Help Wanted: AI Vigilante Task Force
Writers Assemble!
I was on the fence about whether I should write this piece or not. But I decided to do it. I don't want it to be an angry tirade and I am aiming to keep my emotions in check, but it would be dishonest to say I’m not upset.
If you’ve been active on Vocal over the last year you have probably experienced some frustrations with “creators” or “commenters” using AI. I certainly have. And recently there’s been an instance of an account using AI that really floored me in how long it has managed to not only fly under the radar but also receive several awards for AI generated pieces.
I am going to reference the recent example that I encountered throughout the article, but I will leave the user unnamed as Vocal's investigation is still underway. I messaged the Vocal team and ask if I should sit on this piece and wait until they finished looking into the user's pieces, but I was encouraged to go ahead and proceed.
Ultimately my goal is to share some concerns I’ve experienced and also provide some tools for others to navigate this tricky terrain of AI content.
And to be clear I am not writing this piece as a criticism of Vocal or its Team Members. This is uncharted territory and they are doing their best to deal with an absolute deluge of AI generated content. And every time I’ve submitted formal requests regarding issues of plagiarism or AI they’ve always been addressed. Vocal has made their stance on AI very clear: if you’re going to publish AI generated content you need to include a disclaimer. That’s the gist of it, but you can check out the full details in the resource linked below:
But as we all know, a lot of accounts using AI to generate their content don’t want people to know it’s been written by AI. Some of them want to engage in the community and pull the wool over people’s eyes. Why? Simple answer. The same answer for why a great many people want to deceive others: money. But wait. You’re thinking “How would you earn money with AI content?” Well let’s dive into the recent example I mentioned.
This particular user is a very active commenter. And although a lot of their comments have AI generated remarks, they usually do add enough personal phrases to make it seem authentic. And consequently they have a lot of engagement with the comments they leave on pieces.
This account posted a comment on one of my pieces several months ago and I thought it sounded a little formulaic, so I ran the comment through an AI scanner. Even with just a few words it was flagged for AI. I went to their page, opened up their most recent story and ran it through a scanner. It was marked as 100% AI. I clicked the report button on the story and designated it as undisclosed AI (I think Vocal gets way too many of these to really tackle them all).
But since that day I’ve seen this account receive Vocal prizes and get shout outs from other creators for their supportive comments. This surprised me and I decided to take a deeper dive into scanning the user’s pieces. Maybe they’d stopped publishing AI pieces and were getting awarded for their own work?
Nope.
Many of their own published pieces wouldn’t immediately strike you as being AI generated because of the unique formatting choices and a few unique phrases that have been layered in. They publish just enough human or ambiguous pieces that when they slip one in that’s entirely AI, no one raises an eyebrow. And they’ve slipped in more than one…
So over the last few months this account has received not one, but six Top Stories. Several of these Top Stories have a Highly Confident rating on being 100% AI just using a basic scanner. The user's last Top Story has over 50 comments and 70 likes. And according to scans, it's AI generated content. Not only has this account garnered Top Story Awards but they’ve placed on several Leaderboards.
According to my findings they have received the following awards:
- 6 Top Stories ($5 each)
- 2 Honorable Mentions ($3 each)
- 3 Most Discussed Stories - 2nd Place ($10 each)
- 1 Most Supportive Commenters - 3rd Place ($5)
- 1 Emerging Creators - 1st Place ($20)
- 1 Emerging Creators - 2nd Place ($10)
- 1 Emerging Creators - 3rd Place ($5)
- 1 Most Subscribed to Creators - 3rd Place ($5)
That’s a total of $111 in Vocal prizes.
And yeah, this really bothers me. But what can I do about it? None of us joined Vocal to be AI fighter vigilantes. I wish I’d launched a formal complaint instead of just reporting one story all those months ago, but I was busy and didn’t think this user would reach the status that they have.
