CariGem18 wanted a story combining the world of the Harry Potter saga with that of the television series House of the Dragon. More specifically, she wanted the character Draco Malfoy to wake up in the body of Lucerys Velaryon. No problem: She used ChatGPT to generate a 75,000-word story, spread over 33 chapters. Her very first fanfiction got over 33,000 clicks and 170 comments, most of them enthusiastic: "Awesome," "Interesting," "I like what you've written."

When readers asked her about her use of artificial intelligence (AI), which she did not hide, she replied: "Every twist and turn of the plot and all character decisions were my own. The AI was just a helper in the process to get the vision out of my head." "Translated from bullshit into plain English: "No, I didn't write any of it. I used a plagiarism machine to do it for me," replied a bitter internet user.

Since 2022, the rise of AI text generators has sown discord in the world of fanfiction – stories written by fans that extend, complete or transform an existing work. "AI is a very sensitive topic in the community. Discussions can quickly become heated," said Fah. At 25, this resident of Hauts-de-France (northern France) has written about 30 stories and is part of the volunteer team at the Fanfictions website.

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