AI: The Phantom of Fandom
On April 16th of 2025, Reddit user ellesthots posted on the Ao3 subreddit about a concerning incident they’d experienced on Tumblr, sparking a deluge of strange encounters thereafter. The post on Reddit was relatively short, expressing their dismay at finding out that a “loyal Ao3 reader” had sent them an ask on Tumblr wherein they joyfully explained that upon every update, they’ve been putting it all into the popular generative A.I. program ChatGPT so that it will write them a predictive chapter while they wait for the author to update naturally. ellesthots laments that they are “honestly flabbergasted that anyone thought this was flattering” and that the “AI feels so insulting and violating,” a sentiment to which most writers on Ao3 and Reddit could relate.
Advice was fairly level-headed as it usually is on the Ao3 subreddit with the top comment explaining that the best way to go about handling this situation is through gentle explanation of why things like this can be hurtful or harmful for an author who didn’t consent to their work being stored in the memory of the plagiarism machine. There really are people out there who are clueless about how this might come off to creatives: those who put a lot of love and effort into their work only to see it cheapened by the slop that AI predicts. ellesthots agreed that they wanted to avoid any needless confrontation or blocking a reader as dedicated and loyal as they clearly were, determined to inform rather than condemn, which as we all well know is the mature and well-reasoned approach to any issue.
Of course, things got pear-shaped quickly.
Their next post was titled “people might want to turn on comment moderation for a while…” [sic] and they sadly updated everyone on the subreddit to their new circumstances. Their original post on Reddit “blew up” in all the wrong places (they mention Twitter, bleh) and while “most were supportive” the pro-AI crowd got rowdy. ellesthots found that they would spam comments on her fics on Ao3 and her inbox on Tumblr. They allegedly made racist statements and sought to “impersonate” them on Ao3 in order to turn readers against them (commenting in response to them as a Guest and under her username). Though these specific comments have been deleted, there is evidence of their existence including her damage control and reduction efforts on her latest fic along with readers’ reactions. It is claimed that “This has started happening to others too.” which has naturally prompted the top comment on this post to be a well-upvoted “What the actual fuck is wrong with people.” from u/KillsOnTop. No one is quite sure why AI Bros would think that harassing people is the way to market their favorite thing in the world, but then again there are many mysteries in life, I suppose.
AI has turned into one massive phantom for the online fanfiction community, becoming the specter of darkness haunting Roderick Usher, hellbent on sucking the whole house into a deep and sucking tarn. It is the art of the artless: a strange meandering of directionless garbage produced through choiceless lethargy. Each stroke of a brush is a choice and no AI has this. Each word is a choice and no AI has this. There is no “making with love” when you make with AI and perhaps this is why the AI “bros” have only hate to guide them and propel them forward in these endeavors. Because they have never made anything with love, and they would not, for they do not understand its significance in art. They argue sometimes that AI is a disability aid. Well, I must compel them to understand: a lack of love is not a disability. It is a choice. It’s a wrong one.
After the incident with ellesthots, several other users made posts discussing issues with trolls claiming to have fed their stories into AI, cementing the truth in the statement that it had become a trend to harass even unrelated authors. Even more started discussing that they had received comments accusatory in nature about how their work was written by AI, (likely bots seeking engagement to drive traffic to their AI sites). These were prevalent enough that at current there is a moratorium on discussing AI on the Ao3 subreddit, as it had become la chose du jour, allowing some other topics to filter in before the AI discussions can be taken up again when things calm down.
For now, we will have to mitigate what we can. Do not engage, lock things down if you have to or if you’re worried, and make sure you have your settings where you want them. Block liberally, set up your preferences, and protect your peace. They have to live with their joylessness, we don’t.