a strong stance against AI. There is a Pro version and a Debut version. The pro version is 399.99 USD (as of 2025) Debut is 59.99. There is a student discount too.
Online Art Programs
ProCreate: Anti AI Stance as noted by mortavaine (in comments). It's an art Studio and can be used on an iPhone. 12.99 (currently) for the Art Studio one, time dealie, not reoccurring. 19.99 (currently) for the animation software. Based in Australia.
3D Modeling
Blender is a 3D art program and does not use GenAI. It can do 2D animation, but Tahoma is easier to use in this regard. It's open source and free. Plus there are plenty of tutorials. The forums can be touch and go sometimes, but there are plenty of sub Blender communities that might be responsive. It can also do animation. After Version 7-8 the UX vastly improved and a ton of features were added.
Art Sharing Clouds, Website Creation, etc (Specialized, not part of a Suite.)
Swiss Transfer: The Swiss government is going to put strict restrictions on AI and have pretty strict privacy laws. So they can't steal your content.
It has a better deal than WeTransfer did after the buyout.
In the fallout from WeTransfer there is also this list (but I haven't vetted it).
We compared 8 WeTransfer competitors based on functionality, use cases, user reviews, and of course, price. Which one is best for your needs
Because you need to send files to clients without breaking NDAs.
Scribus is a replacement for InDesign and can layout magazines. It doesn't use GenAI, BUT be careful since there is a AI gen named after the program. (Because of course they would.) The learning curve is hard and it's not as advanced as Adobe for things, but it can layout magazines decently. So click the link instead.
Davinci Resolve Pro is a film editing software that's super good. Their CEO came hard against GenAI: https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=205673 when it was brought up in the forums, as a request to add, there was a hard no from the CEO. There is a free version and a paid version. The forums are responsive. The programmers aren't always present. There is a healthy group of tutorials. Black Magic is an Aussie company, but the program's core was DaVinici Systems, a US company (Florida), where the program originated. DaVinci Systems was bought by Black Magic. Black Magic has offices in US (Bay area/Los Angeles), UK (Manchester), Netherlands (Amsterdam), Australia (Melbourne), Singapore, China (Beijing), Japan (Tokyo, Osaka), Korea (Seoul). Clean UX. It does take a little bit of time to remember the shortcuts. primary-blog-nothing-here asserted that they took data in order to create AI, but this turned out to be not a true claim. AI Tools are not the same as Gen AI. All of the tools claimed on Davinici Resolve 20 are AI tools that existed before GenAI existed. (Mostly about precutting up the timeline based on different shots). If you object to AI tools, stop using Gaussian Blur. Really they put AI in front to make it seem fancier. It's only a little more complex than the smart selection tool. They won't take your data. Cloud won't be used to train AI which they added after the whole Dropbox debacle. https://nofilmschool.com/blackmagic-ai-training-stance Note that AI tools is not the same as GenAI.
ANTI-AI Colleges and and Universities
But you need a professional website...
Look up robots.txt and AI bots: https://www.cyberciti.biz/web-developer/block-openai-bard-bing-ai-crawler-bots-using-robots-txt-file/
Use cloudflare:
Use Nightshade:
https://nightshade.cs.uchicago.edu/whatis.html
which will poison the algorithm and collapse the algorithm faster. I've seen Youtubers who are popular use it on their images they post to videos, and it made the AI bros irate. Some tried SOOO hard to argue how hopeless it was and how programmers would break the consent of artists. (Yeah, and they might wonder why they are single).
There are claims Nightshade, etc doesn't work, but the evidence it does is in this video.
I can go over the programming reasons it does as well. If it doesn't why are so many AI bros so upset every time someone uses it?
Use Glaze:
If you can't use Nightshade, use Glaze. You can't use Nightshade and Glaze at the same time, but some OS's and machines can't use Nightshade, so the secondary option is to use Glaze. This will blur your image enough in a particular way to make AI unable to read it.
Push companies towards anti-AI
Protest and Petition
Several sites gave in at least halfway or partially when people protested openly to the application. Crowd beats company every time. (Unless there are shareholders, in which case the next tip will help)
Don't buy monthly subscriptions when possible
This tip was on several Youtube videos (don't remember the creators' name, sorry, but I know one was a guy a long time ago). Newly made features every time you want to buy helps motivate the company to update, but also gives leverage to you, the consumer to actively protest the application and write a (Audrina) letter to the company.
Protest Monthly subscriptions. There was a really good video on the enshittification of Adobe, and it started around then, because that's when they became a Stock power. Don't give Stock Power to companies.
Look for Open Source Projects
They aren't rich enough to run servers, so won't add AI.
