You do not have the moral high ground here, even though you think you do.

You're framing this as a moral problem, but it's really not.

If it doesn't hurt your bottom line and actual humans are not being hurt... pipe up by all means but understand that it's not worth having a drag down and dirty fight.

FWIW, I think the overwhelmingly likely outcome is just that nobody reads them. I don't think its going to have a reputational tail for him unless the content is extremely sketchy.

Anonymous wrote:It's not about money. It's about reputation. Being taken seriously.

Is this you, OP? If it's reputation for his hobby, NO ONE CARES. It's not worth fighting with your husband. It might be worth pointing out the reputational hit he might get. His little groupies can go read something else if they're unhappy, and he can get new groupies.

If it's reputation in his professional identity, which can lead to job loss, YOU DO CARE VERY MUCH.

Sigh. It's difficult to discuss things when you're so dense. Reputation is fungible for some things and not for others.

And the larger truth you're missing is that: AI is going to be everywhere. We're in a transitional period where people are trying to adjust and protect certain industries, like acting. But it's a losing proposition.

Anonymous wrote:Literally nobody cares about people using AI for writing anymore other than a few fanatics.

Unless he's using it for work when he's been explicitly banned from doing so, I would leave it alone.

- writer who now uses AI for nearly everything

People do not look favorably on writers who evangelize using AI for nearly everything, though.

I agree that many people use it and most people don't really care, but when someone trumpets "I wrote XYZ with the support of AI" it is not impressive or respectable.

OP, is your husband planning to conceal the AI-generated content and claim to have written it? Or is he bragging about collaborating with AI?

Literally nobody cares about people using AI for writing anymore other than a few fanatics.

Unless he's using it for work when he's been explicitly banned from doing so, I would leave it alone.

- writer who now uses AI for nearly everything

He could come right out and say he used AI.

How is he thinking of publishing them? Like self-publishing a book? Some other format? Do they read as AI to you?

The only way I think it can work is if it's a meta commentary, like a blog about how he was an early adopter and he's trained AI on his own writing and it came up with these stories that he feels reflect his own style in X, Y, and Z ways.

Advise him to read some Amazon book reviews. AI-generated slop is really eviscerated.

Many readers will be disappointed and disgusted when they realize he's using AI to write stories. Some don't care, but many do. And once he's tagged with that, no one will trust his writing again. Is it really worth his reputation?

It's not about money. It's about reputation. Being taken seriously.

You forgot to mention what profession he is in.

If he's a scientist, doctor, engineer or actuary, writing short stories on the side, and getting called out for doing it with AI, will not hurt the household budget. Even if he's a lawyer, it won't hurt him.

But if he's an academic in the Humanities, or a professional fiction or non-fiction writer, then yes, your children's future can suffer from this decision because he can lose his job and have difficulty finding another one.

So... enlighten us here.

His readers will call him out and the jig will be up.

I believe he's doing something that will damage him and he doesn't realize it and he won't like hearing it. We've been married 18 years, got two kids, and the early love has never waned. I hate to hurt him.

He was an early adopter of AI, both personally and professionally. He had started using it to write short stories, and now he's talking about publishing them (he has a decent substack following for his professional area). I cannot express what a bad idea I think this is. I think that attaching his name to AI "writing" will wreck his credibility. I am also personally kind of disgusted. We have both always been really into and respectful of the art of writing. He claims that these stories are "more or less" written by him, because the model he's using was trained on his writing. It all just really rubs me the wrong way.

Can you help me communicate convincingly and kindly that this is kind of pathetic, and if he wants to test the capabilities (which he claims is why he started) he needs to keep the product to himself?

Or can you convince ME that this is no big deal? I hate it. It actually makes me kind of angry when he talks about it.