Weighing in on the AI Slop Problem

There have been some people perhaps waiting for this: I am about to weigh in on the AI Slop problem that is persisting throughout the realm of Vocal's subcategories. To me, there are three separate sections of the problem and though some are quite annoying, there is one issue with this form of content which is pernicious and vile. I will be addressing that one last in this article. Here's how it will go: I'll start with the most obvious issue, the second one will be a more mid-level problem (again annoying but can and is being dealt with) and the last one will be the most horrid of them all.

Please remember that this is an opinion and thought piece. Keep all conversation and comments respectful to each other and please, do not attack me. If you don't like what I am saying then feel free to read something else unless you aim to discuss in an open forum without insulting my character.

Thank you.

Weighing in on the AI Slop Problem

A Thought Piece

Problem 1: Masses of Content in Not a Lot of Time

I think Vocal has hopped on to fixing this one but as someone has already stated before me, for every one they erase there are five more that pop up. That might be true but the worse thing to do would be to ignore the problem entirely. For those of you who aren't familiar here's the issue:

Vocal has a problem with some content creators basically writing masses and masses of AI content and posting it on Vocal all at once. This overwhelms the 'latest' feeds on pages often pushing real human creators to the back of the line or, they become lost in the ether. Vocal has responded with various days where they will take down the site for maintenance and wash it of these people. However, if you have been a user of Vocal in the last few days then you have probably seen these accounts still about.

Here's how to spot them if you don't already know:

• They usually post so many times in one day that they will be the only person on the latest feed - you'll also notice that it will be impossible for a human being to write that much content in one day
• They more than often post about the same thing several times, only tweaking small details (here's looking at those "how to watch (insert streaming service here) in (insert country here)" pieces)
• Their profile pictures are normally made up names with pictures of other people they have grabbed from social media. (Yes, I'm still talking about that email that I sent to Vocal about someone using an author's profile and possible information to write AI generated content)

What are they trying to do?

Well, that's the million-dollar-question, isn't it?

Usually they are trying to do one main thing: use the content of real creators on Vocal to train the AI machine. But it could also be possible that they are attempting to game an algorithm on Vocal (I am not aware of an algorithm but, it might be the case).

It is important that we keep Vocal aware of this issue as it is going to grow if we stop doing anything about it. Vocal is doing all they can as well and as human creators, it is important that we work with our site to get rid of these nonsensical accounts.

Problem 2: The "AI Generated" Tag Which Makes No Sense

I don't understand how this works so I hope someone can enlighten me. Does someone tag themselves as AI generated or does Vocal do it or is it a bit of both? I think that once you receive that 'AI Generated' tag it is basically a marker which means "pretty much nobody is going to read this content". I'm not sure why Vocal is allowing AI generated content on to the platform openly because:

• Of course real people who love real writing aren't going to want to read AI generated content and the tag then proves to be useless, why not just delete the content?
• It will and often does cause a flood of people and bots to the site who want to capitalise on doing none of the work themselves (we can see how that has gone down if we look at problem 1)
• It is more than often content that nobody cares for reading anyway for example: about celebrities or streaming services in various countries.

This one was short but I'm not sure where the tag would be an advantage in any way. It's basically either Vocal telling on the creator or the creator telling on themselves, warning people not to read it.

Problem 3: Malicious Deception That Really Hasn't Worked

I have had a few instances on my stories where one of two things has happened:

• Someone has commented a single word or phrase comment on my story, I have replied and the conversation turns into a 'please read my stuff and subscribe to me' conversation.
• Someone has basically just come out with it and commented 'subscribe to me' in the comments section.

More often than not, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt and visit their page. Also, even more often than not - it is AI drivel they are trying to pass off as their own work. This is malicious deception of the worst kind because of the person's intention: to gain access to peers based on the lies they have churned out using AI and saying they have written it themselves. I will not be naming names, but I am more than certain that a lot of the people reading this will know exactly who I am talking about.

The act of passing off AI writing as your own is much worse than using the AI-generated tag in my opinion because of intent. Yes, it was not very well thought-out because 99% of the time us writers can tell when someone has used AI to write something. But it is still the intent that matters. These people often gain a reputation for being creators nobody reads because of how obvious their intents to pass AI off as their own work are.

Here's how to spot them that might make it a bit easier for you to see:

• When you've written an article, check the 'minutes' it would take to read it. If you've received a comment of a single word or phrase in a far less time that the minutes state it would take to read the article - that's where the conversation is heading
• When you go on to their page their profile is written in an entirely different style to their work, or more than often - the profile line is also AI generated and uses a lot of empty adjectives
• They often go on to other (more popular) stories and leave weird comments such as "subscribe to me" - report these as spam to Vocal

The most important thing to do here is try not to engage. Sometimes it will be difficult not to when someone comments on your work and then disappears into the ether, expectant of you to look at their profile and read their work. It's not that all creators who comment single words and phrases are doing this, it is that there is usually a combination of things going on.

Problem 3 is the worst one in my opinion because of the pretence, the deception and the narcissism involved in having to fake a personality so that you can make a little bit of money on Vocal. Of course, it is probably not the most annoying or problematic for the platform, but in my mind the very intent of this (which was recently revealed to us during the Studio Ghibli AI Debacle) is horrifying.

Conclusion

I hope this has cleared up my stance on the situation. I also hope Vocal does something quickly about Problem 3 because we as actual writers are also doing our part.

Annie.

Post-Script:

Since the publication of this story, it seems that some of the said AI content creators have found it. What a coincidence my dear writers, what a coincidence indeed!