Convince Employers/Institutions that AI is not copyright protected and bad for branding.
Our biggest obstacle is here. As long as institutions get kickbacks from Adobe, etc and get donated funds, they are more than likely to use it as primary teaching material, which then undercuts their policies about no plagiarism. Point out that free programs are good or sometimes better than the paid ones AND it doesn't undercut their own message and they might convert.
Take Away
The thing is you think you doing it alone will do nothing, but the more AI feeds on itself, AI images, the worse they become, and the less detailed so, denying it the images, adding poison or not being able to read the human text is eventually going to lead to an AI collapse.
Analysis shows that indiscriminately training generative artificial intelligence on real and generated content, usually done by scrapi
And why not help that along?
I don't want to give cancer to poor people [Link] or make the planet burn faster [Link]. So GenAI collapse is everything I dream of. GenAI apocalypse is not.
BTW, the information about poor communities having cancer from GenAI servers I got from Reese Waters who pointed out it's usually poor Black elderly communities. But especially Grok. Timestamp is 16:28.
Hi! Since so many of you message me every day asking for eye-color prompts I’ve already made, I decided to put ALL my eye-prompts into one single post. From now on, every new eye-prompt I create will also be added here.
Feel free to reblog or save this post, so you always have the full collection at your fingertips.
orv fanfic writers have a chance to do the funniest thing rn and by that i mean Kim Dokja, who's been on the frontlines, correcting Yoo Joonhyuk on how to use guns properly
so, the swords are back and bihyung has been turned into a doraemon looking monstrosity. and kim dokja is no longer fourth wall protected--that wall wouldn't let kdj get caught dead screaming "ah, wait!!!" as yjh tries to kill him. i can only imagine how much he'll suffer as the story progresses. (at least the swords are back)
I am on my knees begging you to reblog this post and to stop reblogging the original ones I sent out yesterday. This is the complete account with all the most recent info; the other one is just sending people down senselessly panicked avenues that no longer lead anywhere.
IN SHORT
Cliff Weitzman, CEO of Speechify and (aspiring?) voice actor, used AI to scrape thousands of popular, finished works off AO3 to list them on his own for-profit website and in his attached app. He did this without getting any kind of permission from the authors of said work or informing AO3. Obviously.
When fandom at large was made aware of his theft and started pushing back, Weitzman issued a non-apology on the original social media posts—using
his dyslexia;
his intent to implement a tip-system for the plagiarized authors; and
a sudden willingness to take down the work of every author who saw my original social media posts and emailed him individually with a ‘valid’ claim,
as reasons we should allow him to continue monetizing fanwork for his own financial gain.
When we less-than-kindly refused, he took down his ‘apologies’ as well as his website (allegedly—it’s possible that our complaints to his web host, the deluge of emails he received or the unanticipated traffic brought it down, since there wasn’t any sort of official statement made about it), and when it came back up several hours later, all of the work formerly listed in the fan fiction category was no longer there.
THE TAKEAWAYS
1. Cliff Weitzman (aka Ofek Weitzman) is a scumbag with no qualms about taking fanwork without permission, feeding it to AI and monetizing it for his own financial gain;
2. Fandom can really get things done when it wants to, and
3. Our fanworks appear to be hidden, but they’re NOT DELETED from Weitzman’s servers, and independently published, original works are still listed without the authors' permission. We need to hold this man responsible for his theft, keep an eye on both his current and future endeavors, and take action immediately when he crosses the line again.
THE TIMELINE, THE DETAILS, THE SCREENSHOTS (behind the cut)
Sunday night, December 22nd 2024, I noticed an influx in visitors to my fic You & Me & Holiday Wine. When I searched the title online, hoping to find out where they came from, a new listing popped up (third one down, no less):
This listing is still up today, by the way, though now when you follow the link to word-stream, it just brings you to the main site. (Also, to be clear, this was not the cause for the influx of traffic to my fic; word-stream did not link back to the original work anywhere.)
I followed the link to word-stream, where to my horror Y&M&HW was listed in its entirety—though, beyond the first half of the first chapter, behind a paywall—along with a link promising to take me—through an app downloadable on the Apple Store—to an AI-narrated audiobook version. When I searched word-stream itself for my ao3 handle I found both of my multi-chapter fics were listed this way:
Because the tags on my fics (which included genres* and characters, but never the original IPs**) weren’t working, I put ‘Kara Danvers’ into the search bar and discovered that many more supercorp fics (Supergirl TV fandom, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor pairing) were listed.
I went looking online for any mention of word-stream and AI plagiarism (the covers—as well as the ridiculously inflated number of reviews and ratings—made it immediately obvious that AI fuckery was involved), but found almost nothing: only one single Reddit post had been made, and it received (at that time) only a handful of upvotes and no advice.