But maybe if more people had caught on and this user hadn’t gotten traction this wouldn’t have happened. That’s why I’d like to share a few annoying, but hopefully simple steps other creators can implement. That way others can determine if the user that's commenting on their pieces or publishing the pieces they are spending their limited time reading is actually writing them.
If you’re like me, when a user comments on one of my pieces for the first time with something more than a “You’re awesome! Subscribe to me!”, I like to do them the courtesy of checking out one of their pieces. Now if the comment seemed a little formulaic I proceed with skepticism, but even if it seemed authentic I still usually follow these steps:
- Open one of their recent stories
- Copy the text from the piece
- Paste it into a free AI scanner (I use GPTZero, you don't need to make an account at all to run a few scans)
- Scan the text for AI
- Check out the results (GPTZero will give you a confidence rating on the result and a probability percentage of the text being AI. It will also highlight AI material in yellow, human created content in green, and leave ambiguous material un-highlighted)
- If it comes back confident as 100% AI, report it
- If it comes back as inconclusive, try again on another one of their stories
- If it come back confident as 100% human, read it
- If you see an AI user gaining traction, run a few of their pieces through the scanner, download the result reports, and attach them in a formal request to Vocal via the Support page
Nothing’s ever a foolproof process, but I’ve found this to be a quick way of making sure I’m not wasting any time with undisclosed AI content.
You can check comments for AI too, but most free scanners need at least 100 words of text to be 100% conclusive, so you might have to paste a few comments from the same user to check those.
If you've checked a user's work for AI and it came back as human content, but you notice another piece seems a little formulaic, check it! The user I've referenced has several stories that aren't flagged as containing AI content even though the majority are. So give the benefit of the doubt but don't just keep reading blindly if you have concerns.
And one more huge red flag is if an account publishes multiple pieces a day every day. Most real people just can’t generate that much content. It wasn’t the case in this particular instance, but it often is.
I’m not thrilled that this user received Top Stories and Leaderboard placements that someone else deserved. It makes me pretty angry. I hate that there are so many people out there trying to hoodwink us. If someone has a genuine interest in participating in the writing community I want to welcome them with open arms. But I’d much rather read your developing writing with all its flaws than what your AI tool can write for you.
If someone is going to publish AI content, they should include the disclaimer that Vocal requires. If they don't they're not abiding by community guidelines. They should receive consequences and certainly not earn Top Story and Leaderboard prizes.
Now, do I want to spend my Vocal time running AI scans and whistle-blowing? Absolutely not! But I love the Vocal community and the Vocal Team, so I’ll keep trying to do my part to keep it a community and platform that recognizes writers, poets, and storytellers who compose their own pieces. Maybe some of you will be inspired to join me.
Fellow Vocal Creator, Judey Kalchik, has some great pieces on navigating the AI minefield. So if you’re interested in digging deeper, please check out her very helpful insights:
About the Creator
D.K. Shepard
Character Crafter, Witty Banter Enthusiast, World Builder, Unpublished novelist...for now
Fantasy is where I thrive, but I like to experiment with genres for my short stories. Currently employed as a teacher in Louisville.
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More stories from D.K. Shepard and writers in Writers and other communities.
Keep It 100 Challenge Winners
Almost exactly one year after my "return" (arrival) to Vocal I've been able to celebrate publishing one hundred stories with the hosting of the Keep It 100 Unofficial Challenge! And what a wonderful experience it has been! I'm so grateful to everyone who submitted an entry, to Vocal for making this event possible, to my friends who volunteered to serve as the judging panel, and my husband who organized the excel data!
By D.K. Shepardabout a year ago in Writers
Comments (52)
Interesting! I had no idea there was even such a thing as an AI scanner. Off to scan one of my own, out of curiosity. 😁
Right here on Vocal there is a profile of a wannabe writer, he can't write. Why? Over the past few years he published 4 articles per day in several Vocal communities. 4/day CONTINUOSLY 7 days/week for a couple of years. Too many varied subjects to be an expert on any. Additionally, ALL his articles are copy & paste without even using Vocal formatting (headings), just plain Markdown. All the articles follow the same formulaic style.
