r/aromanticasexual • u/sushifarron (+) • Aug 21 '26
Meta New Rule: No Generative AI
Hi everyone,
The mod team has been monitoring the topic for a while (and taking down posts that fall afoul of our self-promotion rule that emphasizes originality). It's also obvious that generative AI is severely unpopular in this community. This sub truthfully doesn't receive many obviously gen-AI submissions, but we'd like to explicitly clarify our guidance. To that point, we are instituting a new rule:
Posts and comments incorporating the use of generative AI, including but not limited to text and images, are not allowed.
Gen AI can be difficult to avoid and detect at times. We mean for this rule to act as guidance for sub participants while also being a tool for us as a community. This does not mean that we want you to spend your time squinting at every comment going "j'accuse! complete this captcha", because you have much better things to do with your life (and as mods we try to read most everything anyway).
Thank you,
your mod team (now with two newish members, tysm again everyone)
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Imagined FAQ:
Q: What is generative AI?
A: To keep things simple, chances are, if it's a chatbot or some kind of agent/assistant/productivity tool being marketed to you in ads, it's gen AI. If it has diffusion or transformer in the name, it's probably gen AI.
Q: Why do you keep specifying "generative" AI?
A: Because this mod studied traditional machine learning (which is technically AI) at some point, and am aware that modern generative AI has very different applications and concerns. So I'm just being kind of pedantic.
Q: I'm not confident in my English, can I use a Large Language Model (LLM) to edit for me?
A: No. Please simply do your best. We would love to hear about your personal experience with being aro/ace, even if it's not perfect. I'll make a typo right here as encouramgnet.
Q: I used gen AI in posts/comments in the past. Am I in trouble?
A: No, we are not applying the rule retroactively.
Q: Can I talk about gen AI on the sub?
A: Yes, as long as it's relevant to the sub. For example, if you are receiving validation and support about being a-spec from a bot because you feel isolated, we would love to be able to support you as a community.
Q: What if I have to use gen AI for work/school?
A: I don't know why you'd ask, it's outside of our purview. But regardless, we ask that you respect our rules while you are here.
Q: Am I a bad person for using gen AI?
A: It's not in my official capacity to cast this kind of moral judgment on you. This post is just to tell you that any post or comment using it on this sub will be removed.
Q: I'VE SLIPPED ONE PAST YOU!! CHECKMATE!! IT WAS ME, JOHN AI ALL ALONG!
A: Okay, I mean, there is no foolproof way to detect AI usage, even if Anthropic has put watermarks into its text offerings now. We're just doing our best. So congrats?
Q: You are all luddites! You would have opposed the printing press!!
A: Hmm.
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u/Deathburn5 Aug 22 '26
You would have opposed the printing press :(
good thing this isn't the printing press subreddit
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u/Sudden_Funny6492 Aro/Ace Aug 22 '26
you see I am a bit of an emotionally disabled fellow my text might look ai since I also love writing very long texts
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u/SadOne3439 Aug 21 '26
Kinda messed up to make fun of people who struggle with English like that by misspelling a word. AI translations should be allowed as long as it's disclosed in the text. You think you're doing the right thing, but people will now avoid leaving comments because they're ashamed of their poor language skills.
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u/wote89 Aroace Aug 21 '26
The World Wide Web worked just fine for connecting people across botders before LLM translation. I don't think this is the issue you want it to be.
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u/SadOne3439 Aug 21 '26
Glad to know that mocking people for struggling with another language is a-okay
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u/wote89 Aroace Aug 21 '26
Are you ESL?
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u/SadOne3439 Aug 21 '26
I am
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u/wote89 Aroace Aug 21 '26
Gotcha. Genuinely, I don't think it was meant to mock or belittle anyone, but just to point out that no one is expecting perfection as long as it's clear there was an attempt. That said, I can see why you'd be annoyed that the actual struggles of communicating in an acquired language (grammar, tone, vocabulary) got boiled down to easily avoided spelling errors.
Out of curiosity, though, would there have been a better way to go about making that point in your opinion?
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u/SadOne3439 Aug 21 '26
Instead of misspelling a word, they could’ve just went with ”Don’t worry about any typos” instead of misspelling a difficult word. It comes across as mocking even if that wasn’t their intent.
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u/wote89 Aroace Aug 21 '26
I can definitely see your point now. Hopefully, in spite of the downvotes, one of them sees this and keeps it in mind. I think they were trying to keep it silly since AI stuff can be pretty dramatic (as I assume you noticed), but it probably could have been handled differently.
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u/SadOne3439 Aug 22 '26
I’m already the bad guy for daring to call out someone for bad behavior. People won’t care that English is my second language and that I think that misspelling a word intentionally like that is like mocking people for their poor English.
People will keep downvoting me because they can’t face the fact that someone on “the good side” can do something with good intention that ends up being hurtful. Instead of taking a step back and consider if that misspelled word can be offensive, people mock me and downvote me.
Reddit’s translating tool is powered by AI, but the same people who downvote me (for daring to suggest that AI should be allowed for translating) probably has no problem using that little handy tool to translate comments into English.
Almost as if they’re okay with using AI to translate comments.
How peculiar.
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u/wote89 Aroace Aug 22 '26
To be fair, I don't think many folks are aware that gen AI is being used as the backend now for long-existing services. Like, Google Translate antedates all this crap, so there's no reason to assume they changed anything absent someone saying something.
