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I want to roundhouse kick GenAI into the sun
Just for shits and giggles (and also inspired by the brilliant fanwork of a friend), I decided to write a few quick stories about Tenna, the villain (sort of) of the recently released Chapter 3 of Deltarune. I thought the idea of shipping him with Spamton, the villain (definitely) of Chapter 2 was funny for a hot second before actually becoming intrigued by the dynamic. What if they were both awful and made each other worse, that sort of thing.
The problem I had initially was how to write Tenna, who we only ever see speaking to an audience. How would his voice translate to a more intimate situation? To get a sense of fandom tastes, I pulled up fic for the ship on AO3 as sorted by the number of bookmarks, which I hoped would filter out most of the slop.
But alas. There is. A whole lot of slop. Very clearly written by GenAI. And people love it. Apparently.
I don't understand this at all. These stories all follow the same beats and use the same vocabulary, and the characters don't speak in their distinctive voices. There's no attempt to engage with the story or lore of the original game, and there's no specificity at all. Why would so many people bookmark fic like this?
Meanwhile, my university has been aggressively integrating GenAI into its software licenses and digital infrastructure, which has been causing huge problems for everyone. To give an example, many incoming students from East Asia or with East Asian heritage can't upload their photos to their university profiles because the software flags them for using AI-generated images. Because all Asians look fake to the algorithm I guess?? At the same time, the East Asian language teachers have been asking the university to pay for licenses for region-specific GenAI tools that might potentially make huge advances in language learning, but the university (which has more money than God) has been ignoring them. Because why would a university want to use GenAI for actual education and pedagogical innovation amirite.
TLDR: This is dystopian and I hate it.
The problem I had initially was how to write Tenna, who we only ever see speaking to an audience. How would his voice translate to a more intimate situation? To get a sense of fandom tastes, I pulled up fic for the ship on AO3 as sorted by the number of bookmarks, which I hoped would filter out most of the slop.
But alas. There is. A whole lot of slop. Very clearly written by GenAI. And people love it. Apparently.
I don't understand this at all. These stories all follow the same beats and use the same vocabulary, and the characters don't speak in their distinctive voices. There's no attempt to engage with the story or lore of the original game, and there's no specificity at all. Why would so many people bookmark fic like this?
Meanwhile, my university has been aggressively integrating GenAI into its software licenses and digital infrastructure, which has been causing huge problems for everyone. To give an example, many incoming students from East Asia or with East Asian heritage can't upload their photos to their university profiles because the software flags them for using AI-generated images. Because all Asians look fake to the algorithm I guess?? At the same time, the East Asian language teachers have been asking the university to pay for licenses for region-specific GenAI tools that might potentially make huge advances in language learning, but the university (which has more money than God) has been ignoring them. Because why would a university want to use GenAI for actual education and pedagogical innovation amirite.
TLDR: This is dystopian and I hate it.
no subject
Although I think writing about Tenna has, shall we say. Awakened something. I have a whole bunch of same-sex ships that I've been wanting to write for, but I was terrified by the potential reception. But honestly, if Tenna can be his beautiful self with his gorgeous OSHA-certified shoes, what's to stop me from doing the same. Bless Toby Fox for writing unhinged characters and making them look fantastic.
I've been watching a few Deltarune playthroughs too, but the darker route at the end of Chapter 3 is, man. It's something. To lighten things up a bit, there's a book that was just released a few weeks ago that I've been reading, Stupid TV, Be More Funny: How the Golden Era of The Simpsons Changed Television and America Forever. It's an interesting book on its own merits (even though I'm not a fan of The Simpsons), but also good research for bad reasons.
Anyway confession time. I subscribed to and bookmarked your story (partially for the pleasure of seeing the numbers go up), but I haven't started reading it yet. I was afraid that you would've nailed Tenna's voice so perfectly that I would just be imitating you. But if he hasn't appeared in the story yet, then. Let's just say this is very good news for me and the fantastic evening I'm going to have tonight.
no subject
I'm shaking your hand so much with this, especially with M/M ships. And it's weird, bc like... we're both DEFINITELY queer lol. What is there to be afraid of?! And yet there's something about sharing a bit of ourselves, especially if it doesn't 100% align with What Other Queer People Are Like, that is terrifying. I'm sure there's something to unpack there, but what I'm trying to say is I'm SO GLAD to see you're having a blast exploring all of this. Bless Toby Fox for giving us this traumatized TV Man with all his stupid problems omg.
Ooo thank you for the book rec 👀 I've been meaning to dip my toes into more nonfiction and this sounds like a treat!
AWWW well I'm REALLY touched by your vote of confidence! Now that I'm finally writing Tenna in all his glory, I'm still really scared about how my take on him will be perceived, but... AAAA FUCK IT. We're here to have fun! So let's keep doing that, friend!! 🤝🥂