Dissecting Literotica’s AI Policy

[Kelliezgirl]

So kinda like Mystery Science Theater 3000, but with nudity? That's genius!!

It would so sell...

 

[StillStunned]

Actually, on reflection, having a naked cam girl read my story aloud and comment from her bed "god, what a piece of shit this is" would be even worse than getting a 1-star bomb.

Yes, but imagine it in a thick Eastern European accent!

 

[SmilingLez]

I don't know why people say this like it's still a surprise. An 8 hour work day is 480 minutes / 175 stories (i saw someone repeat this number recently) = 2.74 minutes per story assuming every second of effort went into a story that was successfully published, to say nothing of rejections and comment moderation and whatever else.

Once upon a time? Sure. Now?

I also don't understand why certain authors still believe every story is read by Laurel before it is posted.

I am sure there are several free AI tools tacked on to literotica's aging (25+ years) CMS. I wouldn't be surprised if at least 20% of the stories that are submitted are rejected because these tools are flawed. Following this train of thought, perhaps these rejected stories are put in pending purgatory with some of them receiving notification that their story has been rejected while others get nothing

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I think many BDSM authors would pay to have their story shredded to pieces by some of those cam girls.

I can already imagine the sex talk:

"Yes... Yes! Judge me harshly, call me a hack!"

"This is the most disgusting piece of shit I've ever read!"

Slowly tears the sheet in half, allowing the torn pieces to flutter to the floor past her lingerie clad body before using her heel to grind the paper into the floor.

"You should be ashamed to portray a woman in this juvenile manner" as the heel continues to grind...

 

[cw5523729]

It would so sell...

I'll send laurel a message to make sure you get a royalty when she implements it. I have her private cell #

 

[TheLobster]

Actually, on reflection, having a naked cam girl read my story aloud and comment from her bed "god, what a piece of shit this is" would be even worse than getting a 1-star bomb.

Ah yes, litdom, the lesser known kink cousin of findom.

 

[EmilyMiller]

"Literotica’s own use of AI is currently limited to improving the way we recommend related works to readers."

Based on what appears in my similar stories list, the AI is pretty crap .

 

[TheLobster]

"Literotica’s own use of AI is currently limited to improving the way we recommend related works to readers."

So literotica uses an AI tool to see if the stories we write are AI generated. It's like the pot calling the kettle black. This leads me to believe that not every story that gets posted is read by Laurel. YMMV

Given the quality of its recommendations, my hunch is that the “AI” is a five-line SQL query that mostly just joins to the tags table with a sprinkling of FTS.

In other words, see one of my other posts earlier.

 

[SmilingLez]

Based on what appears in my similar stories list, the AI is pretty crap .

I agree with you. As a lesbian literotica's AI suggests heterosexual content - lol

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I agree with you. As a lesbian literotica's AI suggests heterosexual content - lol

Because even AI knows you just need the right man to come along...

 

[Actingup]

In the hiatus of not writing, as for whatever reason my works are not currently getting published, I’ve seen numerous theories here in AH on Lit’s current crisis and the assumption it’s related to a spike in AI driven content/volume.

There’s also the daily well known gripe posts/panic threads relating to “my story was rejected for use of AI”. Which are always contested with claims that no AI has ever been used.

Then there’s the issue on translation for the community who are not English speaking/typing and the complaint that translation tools are flagged as AI content (which they invariably are by necessity)

As in many other daily touch points AI is here and it’s not going away, it’s a threat to genuine writers and their originality. Its threat will only increase so a clear policy on AI is essential

Many around here might have overlooked or be unfamiliar with Lits actual AI policy that’s hidden away in the sites FAQ’s

it’s a wonderfully ambiguous policy that’s worth dissecting… so I gave it a go and added my personal thoughts on the policy that’s being used to reject story’s

**********************

Literotica does not currently have an official comprehensive policy on Artificial Intelligence (AI). We are waiting to see how this technology develops, and getting feedback from our community, before creating any comprehensive AI policy. However, we have put together the following points on where AI fits into Literotica at this time.

