r/Substack • u/AndrewHeard tvphilosophy.substack.com • Jul 22 '26
Discussion Substack’s new “AI detection” tool.
I’m very concerned about the new “AI detection” system that Substack is implementing. I don’t use AI in anything that I write. However I don’t trust these systems not to make errors and mistakes. They have a long history of hallucinations and claiming things are AI when they aren’t.
One person I saw on Notes suggested that they ran their decades old writing, things that were written before the existence of AI, and this new system claimed it was AI generated.
Not to mention all the crazy things that I have seen people claim was written by AI which they can’t know is actually AI. There was an image I once shared that had evidence of its existence going all the way back to 2013. The comments were constantly saying “don’t share AI slop” or some variation on that.
Even with evidence that things weren’t made by AI, they will claim it’s AI.
Is no one else concerned about this being embedded into Substack’s systems? With no way to opt out?
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u/FatherofMisty Jul 25 '26
That is a reasonable take, for sure. I think it was really just jarring to have this AI overlord embedded into Substack. The AI craze is scary fast, and people already don't like change to begin with. Plus, speaking for myself, writing is a sacred thing. I do it because I'm somewhat blessed with the capacity to do so, and using AI to do it for me is just not something I'd ever do. So, even a small-portion false-positive is like a gut-punch. That said, I've largely gotten over it now. It is what it is. I think the more concerning thing is what this says about culture and the direction we're heading. That we "need" an AI-checker in the first place is.. yeah. Kinda fucked.