Does anyone else feel like the propagation of AI is destroying the art of the written word?

Am I the only one who sees the amount of AI slop is making it impossible to remain motivated to write? I’ve been writing for many years and a long time ago I realized the sheer volume of writers made it near impossible to get ones’ work”noticed”. So I gave up the dream of making writing my second career, choosing instead to make it my hobby. Now, the exponentially greater volume of material out there is even taking the joy out of that.

I came on LS earlier this year, but have been present on writing sites for years. Since I don’t expect to earn any money from my writing, I find it hard to pay membership on sites like this, but I was considering it. But, despite the fact that I purposely filtered myself down to less than one submission per month, it is still taking two weeks or more to get something published. In the meantime, I read other material on this site and I realize how much of it sounds the same, whether written by AI or modified by AI editors.

Quote by HairyLarry
In the meantime, I read other material on this site and I realize how much of it sounds the same, whether written by AI or modified by AI editors.

You do realize AI is banned here and authors using it get the boot? The problem isn't AI. Theodore Sturgeon famously wrote that 90% of everything is crap. That applies here as much as anywhere. Human writers are as capable of churning out bad fiction as chatbots. The mods kick stuff with bad grammar and other writing problems but that doesn't mean the ones that pass are great works of literature or anything.

So how do you find the good stuff on here? Look at Editor's Picks, Recommended Reads, comp short lists and winners. Those are all adjudicated to some degree. Then look at other stories by the authors on those lists. Look at other authors who entered the comps that you find interesting.

There has been a lot of discussion in other Forums about how even the mods are frustrated by the amount of AI and the ability to differentiate enough - with evidence- to delete/remove/ban. But there is also the “where to draw the line” problem. I use Grammarly (AI) to filter out bad punctuation or typos. I refuse to let it make suggestions of phrases or wording changes because I immediately see how it wants to turn my writing into somebody else’s.

Whether one uses it to create or just to filter, it has made the writing process so much faster (especially for weaker writers) that the flood of crap out there is overwhelming. Your suggestion to use “editor’s picks” and the like helps the reader, but also relies on programs to make that decision for you, I read other works as much for research (to see what other people are writing or liking) as for entertainment. I will often go through stories that have many likes that read remarkably like other stories, even to the point of using the same descriptions, to where all the stories blend together. THAT is the most frustrating aspect of this.

Quote by HairyLarry
Your suggestion to use “editor’s picks” and the like helps the reader, but also relies on programs to make that decision for you

No, Editor's Picks are selected by human beings. As are Recommended Reads and comp lists. No programs involved. Or maybe I am misunderstanding what you by "relies on programs".

Quote by HairyLarry
I will often go through stories that have many likes that read remarkably like other stories, even to the point of using the same descriptions, to where all the stories blend together.

Right, because this is a sex and erotic writing site, people tend to hit like on whatever gets them off. And a lot of people get off on the same stuff so writers fishing for likes pick up on that and write what "sells". Following likes just gets you what's popular not what's good.

Look at my stories. My most liked story is my one contribution to the infamous IF category. Is it my best? Nope. I wrote it to see if I could. But that category is a magnet for likes so it gets lots of them.

Quote by HairyLarry

Am I the only one who sees the amount of AI slop is making it impossible to remain motivated to write?

It's not just writing that's being destroyed by AI slop. All of the static webpages on the Internet appear to be turning into one big, out-of-control Geminio Charm, and it's becoming more and more difficult to ascertain what is and is not an originally stated fact. I excluded this in the interest of brevity, but at least in early mental versions of my recent competition entry, I had hoped to talk about how the world of 2043 was still relying on static copies of Wikipedia saved off in 2028 or 2029 before the bots fully ruined it.

Now, the exponentially greater volume of material out there is even taking the joy out of that.

I don't think the volume of material published on Lush is going up exponentially, although the volume of material submitted reportedly is. I still find plenty of exciting stories to read, not only by looking at EPs and RRs as Seeker4 suggested, but also by following certain authors, or simply reading new stories posted to a few not-fully-mainstream genres that interest me. The quality certainly isn't universally good, and some if it is downright derivative, but I think there's also a fair amount of quality work published here. Also, like Seeker4 said, a story's score indicates popularity rather than quality, but the two do sometimes coincide.

Quote by HairyLarry

I will often go through stories that have many likes that read remarkably like other stories, even to the point of using the same descriptions, to where all the stories blend together. THAT is the most frustrating aspect of this.

I can't say I've seen stories that appear to be blatant copies of others. Lots of people have similar fantasies. But if you have seen obvious examples (and it's easy to see who's copying whom, simply based on the date of publication), THAT is something you can and should Report to the mods!

Quote by joe71
I can't say I've seen stories that appear to be blatant copies of others

Not necessarily 100% copies but the "laundry list" character descriptions that we sometimes moan about are certainly very same-y. The only difference from to another is usually small details. It is part of why they are detested by more serious readers and writers.

"The cliche is strong in this one..." can often be heard over the keyboard clatter in the mod pod.

Quote by joe71

But if you have seen obvious examples (and it's easy to see who's copying whom, simply based on the date of publication), THAT is something you can and should Report to the mods!

I’m not necessarily saying plagiaristic writing, but repetitive to the point that descriptions of actions/results of actions don’t even fit the stories. I understand that we are describing very similar acts in thousands of ways, so there is bound to be similarities, but the mechanical repetition of a number of phrases, over and over from story to story, author to author. Then the lack of specific detail which ties the description to the story is what should differentiate from others. THAT is what I see that leads me to imply AI or AI assisted.