I decided to make a tumblr post to bring the supercorp fandom up to speed about the theft. I draw as well as write for fandom and I’ve only ever had to deal with art theft—which has a clear set of steps to take depending on where said art was reposted—and I was at a loss regarding where to start in this situation.
After my post went up I remembered Project Copy Knight, which is worth commending for the work they’ve done to get fic stolen from AO3 taken down from monetized AI 'audiobook’ YouTube accounts. I reached out to @echoekhi, asking if they’d heard of this site and whether they could advise me on how to get our works taken down.
While waiting for a reply I looked into Copy Knight’s methods and decided to contact OTW’s legal department:
And then I went to bed.
By morning, tumblr friends @makicarn and @fazedlight as well as a very helpful tumblr anon had seen my post and done some very productive sleuthing:
@echoekhi had also gotten back to me, advising me, as expected, to contact the OTW. So I decided to sit tight until I got a response from them.
That response came only an hour or so later:
Which was 100% understandable, but still disappointing—I doubted a handful of individual takedown requests would accomplish much, and I wasn’t eager to share my given name and personal information with Cliff Weitzman himself, which is unavoidable if you want to file a DMCA.
I decided to take it to Reddit, hoping it would gain traction in the wider fanfic community, considering so many fandoms were affected. My Reddit posts (with the updates at the bottom as they were emerging) can be found here and here.
A helpful Reddit user posted a guide on how users could go about filing a DMCA against word-stream here (to wobbly-at-best results)
A different helpful Reddit user signed up to access insight into word-streams pricing. Comment is here.
Smells unbelievably scammy, right? In addition to those audacious prices—though in all fairness any amount of money would be audacious considering every work listed is accessible elsewhere for free—my dyscalculia is screaming silently at the sight of that completely unnecessary amount of intentionally obscured numbers.
Speaking of which! As soon as the post on r/AO3—and, as a result, my original tumblr post—began taking off properly, sometime around 1 pm, jumpscare! A notification that a tumblr account named @cliffweitzman had commented on my post, and I got a bit mad about the gist of his message :
Fortunately he caught plenty of flack in the comments from other users (truly you should check out the comment section, it is extremely gratifying and people are making tremendously good points), in response to which, of course, he first tried to both reiterate and renegotiate his point in a second, longer comment (which I didn’t screenshot in time so I’m sorry for the crappy notification email formatting):
which he then proceeded to also post to Reddit (this is another Reddit user’s screenshot, I didn’t see it at all, the notifications were moving too fast for me to follow by then)
... where he got a roughly equal amount of righteously furious replies. (Check downthread, they're still there, all the way at the bottom.)
After which Cliff went ahead & deleted his messages altogether.
It’s not entirely clear whether his account was suspended by Reddit soon after or whether he deleted it himself, but considering his tumblr account is still intact, I assume it’s the former. He made a handful of sock puppet accounts to play around with for a while, both on Reddit and Tumblr, only one of which I have a screenshot of, but since they all say roughly the same thing, you’re not missing much:
And then word-stream started throwing a DNS error.
That lasted for a good number of hours, which was unfortunately right around the time that a lot of authors first heard about the situation and started asking me individually how to find out whether their work was stolen too. I do not have that information and I am unclear on the perimeters Weitzman set for his AI scraper, so this is all conjecture: it LOOKS like the fics that were lifted had three things in common:
They were completed works;
They had over several thousand kudos on AO3; and
They were written by authors who had actively posted or updated work over the past year.
If anyone knows more about these perimeters or has info that counters my observation, please let me know!
I finally thought to check/alert evil Twitter during this time, and found out that the news was doing the rounds there already. I made a quick thread summarizing everything that had happened just in case. You can find it here.
I went to Bluesky too, where fandom was doing all the heavy lifting for me already, so I just reskeeted, as you do, and carried on.
Sometime in the very early evening, word-stream went back up—but the fan fiction category was nowhere to be seen. Tentative joy and celebration!***
That’s when several users—the ones who had signed up for accounts to gain intel and had accessed their own fics that way—reported that their work could still be accessed through their history. Relevant Reddit post here.
Sooo—
We’re obviously not done. The fanwork that was stolen by Weitzman may be inaccessible through his website right now, but they aren’t actually gone. And the fact that Weitzman wasn’t willing to get rid of them altogether means he still has plans for them.