Dk - It is not my intent to invade your privacy; I will take this down in a few minutes if asked. I observed the exchange between Cj - she is a long-time chum of mine and quite lovely. She was just asking reasonable-respectable questions is all; nothing more. I thought it had ended with a friendly resolve; I'm so sorry to see all of this hoopla! I'm not a writer as you are: I've read many articles that you have written with great respect. I'm just a legal professional and never into contests but post my Silly Stories and Goofy Sketches that lead into them simply for the fun of it. I have a short and sketch in my draft that I wrote weeks ago, as more of a goof, that was inspired by our VillageBucket, Judey. re; Ai that I plan to ask to post in March - I don't like to post all the time; can't imagine how others actually do so. Here is an excerpt from it: ..."The manufactured inanimate Ai has no heart. It has even infiltrated our original articles; often even comment sections from readers: How does that benefit you? If we are 'Writers' then just write...." - Dk -Thank You for your time with this issue - I will be following you henceforth. Jay Kantor, Chatsworth, California 'Senior' Vocal Author - Vocal Village Community
They were using artificial intelligence to troll Substack content creators. That's why I can recommend Quilbot's AI proof reading.
ABSOLUTELY RIGHT-ON, D.K. It is maddening when I see post after post from same person, knowing that most writers cannot generate like that. It isn't fair for them to win in contests, or for any of the rewards that Vocal gives. Good for you. I report when I see it not flagged as AI. I hardly read AI generated content. In my mind, it is like, well, I could have done that, so why read it? If it is humanly created by a brain with different experiences, that is worth reading to me! Congrats on TS, perfect!
This is one really important topic to be discussed. On the other hand, we cannot fully believe the AI-detectors... I write on another platform too and the AI issue is difficult to uproot and completely solve.
Congratulations on making the leaderboard this week! My time here on Vocal is limited so I am especially happy I found this story. I am very disturbed. I left another writing platform as a writer and editor after encountering a plethora of AI content. Sigh... I have a few particular suspicions here and while I have not scanned anyone's work yet, moving forward, I will. The evolving writer, yes, this is exactly who I want to read. My Vocal journey began in 2020 and I did not win first prize in any challenge until recently. I am proud of my flaws, my growth, and the things I have yet to learn. Thank you for writing this piece. All I can say to those who knowingly pass off AI content as their own is shame on you.
So glad you wrote this and that it is getting real engagement and discussion going. AI could make our lives easier if it did the jobs we don't want to do, like checking references, or compiling our shopping lists. It shouldn't be used to take away our humanity, our creativity. I am a little discouraged when I go to the communities I love and see all those "How To" SEO articles clogging up the real work of great writers and developing story-tellers. Well done on the hard work you've put in here. Congratulations on Top Story and the discussion you've generated.
sneaky fuck AI! - https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/is-wolfie-ok%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/a%3E A most deserving Top Story
Wooohooooo congratulations on your Leaderboard placement! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
Hah!!! I love that this got most discussed story this week too!!! Congrats!!!
Found this by seeing Les’ story! Gosh, I want to echo Cathy’s comment below — it took me a minute but I figured out who this is. AND I also felt sus about their comments and have been wondering by the speed at which they’re posting. It’s so infuriating that it’s possible to get awarded for this behavior when so many of us spend so much time crafting our own stories. Thank you for doing the research on this speaking out DK! 🫶🏼
I know who you're taking about because of the bits of the story you included. While I had seen comments that were suspicious to me, I never imagined an issue with the writing. This is so disappointing. Thank you for posting this and calling out that user, even though it wasn't by name, which I understand. I'm grateful for people like you who speak up. Sadly, I admit that I'm not very good as distinguishing AI from what's real,unless it's obvious. Congrats on the well-deserved and REAL top story.