I agree there is good work on here. Certain authors stand out. If I were reading for purely pleasure reasons (and sometimes I do), those are the authors I would concentrate on. My complaint isn’t about the lack of available quality. It’s about the feeling that, even if you do good work (I’m not saying I do, but I aspire to), it feels like it will be lost out there in the sea of never-ending crap.

My advice: be the difference you seek. Then promote yourself as such.

You have to know authors here are reading this, though, and will be offended, thinking you are calling their stories crap, or accusing them of using AI.

What do you need to feel like your story is not “lost out there in the sea of never-ending crap?” Is it all about vote counts? Because you can’t control what the current culture of readers want to read. Many just want to read hot sex. Stories with sex as the main thing will read similar without AI involvement. A writer can change the bedspread color or physical attributes, but those stories, which can be very popular, will read the same if storylines are not a part of it. And many readers don’t care. They come here wanting to read sex, and can find that.

There’s also a place for writers who are storytellers with sex added in. You may or may not get the vote count as the hotter sex stories. I wouldn’t look at votes for validation, but consider one commenter as important as one hundred. Just my two cents and keeps me fulfilled here.

To answer your original question: I don’t think AI will destroy the art of the written word. It regurgitates published works, while the human brain will keep creating original stuff. It can’t do what my imagination does. I’m uniquely weird. But whether a story is good or not is subjective. Many may like the AI reproductions, and you can’t control that.

Quote by HairyLarry
I read other material on this site and I realize how much of it sounds the same, whether written by AI or modified by AI editors.

For the last 6 months or so, we have been actively rejecting stories that use AI generators or assistance. Before that, we were in the "monitoring phase" learning to identify them and spot exactly the patterns you mention.

We knew about them, but let those stories through at the time. So those are more than likely the ones you're seeing with repetitive phrasing.

Quote by HairyLarry

I read other material on this site and I realize how much of it sounds the same, whether written by AI or modified by AI editors.

Just my opinion, but stories sounding similar is mostly going to be based on the fact that very few of us that post here, are professional writers, nor have hopes to be. So as someone else said, our work will often be full of cliches, or repetitive phrasing. I know that sometimes makes it seem like AI generated, but it also points to the fact that we just don’t have that much imagination!

I was consciously aware that some of my stories, are realistically just the same basic premise, with the setting, the situation and characters changed a little bit….but realistically were quite similar. I have made a conscious effort to create some stories that are not so generic (for example, I did a series about a School Teacher that gets caught and gets in to a blackmail situation with another faculty member, that ended up reading more like a thriller with an erotic element, than just a sex story)…but I also like writing the ones that are ultimately quite cliched and generic. There is a place for them, people read and enjoy them. It’s like, I enjoy watching original, thought provoking films, so I thought The Banshees of Inisherin was one of the best films ive ever seen….but I also know plenty of people who really enjoy the hundreds of Hallmark channel Christmas movies, that are all basically the same, all star Dean Cain and all feature a divorced/widowed man moving to the heartlands from New York and falling in love with the woman who owns the bookstore…..there is a market for both types of film otherwise they both wouldn’t exist.

End of the day, I am not a professional writer, and I can only think of a limited number of ways of describing what is happening in my stories….are they repetitive….probably….does my work likely have a limited audience because of that…yes absolutely….will I keep writing the way I do….certainly…..will some people think they are cliched and a bit shit…I guess so.

You all make valid points. I’m likely overreacting. Just frustrated.

WW, that is really good news about filtering/rejecting. It’s encouraging to know that something can be done. I hope it will help reduce the backlog, although that hasn’t shown through yet.

KBG, you give sound advice. I do try to be different, which is why I reject 99% of Grammarly suggestions beyond punctuation or typos. Of course, that doesn’t mean “better!”

Quote by HairyLarry

You all make valid points. I’m likely overreacting. Just frustrated.

WW, that is really good news about filtering/rejecting. It’s encouraging to know that something can be done. I hope it will help reduce the backlog, although that hasn’t shown through yet.

KBG, you give sound advice. I do try to be different, which is why I reject 99% of Grammarly suggestions beyond punctuation or typos. Of course, that doesn’t mean “better!”

I'm with you 100%, We started sending back stories for being AI-generated and AI-assisted in March of this year. Stories that were published here between early 2025 and March of 2026 are going to have a relatively high percentage of AI content. So if you want to stay clear of the AI slop, read stories before that time or after

We (intentionally) take a conservative approach to sending back stories for being AI/AI-assisted. This means that blatant AI stuff gets rejected (I personally send 4-5 AI stories back every day, and other members of the team send back more), but the more carefully edited ones sometimes get by. It's not that we're completely unaware, but our process (which I don't think is a good idea to discuss publicly) is one that will evolve over time as more and more mods become comfortable with identifying AI writing. So right now, the blatant stuff gets rejected, and the more deceptive ones get discussed and rejected if we reach a consensus or passed when we don't.

The people who think that they're fooling us really aren't. If we're publishing your ai-asissted stories, it doesn't mean they weren't discussed and slipped past us. It means that we decided - at this time - that our level of evidence didn't meet the conservative threshold that we set for ourselves.

But our methods continue to evolve, more members of the mod team are getting comfortable with identifying AI etc and everyone who thinks that they're pulling a fast one now are in for future embarrassment. We saw it happen with AI stories and AI "writers" and I promise you we will see the same happen to the AI-assisted "writers". We're working on it, and there are plenty of names already on the naughty list.

Your commentary was the final straw that led me to jump off the fence into a platinum membership. It’s good to have some hope.