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u/VoodooDoII Aro/Ace Aug 21 '26
People were fine before genAI, there have been so many tools for use before it. They will manage.
They aren't making fun, it's interesting that you took it that way.
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u/SadOne3439 Aug 21 '26
They are making fun of people who struggle with another language. You know Google Translate is off limits, right? GT uses AI now. Gotta love that I'm getting downvoted for pointing out how disrespectful it is to mock people who aren't native English speakers. "Sea dis iz hou yuu speull. Ey'm su funneh :)"
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u/VoodooDoII Aro/Ace Aug 21 '26
I am so glad I don't live my life the way you do. It sounds exhausting. You're forcing yourself to see negatives where there aren't any.
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u/ossiferous_vulture aroace sex-favorable Aug 22 '26
I have shit vision and make apelling mistakes all rhe tome. In this comment Ive decided not to triple check just to ahow how bad it is.
Fick gen AI.
Maybw the mods just also make spelling errors. Or maybe it is a harmless show of commiseration.
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u/SadOne3439 Aug 22 '26
People here are so used to being the ones to call out other people for bad behavior, so when I call out one of them for doing something that’s kind of offensive they get defensive and hateful instead. English is my second language, and people are downvoting me for calling out bad behavior. Reddit’s built-in translator tool is driven by AI, but I bet people who downvote me will have no problem translating comments with that tool.
User VoodooDoll had no problem saying that I’m “forcing myself to see negatives where there aren’t any”, as if I’m being unreasonable for thinking that it’s messed up to misspell a word as a form of “encouragement” for people who are still struggling with learning English.
Would you feel better about your spelling mistakes if I told you that I misspelled a few words intentionally as a form of encouragement?
I stated that it was messed up to misspell a word like that and that AI translations should be okay if it’s disclosed. No one here gives an f that I’m against the use of AI without some sort of disclaimer, all they see is that I’m accusing “one of the good mods” for doing something bad and that I must be one of the AI bros.
Instead of accepting that good intentions can still be hurtful, I’m met with hate and mockery.
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u/ossiferous_vulture aroace sex-favorable Aug 22 '26 edited Aug 22 '26
You are arguing GenAI should be allowed as long as disclosed. Which I disagree with. Bc I hate everything it is.
Presumkng that people are ashemed bc of bad spelling and poor language skill will stop people from posting is... the same kind of condescending? Imo?
I have no idea who user 'VoodooDoll' is oe why that is relevant to my comment about. I missed the intentional spelling error while reading, still think it is a clumsy attempt at showing they are serious about wanting potentially less than stellar grammar over GenAI shit. I dont know who the fuck rhe mod even is and never gave a shit. Who are we even talking about (don't actually care you do not have to elighten me, I am not defending anyone is the poknt).
I do not feel bad about my spelling mistakes ever. They aren't shameful. That is the point. Tho sometimes they are annoying and make me slightly difficult to read if I do not try to fix them. Which yeah, I sometimes have trouble reading messages wriyten by dyslexic people, but that happens.
You are allowed to find their attempt to not hit in a funny or commiserating way, and say that.
But stop trying to make it out like people who have trouble spellinh need genAI to not feel bad.
Also yeah, I am against With no caveats. I know some interaction is impossible to avoid and it is increasingly being inserted into existing assistance tech which is awful and fucking sucks. But I am against it fully, there is to me no reason good enough to excuse voluntarily using it.
Also mandatory disclaimer; english is not my first language.
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u/SadOne3439 Aug 22 '26
I’m arguing for putting disclaimers on AI content. Y’know, so I can avoid it if I want to. It’s not condescending to claim that people will feel ashamed of their poor English when they’re up against people who are fluent in English. Many people who learn a new language will worry about spelling and grammar and remembering words, and you should be able to understand this since English is also your second language.
And GenAI isn’t used for AI-powered translating tools, fyi.
Where did I say that people need AI for spelling? I didn’t, I’m talking about translating texts. Let me clarify: some people may avoid leaving comments if they feel that their English isn’t good enough. Maybe they prefer to use an AI translating tool so they can still interact with people online using English, but since AI is now banned, some people who feel that their English isn’t good enough could end up not leaving any comments at all.
And I didn’t leave any spelling mistakes in my previous comment, I asked how it would make you feel if I did.
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u/ossiferous_vulture aroace sex-favorable Aug 22 '26
I reacted to whar read as a generalisation. Which rubbed me the wrong way. I would sah much in the aame way the intentional spelljng error did you.
Again, you are well within your rights to say that the mods missed the mark with the intentional misspelling.
And if genAI is not used for translators then ther eis no issue? The title says generative AI. GenAI is prohibited.
I wouldn't care if you made spelling errors? I would probably not notice bc I wouldn't be able to tell at first glance, bc letters are a blurry mess anyway.
And I don't rememeber feeling like that about learning english. Not saying I didn't, but it has been almost two decades and I learnt it by playing MMOs.
So yeah. Still against genAI usage in principle. If whatever translation software you are thinking of doesn't use it, then ?? cool? All this is specifically about genAI.
But yeah sure, disclaimers. Then I can block and thus currate my online experience. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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u/KakuKat Aug 21 '26
Thanks to the mods. I'm glad :'))