Well there’s a great place to start - it’s there in black and white; there is no ‘official comprehensive policy’ on AI usage so we start from a place of massive hypocrisy

1. Literotica is a storytelling community based around the publishing of humanadult fantasies. While AI tools - spellcheck, grammar tools, autocomplete, etc. - have long been used to help Literotica authors write their stories, the fantasies themselves come from the creative efforts, experiences, and fantasies of the real people who make up the Literotica community. As writing tools continue to evolve, we do not foresee a future where machine fantasies will replace the real experiences and creative efforts of Literotica’s community of human authors.

Pick from this what you can but there appears to be an acceptance that AI style tools to check grammar etc have long been used - if that’s the case why penalise those that use them, are we better off with little to no grammar and stories littered with isssues (personal note: as a dyslexic I rely heavily on word to check my spelling and grammar)

2. Literotica explicitly does NOT grant any person or entity (commercial, non-profit, or other) the legal right to train AI on any works published on Literotica. Each work published on Literotica is copyrighted by the author. Before using any work on Literotica for any purpose (including training AI or any other AI-related use) you are required by law to contact the author to request permission to use that work. Using works on Literotica for training AI without legal authorization may subject you and your AI (and any work generated by your AI) to future lawsuits from the original author(s), Literotica, or both.

Fair enough

3. We are monitoring the various ethical concerns around AI tools (some of which we have been contacted about directly from members of the Literotica Community). We plan to continue closely watching the development of AI, along with the development of public policies around AI, before creating our own official policies.

When will this policy be official then and until such time as it is official why are writers being rejected on the basis of AI if there is no official policy on AI?

4. Literotica’s Publishing Guidelines are clear - you must certify that you are the author of AND you own the copyright to any work published on Literotica. While simple AI tools (spelling and grammar tools, for example) do not usually interfere with an author’s copyright, there are unanswered questions around copyright when using some of the latest AI technologies that generate large blocks of text. If there are any questions about copyright related to any work you’ve used AI tools to help you create, we ask that you research and be 100% sure you own the full rights to the work before attempting to publish the work on Literotica. If you publish a work on Literotica to which you do not fully own the copyright, it may open you up to future legal repercussions.

Seems that this is a copyright issue not an AI issue

5. Literotica’s own use of AI is currently limited to improving the way we recommend related works to readers.

????

What is Considered an AI Generated Story at Literotica?

Here we go, this will start to clarify matters, surely

With the proliferation of “smart” writing software and spelling/grammar apps in the last few years, questions arise about whether a story using these tools should be considered AI generated or human written. If blocks of text are being generated by a machine, that’s clearly AI writing. If software helps correct spelling and grammar in text that a human author has written, that’s probably not an AI generated story.

Fair enough on the first point although the ambiguity and contradiction in the lack of a policy is jarring in relation to software that helps correct spelling and grammar

One area of particular concern is software or apps that “rewrite” your paragraphs or stories for you. The text that results from rewriting features is definitely AI generated. These type of apps are replacing original human written text with generic AI generated text, and should be avoided when submitting work to Literotica. Readers prefer to experience your worlds and your fantasies in your own unique voice, rather than having them smoothed into a generic artificial voice available to everyone else using the same software.

Valid point, but in the absence of an official policy how do those who pass judgement justify what’s unique from an author and what’s been generated by an AI. This is surely being based on an assumption that an author doesn’t type the same words/sentence /paragraph/chapter in the same manner as an AI might or could

If you have questions, suggestions, or comments about Artificial Intelligence and how it might impact the future of writing, we recommend that you visit the Literotica Author Support Forum to discuss the issue with other published Literotica Authors.

Yeah OK but without casting too much shade communication is a one way street around here, but let’s leave that complaint where it is for now


********************


And that’s it, that’s the policy (or lack of policy)

Feel free to dissect and interpret as you please and let the comments below descend into the usual AH chaos

If you only take one thing from this post/thread please let it be that as a writer you may fall foul of an AI Policy that is not an ‘official comprehensive policy’

You could conclude, it’s all just being made up as it goes along and is wheeled out as a very convenient broad brush excuse.

