The recent proliferation of generative AI is threatening creatives everywhere. In the writing space, including fiction writing and publishing, there has been an explosion in the last year or two of stories that were largely written by or heavily revised using genAI (including, but not limited to, genAI chatbots and genAI “tools” commonly incorporated into many software programs). GenAI models, such as ChatGPT and these aforementioned “tools,” are trained using stolen writing and art, without permission from the copyright holder (with several high-profile copyright infringement lawsuits currently ongoing[1]).
Using these platforms to assist in the writing process does not seem ethically sound and is, in fact, exploiting the hard work of other writers and artists, who have spent years honing their craft. In addition, there are major negative environmental impacts associated with AI data centers around the globe, and all use of genAI feeds into these impacts.[2a,b]
Fanfiction is such a wonderful outlet for fans, and we’re very proud to be part of this fandom, which was born at the very beginnings of online communities. Many of us remember writing fanfic by hand or typing out our stories in very basic word processing programs that lacked even a basic spellcheck feature. Things have definitely changed, and we felt we needed to address this issue going forward.
To that end, it is the view of the current EICs of the L&C Fanfic Archive that genAI has no place in fanfiction writing. Writing is a creative art, and we believe genAI should not be used to generate (in whole or in part), revise, or edit fanfic.* Moreover, since our fandom is unique in that we have a dedicated fanfic archive where our wonderful team of volunteer GEs provides editing for submitted stories, we believe it is also unethical to require GEs to edit AI-generated content.
Therefore, moving forward, we will not be accepting or including fanfic in the Archive that was generated (in whole or in part), revised, or edited using genAI.* We know this is an emerging technology, and everyone may not understand the entirety of what genAI is nor its implications. So, please feel free to ask all the questions if you are unclear about whether the program or tools you are using for your writing incorporate genAI. You can contact us here, DM us, or email at EIC@lcfanfic.com, and we will be happy to help clarify.
*Please note, this is not referring to
standard non-genAI spellcheck and grammar-check tools built into many programs, such as MS Word, Google Docs, Grammarly, and ProWritingAid; these features have been around for a long time and were not built by stealing the work of others. We are also not trying to gatekeep research or brainstorming processes. We are specifically referring to the use of
genAI tools to write and/or rewrite text, including, but not limited to, ChatGPT and related genAI models to write, revise, or edit text; ProWritingAid’s Sparks, Rephrase, Critique Report, Manuscript Analysis, and Virtual Beta Reader features; and Grammarly’s AI, which can rewrite and revise text accordingly to style, tone, etc.
Links for more information
1. Currently ongoing lawsuits regarding genAI and copyright infringement https://sustainabletechpartner.com/topics/ai/generative-ai-lawsuit-timeline/
2 Environmental impacts of genAIa.
https://news.mit.edu/2025/explained-generative-ai-environmental-impact-0117b.
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/download/29101