Perhaps something can even done towards each of us being verified individually? Like older members could interact with the newer ones before they are allowed to earn money and if they can demonstrate they are real people we could sign off on them? If this makes sense. It wouldn't be that hard I think. We seem to do a good job connecting offside through discord or Facebook. We may not all speak all the time but we network and know each other. We see glimpses of people's real lives. Comfort them when sad and cheer them through achievements in their personal lives. I think community verification would solve a lot AND let newbies make some genuine new friends. Then we could have like a check mark beside our names.
The multiple stories a day is what confuses me, I’m not 100% sure if it is Ai or not, but guessing yes. Also, I feel these ones believe they are clever by using Ai to create then reworking it, trying to using their own words. I felt one that WON a challenge may have been Ai. And that upset me I didn’t write for the rest of the month. I for one am glad you wrote this. Congratulation for an authentic TS
Wooohoo!! Circling back to say congrats on Top Story DK!!
I'd prefer if AI would do dishes instead of writing.
Congrats on your TS. The main issue I have with generative AI content is that it tends to be the really boring, stale, uninspiring, tripe. If Vocal folks are awarding this TS and challenge prizes perhaps they need to do some soul searching. As writers, I think we need to make good use of AI (I sometimes use it for quick-dirty research, image generation and other legwork). I have generated complete stories out of interest and have published these a couple of times, clearly identified and with commentary. Seems to me the quality is improving, as one might expect, but the output still lacks a human feel to it. I think quality control is Vocal's job. I won't being doing any witch hunting. I might have a play around with some AI detectors though, out of interest. But I won't be asking an AI, and AI detector, or any other bit of software to make any decisions for me. Well done for starting this discussion and thanks for your efforts
AI does it all in "the-quiet-one-who-does-it-all" Yes, this Top Story is showing up as 100% AI in all detectors. Its going to kill this site not to do something about it in the long run, so I'll be the rude one. And there are AI comments, in this story about using AI to write comments, sigh.
Thanks for sharing this. I haven't paid much attention to AI and until now didn't realize how much it might actually affect me. It's so disheartening to think someone would benefit from cheating. I have precious few hours in a week to dedicate to writing or reading. I always wish I had time to read more and offer quality comments to other creators. I appreciate all the feedback I get so much. But now I'm so frustrated to think some of my precious time has been unfairly diverted from honest creators who truly deserve my attention. Having said that, I'm all for people having the option of creating with AI as long as they are transparent about it. Sometimes people are gifted with the creativity to come up with a great idea but not so gifted to put it into words. AI creators should have a place to share such stories, but Vocal isn't that platform.
Wow, amazing work. Congratulations on top story
sad state of affairs- glad you so clearly outlined the problem. congratulations on top story
1: I may have had a suspicion of who was being referenced here, and a quick Google search for one of the comments in your screenshot confirmed it. 2: It's not the point of the article, but I've always felt the Leaderboard was short sighted for reasons like this. Throw money behind something, and suddenly there's incentive to game the system. Incentivize engagement, then you have people engaging for the wrong reasons. Not everyone, of course, but it means the possibility of a secondary agenda always exists when someone should be engaging simply because they liked the content. Sure, there's still Top Stories and Challenges, but neither of those prizes are directly driven by the amount of likes, comments, subscribes, etc.
I've also noticed an obscene deluge of random work being thrown into contests. The actual creators here are being drowned out by it all. The last thing we need is for our audience to travel here and see that garbage beside our hard work. It cheapens us all.
This is excellent DK. I had no idea this was going on and it's really disheartening. Especially about the contests. Thanks for writing this article and count me in to follow your instructions. I hope Vocal does the honorable thing and perhaps pays that 101$ forward to its actual creators. Some kind of reward system maybe for scouting the pieces out. Like a 1 time egg hunt leader board or something. It's maddening to think that kind of money was pilfered from the community.