AI Policy

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Unknown Tales is a platform for collaborative fiction written by people. We are not opposed to AI tools in every circumstance, but we are opposed to machine-generated creative work being submitted as if it were human-authored.

1. Our position

The point of Unknown Tales is that a reader reaches an open path and becomes the next author. That only works if there is a real author behind the words. The value of the platform is human craft, human taste, and human continuation of a shared story tree.

You may use AI tools to support your process, but not to replace authorship or artmaking.

2. What is allowed

  • Brainstorming possible ideas, settings, or plot directions.
  • Testing prompts or exploring alternatives before you write the chapter yourself.
  • Light editing help on your own draft, such as spelling, grammar, or clarity suggestions.
  • Using non-generative tools to crop, resize, or optimise an image you created yourself.
  • Using AI privately as a sounding board while you remain the actual writer of the submitted prose.

3. What is not allowed

  • Submitting a chapter or path whose prose was substantially or wholly generated by an AI model.
  • Pasting machine-written output into the story tree and presenting it as your own writing.
  • Uploading an AI-generated image as a story icon.
  • Using AI to mass-produce branches, flood stories with low-effort continuations, or imitate authentic participation.
  • Making only trivial edits to AI output and treating that as human authorship.

4. The rule in plain English

The final prose you publish on Unknown Tales must be written by a human, and any story icon you upload must be a human-made image. If the machine made the creative work, it does not belong here.

5. How we enforce this

We may remove content that appears to violate this policy, ask the author for clarification about how the piece was produced, and take account-level action for repeat or deliberate abuse.

  • A first incident may result in content removal or a warning.
  • Repeated or obvious violations may result in suspension or permanent ban.

Moderation in this area is not a science experiment. We will use judgment, context, and any information available to us, including admissions by the author and patterns of platform abuse.

6. Related documents

This policy sits alongside our Terms of Use and Community Guidelines. If there is any conflict, the Terms of Use control.