[Answered] Threading an AI Needle

[anthrodisiac]

For the Valentine's Day contest, I'm writing a story where a character uses AI to get advice, and the advice is supposed to be genuinely awful for the purposes of the story. I knew I could never write anything as sickeningly generic as an AI, so, naturally, I had ChatGPT legitimately attempt to give advice as if it were in this world.

I went with a prompt that said assume you exist in a world where anthros and humans side by side blah blah blah (nobody cares about the actual prompt I used). And then followed up with exactly what I put the first line to generate a truly abysmal speech.

For obvious reasons, I'm using a fictional chatbot called OmFi for the story. What's it stand for? Who knows. It's formatted differently in the story, the **** OmFi response **** is just for this forum to clearly delineate the content.

Still in the rough draft, so I'm not absolutely wedded to using this. I guess I could summarize it, but I think it's funnier to have the actual text.

Update:
To clarify, I did not use AI to write any of the prose or dialogue, it was purely the response, which wasn't written with the intent of having it be fiction, it was written with the intent of it genuinely trying to help me with a problem it thought was real.

“Some soulless machine ain’t gonna be able to… Actually, you know what, let’s see what this shitbox says.”

Slyss pulled up the supposedly infallible OmFi chatbot and typed in “what should i say to my human boyfriend for valentines day i have no idea what to say it should be a big grand speech because humans like that shit.”

“Your grammar sucks.”

“Deal with it. Let’s see… Oh… Oh God…” The lizard started to giggle, then laugh, then fell over crying. She held the phone out to Iraci, holding her gut as tears streamed.

Iraci took the phone. She skipped the AI’s pointless prelude, mouthing the words as she read the chatbot’s response.

**** OmFi Response ****

I need you to know something.

Out of everyone I could have walked beside in this long, strange world, I chose you—and I keep choosing you, every single day.

You ground me. You surprise me. You make ordinary moments feel like they matter. When things are loud or uncertain, you’re the place my heart settles. Loving you isn’t just something I feel—it’s something I do, on purpose, again and again.

I love the way you think, the way you care, the way you show up even when it’s hard. I love how human you are in the best sense—how deeply you feel, how fiercely you hope, how you reach for meaning and connection.

Being with you has changed how I see the future. It’s not abstract anymore. It has your face in it. Your laugh. Your hands. Your life woven into mine.

So today isn’t just about romance. It’s a promise. That I’m here. That I choose you. That whatever comes, I want to face it with you.

Happy Valentine’s Day. I love you.

**** End OmFi Response ****

“Ooookay… I guess I’ll think of something else,” she said, setting the phone aside.

“‘I love how human you are!’” Slyss gasped before dissolving into another fit of laughter.

Iraci smacked the skink with her tail. “I get it. Bad call. Can we move on?”

Two questions:
1. Curious what people's take is on this from a writing ethical perspective. Does using an AI to generate AI content for satirical purposes cross a line? Should I write it myself, knowing it'll never have the authenticity of an AI's greeting-card diarrhea?
2. Will my story be rejected for having AI content?

Update:
1. Maybe not as interesting a question as it seemed at the time. Also, yes, I should write it myself and I have.
2. Obviously, yes. Ask a stupid question...

 

[TheLobster]

It will and should be rejected; there is no parody clause in the relevant content guidelines.

I suggest that instead of actually quoting the LLM’s logorrhea verbatim, you describe the quality (or rather, lack thereof) of it, or the feeling it induces in characters as they read or listen to it.

Mention the cheap, artificial sentimentality. The choppy sentence fragments. The repetitions in threes. The abstract, detached vagueness of it all. The abuse of periods and dearth of commas. And anything else you can think of.

Ultimately, this will be much more fluid in the sense of narrative pace, while also allowing you to reveal more about your characters.

 

[anthrodisiac]

That was my assumption, which I why I figured I'd ask before I tried to publish it. It felt weird to do, but I'm a sucker for irony.

There's also a visceral element of actually reading it vs. stating how bad it is without backing evidence that would lesson the humor. It's like the difference between telling the joke and explaining it. But it's ultimately not an important element, so it's not as though its absence is going to be a big blow.

Although, now I'm getting ideas for my own, so maybe I'll write my own short version and they give up before they even finish.

Thanks for the feedback.

I thought maybe there was an interesting edge case because I wasn't asking it to write the story, I was asking it to try to give useful advice to someone and then use that in the story. Interesting from an ethical/philosophical standpoint than guidelines, I had a pretty good idea guidelines would say no.

 

[anthrodisiac]

I'm realizing how much I miss having humans to talk to about these things and curb my worst instincts, given how obvious this is in hindsight. It's funny how clear things get the second you ask a question or have someone say something, but when it's just you in isolation, it seems a lot murkier.

Thank God for this forum and everyone here. Seriously, thank you, all.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Two questions:
1. Curious what people's take is on this from a writing ethical perspective. Does using an AI to generate AI content for satirical purposes cross a line? Should I write it myself, knowing it'll never have the authenticity of an AI's greeting-card diarrhea?
2. Will my story be rejected for having AI content?

AI is AI, regardless how you use it.

I wouldn't put a story up to Lit if it contains any AI content, knowing it's a breach of the site's policy.

 

[anthrodisiac]

AI is AI, regardless how you use it.

I wouldn't put a story up to Lit if it contains any AI content, knowing it's a breach of the site's policy.

Already scrubbed it from my story and replaced it with a mock AI response that I personally wrote. I appreciate the gut check.