This was my final edit on my Reddit post before turning off notifications, and it's pretty much where my head will be at for at least the foreseeable future:
Please feel free to add info in the comments, make your own posts, take whatever action you want to take to protect your work. I only beg you—seriously, I’m on my knees here—to not give up like I saw a handful of people express the urge to do. Keep sharing your creative work and remain vigilant and stay active to make sure we can continue to do so freely. Visit your favorite fics, and the ones you’ve kept in your ‘marked for later’ lists but never made time to read, and leave kudos, leave comments, support your fandom creatives, celebrate podficcers and support AO3. We created this place and it’s our responsibility to keep it alive and thriving for as long as we possibly can.
Also FUCK generative AI. It has NO place in fandom spaces.
THE 'SMALL' PRINT (some of it in all caps):
*Weitzman knew what he was doing and can NOT claim ignorance. One, it’s pretty basic kindergarten stuff that you don’t steal some other kid’s art project and present it as your own only to act surprised when they protest and then tell the victim that they should have told you sooner that they didn’t want their project stolen. And two, he was very careful never to list the IPs these fanworks were based on, so it’s clear he was at least familiar enough with the legalities to not get himself in hot water with corporate lawyers. Fucking over fans, though, he figured he could get away with that.
**A note about the AI that Weitzman used to steal our work: it’s even greasier than it looks at first glance. It’s not just the method he used to lift works off AO3 and then regurgitate onto his own website and app. Looking beyond the untold horrors of his AI-generated cover ‘art’, in many cases these covers attempt to depict something from the fics in question that can’t be gleaned from their summaries alone. In addition, my fics (and I assume the others, as well) were listed with generated genres; tags that did not appear anywhere in or on my fic on AO3 and were sometimes scarily accurate and sometimes way off the mark. I remember You & Me & Holiday Wine had ‘found family’ (100% correct, but not tagged by me as such) and I believe The Shape of Soup was listed as, among others, ‘enemies to friends to lovers’ and ‘love triangle’ (both wildly inaccurate). Even worse, not all the fic listed (as authors on Reddit pointed out) came with their original summaries at all. Often the entire summary was AI-generated. All of these things make it very clear that it was an all-encompassing scrape—not only were our fics stolen, they were also fed word-for-word into the AI Weitzman used and then analyzed to suit Weitzman’s needs. This means our work was literally fed to this AI to basically do with whatever its other users want, including (one assumes) text generation.
***Fan fiction appears to have been made (largely) inaccessible on word-stream at this time, but I’m hearing from several authors that their original, independently published work, which is listed at places like Kindle Unlimited, DOES still appear in word-stream’s search engine. This obviously hurts writers, especially independent ones, who depend on these works for income and, as a rule, don’t have a huge budget or a legal team with oceans of time to fight these battles for them. If you consider yourself an author in the broader sense, beyond merely existing online as a fandom author, beyond concerns that your own work is immediately at risk, DO NOT STOP MAKING NOISE ABOUT THIS.
PLEASE check my later versions of this post via my main page to make sure you have the latest version of this post before you reblog. All the information I’ve been able to gather is in my reblogs below, and it's frustrating to see the old version getting passed around, sending people on wild goose chases.
The apocalypse has started. Jung Heewon is now called Kim Dokja's Gun. Kim Dokja discarded the laws of physics and made a pistol out of a ground rat's spine. Yi Sunshin gives Kim Dokja the stigma Song of the Gun. Kim Dokja shoots down a fire dragon with his Unmissable Faith. Kim Dokja shoots at the absolute throne until it cracks. Kim Dokja gifts Jung Heewon a flame thrower that screams every time it senses evil. Kyrgios either wields a AK-47 ten times bigger than him, or a pistol you could crush with fingers. He shoots at a huge man's penis rather than cut it off. Cheok Junghyeong has a gun whose bullets could blast mountains into two and cut rivers in half. Yoo Joonghyuk shoots at the outer god with his pistol. Yoo Joonghyuk shoots at the ground when he is happy. Lee Hyunsung is called Steel Gun and can turn into a gun.
"Let's meet again Yoo Joonghyuk" *BANG BANG PEW PEW*
So like when they discover OD and KDJ tries to kill himself is he like... going to shoot himself with a broken piston (?) or something. And YJH is going to catch the fucking bullet with his bare hands or
IM FUCKING SOBBING WHY IS YOO JOONGHYUK WEILDING A GUN AND WHY DOES LEE JIHYE HAVE A RIFLE WHEN HER CONSTELLATION MARITIME WARGOD WAS FUCKING SHOT TO DEATH ALL HOPE IS LOST I HAVE GIVEN UP ON HUMANITY
I love how "rat bastard" is one of the fandom's official nicknames for Kim Dokja when the only person who called him that in the novel was that Bang Cheolsoo guy at the 2nd scenario right before he got his bones twisted
