NaNoWriMo have shared some deeply concerning language around AI usage. Given L&L are also a sponsor, the association doesn’t sit well.
It is NOT going down well on Bluesky, unsurprisingly. Note, you need to be logged into to see the many replies. Bluesky
“We don’t care if you finish the Marathon on a motorbike, as long as you show up and smile.”
Sounds like written by “AI”. Or a braindead human. Hard to tell these days…
I hope that L&L asks for clarification and —worst case scenario — doesn’t support this nonsense.
Here is the link to the full statement:
So, I can win nanowrimo by submitting a 100,000 word AI-generated novel on the first day?
Nanowrimo has always been about volume at the expense of quality, so I can’t say I’m surprised. Them going as far as ascribing sinister motive to people who have a particular opinion on the issue smells a lot like trying to virtue signal as compensation for their previous lapses in forum oversight.
In my opinion – they’ve gotten this one wrong, but Nanowrimo wasn’t an event I was going to engage with anyway, so I guess they lose absolutely nothing by alienating me.
You could always win Nanowrimo by submitting 50,001 words of randomly generated text (they don’t even need to be actual words).
But they didn’t officially condone it until now. They are encouraging its use to do that.
NaNoWriMo has been an important part of my writing projects - the place I wrote initial drafts of much longer works for over a decade. But after the deeply disturbing controversy of last year (yeah… that), my writing group ran its own thing, and now this… Their apparent attitude to AI ignores the damage happening there. That, and the awful language they chose to use. I don’t want to be associated with that, and it makes me side-eye any partners/sponsors appearing on their site.
To be fair, it literally just happened. Scrivener has been a sponsor for like a decade.
Oh yeah, for sure. Fairly sure I bought Scrivener via the NaNo discount way, way, way back.
Someone pointed out that ProWriting Aid is a sponsor, and they’re pushing their AI-driven “Rephrase” tool pretty heavily.
I don’t speak for Keith, so I don’t know what L&L’s official position on this will be. However, we have never taken a position on what are and are not “legitimate” uses of Scrivener, or on other writing tools.
Moving this thread to a more appropriate forum.
Of course, and nor should L&L. And it’s not for me either to say what writers should and should not do. However, if I see something that is actively harming writers, I’m going to speak up.
For the record, I have no problem with their stance on AI, only their assuming that someone who is anti-AI has sinister, inappropriate or amoral motives.
As I’ve said over on Bluesky, I use Grammarly a lot as an aid due to dyslexia. I also use ChatGPT & Copilot as part of work. I am against pushing a plagiarism machine in a creative environment (FWIW), but specifically the unpleasant choice of words by the NaNoWriMo team.
Are we sure PWA is the reason for this unfortunately phrased FAQ entry? They’ve been a sponsor for years and they’re not a generative AI.
Of course, they did a major rebrand recently and things may have changed there. Just wondering if people are jumping to conclusions.
Yeah, I’m also not convinced this is due to PWA. I think it’s more likely just some poor words and/or an ill-thought-through policy.
Why not both?
As I said, PWA is pushing their new AI-driven tools pretty hard.
And NaNo has a history of unfortunate decisions where sponsor interests are concerned.
But they’ve never been known for thinking things through, either.
Ah, that’s why I have found PWA to be getting worse. This makes sense now. The sparks are absolutely hilarious. It will get mad about passive structure, and then the spark is four alternatives that all use passive structure! 
Saw this post on (surprise, suprise) Bluesky and was happy to see the Scrivener community tackling this. These days is seems like any software or app could sell out overnight but it feels like Scrivener won’t (which is reassuring). I’m on Bluesky as AudryT. Hope most of you are there as well.
Slightly off-topic, but what’s with BlueSky (its implied reputation?) I have an account, but rarely use it (lack of engagement, despite trying - including applying hashtags.)