Thanks put starting this thread. I can see it's jumped the shark into Cam Girl Land, but I do think that you've highlighted that Literotica needs to publish a clearly articulated and definite AI policy. In my own world, we would set up a working group of volunteers to draft such a policy and take it through the approval process. I'm not offering to do that, but it could be a way to progress things with the powers that be.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I also don't understand why certain authors still believe every story is read by Laurel before it is posted.

Laurel has historically told many different people that she did this (me included). Of course we could all be having a collective hallucination (or she could have been dissembling). But I’ve heard nothing from her since August 27th.

That was then. Now? Neither I nor anyone else knows what has changed (but things have clearly changed). Someone has replied from Laurel’s account in recent days - crediting the authors who got a reply with honesty, and I have no reason to dount this.

But we all are still groping around in the dark as to the actual current situation.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I agree with you. As a lesbian literotica's AI suggests heterosexual content - lol

Yeah - I often get non-con recommendations.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Thanks put starting this thread. I can see it's jumped the shark into Cam Girl Land, but I do think that you've highlighted that Literotica needs to publish a clearly articulated and definite AI policy. In my own world, we would set up a working group of volunteers to draft such a policy and take it through the approval process. I'm not offering to do that, but it could be a way to progress things with the powers that be.

Corporate governance is so damn sexy, right?

 

[SmilingLez]

But we all are still groping around in the dark as to the actual current situation.

I don't understand why you and the collective all are "...still groping around in the dark..." when @AwkwardMD did the math and proved it's impossible for 1 person to read 100% of the stories submitted in 2025

 

[cw5523729]

I agree with you. As a lesbian literotica's AI suggests heterosexual content - lol

But does it come up with Google Ads for Subarus?

 

[EmilyMiller]

I don't understand why you and the collective all are "...still groping around in the dark..." when @AwkwardMD did the math and proved it's impossible for 1 person to read 100% of the stories submitted in 2025

To read each story from start to finish? Of course not. The claim has always been that she skims and pays more attention to some stories than others.

Once more, I’m merely sharing what has been said historically. I’m not a Literotica spokesperson and have heard nothing whatsoever from Laurel directly since August 27th.

Something has changed, we don’t know what, and the site appears to be comfortable with that situation.

 

[RejectReality]

I don't understand why you and the collective all are "...still groping around in the dark..." when @AwkwardMD did the math and proved it's impossible for 1 person to read 100% of the stories submitted in 2025

I don't know why you think anyone ever believed Laurel was reading 100% of more than a handful of submissions that got green Es. You can dig back 20 years and find people saying she's just skimming, because she has to. Most likely with a script that highlights a collection of troublesome words and phrases to facilitate that.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Literotica does not currently have an official comprehensive policy on Artificial Intelligence (AI). We are waiting to see how this technology develops, and getting feedback from our community, before creating any comprehensive AI policy. However, we have put together the following points on where AI fits into Literotica at this time.

Well there’s a great place to start - it’s there in black and white; there is no ‘official comprehensive policy’ on AI usage so we start from a place of massive hypocrisy

IIRC, this "no comprehensive policy, wait and see" statement was Lit's first response to the emergence of generative AI. Later, they did impose a ban, which they added to the FAQs, but neglected to remove this "no comprehensive policy" text. Keeping content current is not one of the things that Lit is great at.

Unless you have more information than you've posted here, going from "failed to update a thing" to "hypocrisy" seems like an unnecessarily inflammatory reach.

Pick from this what you can but there appears to be an acceptance that AI style tools to check grammar etc have long been used - if that’s the case why penalise those that use them, are we better off with little to no grammar and stories littered with isssues (personal note: as a dyslexic I rely heavily on word to check my spelling and grammar)

"AI style tools" is not clearly defined, but in these conversations people are usually talking about generative AI (in this context, specifically, large language models).

LLMs have not "long been used" for grammar checking; they've only been widely available in the last few years.

Before that, grammar-check products used other methods which weren't based on scraping huge quantities of copyrighted material and which didn't offer things like rewrite suggestions. Unfortunately, those products have since embraced generative AI so that people who just want the capability they had a few years back, without the generative-AI implications, are SOL. But that's on Grammarly and their competitors, not on Lit.

3. We are monitoring the various ethical concerns around AI tools (some of which we have been contacted about directly from members of the Literotica Community). We plan to continue closely watching the development of AI, along with the development of public policies around AI, before creating our own official policies.

When will this policy be official then and until such time as it is official why are writers being rejected on the basis of AI if there is no official policy on AI?

How on earth should they know? This is an evolving issue being played out in the courts and elsewhere. AFAIK Laurel + Manu have no inside info about how or when these issues are going to be resolved.

4. Literotica’s Publishing Guidelines are clear - you must certify that you are the author of AND you own the copyright to any work published on Literotica. While simple AI tools (spelling and grammar tools, for example) do not usually interfere with an author’s copyright, there are unanswered questions around copyright when using some of the latest AI technologies that generate large blocks of text. If there are any questions about copyright related to any work you’ve used AI tools to help you create, we ask that you research and be 100% sure you own the full rights to the work before attempting to publish the work on Literotica. If you publish a work on Literotica to which you do not fully own the copyright, it may open you up to future legal repercussions.

Seems that this is a copyright issue not an AI issue

5. Literotica’s own use of AI is currently limited to improving the way we recommend related works to readers.

????

That kind of "if you liked this story, you might like ..." is a common machine-learning application, which some might call AI - but it's quite a different class to text generation, the kind of "AI" that's mostly under discussion here. I'd guess that that's what this refers to.

One area of particular concern is software or apps that “rewrite” your paragraphs or stories for you. The text that results from rewriting features is definitely AI generated. These type of apps are replacing original human written text with generic AI generated text, and should be avoided when submitting work to Literotica. Readers prefer to experience your worlds and your fantasies in your own unique voice, rather than having them smoothed into a generic artificial voice available to everyone else using the same software.

Valid point, but in the absence of an official policy how do those who pass judgement justify what’s unique from an author and what’s been generated by an AI. This is surely being based on an assumption that an author doesn’t type the same words/sentence /paragraph/chapter in the same manner as an AI might or could

That is indeed the challenge. My best guess is that some sort of automated "AI detector" product is being used, and that Lit is reluctant to disclose details in case this allows people to bypass it. Whether those are good choices is another question; I'm far from convinced, though I don't have the information that L&M have access to.

If you have questions, suggestions, or comments about Artificial Intelligence and how it might impact the future of writing, we recommend that you visit the Literotica Author Support Forum to discuss the issue with other published Literotica Authors.

Yeah OK but without casting too much shade communication is a one way street around here, but let’s leave that complaint where it is for now

I find the silence from Lit frustrating. I think they could be communicating much better about this than they are.

OTOH, if I were Laurel reading a thread like this and seeing it start out with assumptions of bad faith, I can't say I'd be tremendously motivated to try having a productive discussion.

You could conclude, it’s all just being made up as it goes along

Yes, that's what the entire world is doing in response to the emergence of a new and highly disruptive technology. If it bugs you that Literotica is making it up as they go, wait'll you hear what businesses and governments are doing.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Grammarly doesn't rewrite your text;

They advertise rewriting as one of the major selling points of their product. For instance: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/product/tone-rewrite-suggestions/

 

[YmaOHyd]

I don't know why people say this like it's still a surprise. An 8 hour work day is 480 minutes / 175 stories (i saw someone repeat this number recently) = 2.74 minutes per story assuming every second of effort went into a story that was successfully published, to say nothing of rejections and comment moderation and whatever else.

Once upon a time? Sure. Now?

When I looked yesterday, 1,334 stories had been published in the previous six days. That's about 220 each day.

 

[AwkwardMD]

When I looked yesterday, 1,334 stories had been published in the previous six days. That's about 220 each day.

Ffs that's high

 

[MillieDynamite]

I should've said it doesn't rewrite my text. Sorry, I dismiss all suggestions that aren't directly concerned with spelling or grammar.

They advertise rewriting as one of the major selling points of their product. For instance: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/product/tone-rewrite-suggestions/