[VOTING] AI Rules Overhaul

Summary:

Clarifications, removal of the warning revocation. Separate question re. disallowing AI translations

page 1 of 3123next »

[VOTING] AI Rules Overhaul

Kufat 23 Sep 2025 17:06

Discussion here and here.

Rules text

Current rule

+ show block

1. AI-generated content
   1. The use of generative¹ machine learning² models to generate user facing content³ is banned.
      • Users who post AI-generated content to the SCP wiki will receive a revocation of membership on their first offense, and a permanent ban on the second.
      • Good faith exception: This policy does not apply to properly-cited images from external sources unless they were created by, for, or at the behest of the user who posted them to the Wiki.
   2. Furthermore, the usage of tools whose primary use is generative machine learning is also banned for user facing content.
   3. All exceptions to this policy are on the following white list:
      1. (This list is currently empty)
   4. Examples of banned content include but are not limited to
      1. ChatGPT-generated text
      2. Midjourney/Stable diffusion
      3. AI voice generation
   5. Examples of allowed content
      1. DeepL translator, Grammarly (proofreading/spellcheck assistance only. No AI-generated content or AI-revised/rewritten material)
      2. Fractal generation
      3. Traditional text to speech (if license compatible)
      4. AI-generated CSS code
      5. Writing stories about AIs

Proposed Rule Up For Voting

1. AI-generated content
   1. The use of generative⁴ machine learning⁵ models to generate, translate, or edit user facing content⁶ is banned.
      • Posting generative machine learning (AI-generated) content to the SCP Foundation Wiki, the associated forums, or any official Sandbox in violation of this rule will result in a permanent ban. This ban may be appealed through the standard disciplinary process.
      • Good faith exception for images: Users will not be banned for making use of AI-generated images from external sources provided all of the following conditions are met for a given image:
        • The poster has no knowledge that it was AI-generated after having done a reasonable amount of diligence.
        • The image is cited properly when used on the Wiki and appears to be compliant with both our license and the Image Use Policy.
        • The image was not created by, for, or at the behest of the user who posted it to the Wiki.
   2. All pages containing AI-generated text will be eligible for summary deletion under the standard summary deletion procedure.
      • All AI-generated images and other media will be removed by staff, irrespective of whether the good faith exception applies.
   3. Furthermore, the usage of tools whose primary use is generative machine learning is also banned for user facing content.
   4. Examples of banned content include but are not limited to
      1. Any ChatGPT-generated text or images, including modifications of existing text or images
      2. DeepL translator
      3. Midjourney/Stable diffusion
      4. AI voice generation
      5. Almost any system which generates text or media in response to a free-text prompt
   5. Examples of allowed content
      1. Fractal generation
      2. Traditional text to speech (if license compatible)
      3. AI-generated CSS code

Rationale

+ show block

Removal of warning revocation

By this point, just about everyone with access to the Internet is aware that the use of generative AI is widely disallowed. Between that and the multiple mentions in our rules and Join the Site page, we make it clear that this applies to the Wiki as well. In addition, staff has noticed that almost nobody who has received a revocation for AI usage has gone on to produce a successful article legitimately. (They generally either use AI again and get banned or else abandon their accounts.)

In essence, the purpose of revoking on the first use of AI was to encourage users to instead contribute legitimately. This hasn't worked out in practice. Removing the warning revocation may help discourage AI use and will help reduce the likelihood of staff having to spend time dealing with the same user twice.

Including the Sandbox

All mainsite rules already apply to the Sandbox. This is technically redundant but serves as a potentially-useful reminder.

Deletions rule

This rule makes it explicit that AI-generated pages may be summarily deleted. This won't change the existing practice, but it'll help make it clearer to users and staff alike.

Modifications to good-faith exception

This exception is designed to be narrow. It was written to ensure that people who put in the work required to find and properly cite images compatible with our license and rules don't get banned for failing to realize that those images are AI-generated. The changes increase the clarity of the rule for staff and users.

Translations

Translation of fiction is an inherently creative endeavor. By allowing the use of AI for translation but not composition, we imply that translation is mechanical work on par with generating CSS to meet specifications. I don't believe this to be the case. Translations have their own awards and we've long recognized the work of translators by crediting them alongside authors in the attribution metadata. This puts translation in the same level as writing, as opposed to how we treat e.g. CSS.

It's also worth noting that anyone who wants to view an -EN page in another language, or another language branch's page in English, is free to run it through a translator for their personal use. As popular browsers such as Chrome, Safari, and Firefox now have this functionality built-in I don't believe that the additional effort required on the reader's part will be significant.

In addition, the subject of using AI for translation of portions of an article for in-universe purposes has been discussed. (E.g. an article on -EN, written primarily in English, with a section containing a poem written in French.) It's true that disallowing the use of AI for translations would make it more difficult for authors to include text in languages that they don't speak. However, this is already the case for other specialized domains of knowledge. We don't allow an author to make use of AI to transform dialogue into militarily-correct jargon or other vernacular, for example. Disallowing the use of AI for language translation would be consistent, and would also have the beneficial effect of encouraging cross-branch collaboration when an author's vision for a work required it.

If adopted, this change would not be retroactive. Existing AI-translated works would remain on the site.

Removal of allowed list

The list was empty. If there's ever an exception that we allow, it'll be restored.

Removal of "stories about AIs" rule

This was redundant and only produced confusion. It seems better to only mention generation of content, not subject matter.

Voting Procedure

There are two questions here:

1. Should the overall rule change above be implemented? (I.e., everything aside from the underlined portions related to translation.)
2. Should the use of AI for translations be disallowed? (I.e., should the underlined portions be included in the rule change?)

The issue of whether AI translation will be allowed is a separate question in the same vote. This will affect the underlined portions only. (If the overall modification passes but the vote results in AI translation being allowed, the underlined sections will be removed and 'DeepL translator' will return to the list of examples of allowed content.)

Voting Template:

||~ ||~ YEA ||~ NAY||
||Overall Rule Change|| X || X ||
||Disallow AI Translations|| X || X ||

A yes on the second question is a vote to disallow AI translations.

Footnotes

1. The model produces more meaningful information than was input into the model.

2. An algorithmic system designed to replicate a given set of training data.

3. All content directly viewable to the user (e.g, text, images, audio, video, etc., excluding CSS, Javascript and other parts that communicate to the browser and not the user).

4. The model produces more meaningful information than was input into the model.

5. An algorithmic system designed to replicate a given set of training data.

6. All content directly viewable to the user (e.g, text, images, audio, video, etc., excluding CSS, Javascript and other parts that communicate to the browser and not the user). This includes both pre-generated content and content generated through interaction with a reader.

Last edited on 23 Sep 2025 17:31 by Kufat Show more

Re: [VOTING] AI Rules Overhaul

Kufat 30 Sep 2025 17:44

Overall Rule Change: 27-0
Disallowing AI translations: 10-17

The overall rule change passes, but AI translations will still be allowed. Based on explanations for 'no' votes on the AI translation question, there seems to be a desire to revisit that with something more nuanced than a blanket ban. At this point I'd recommend that anyone who's interested work on some sample rule language that staff can discuss further.

Re: [VOTING] AI Rules Overhaul

Kufat 23 Sep 2025 17:36

	YEA	NAY
Overall Rule Change	X
Disallow AI Translations	X

Re: [VOTING] AI Rules Overhaul

DrLeviStarkin 23 Sep 2025 17:40

	YEA	NAY
Overall Rule Change	X
Disallow AI Translations	X

---

Levi Starkin

Re: [VOTING] AI Rules Overhaul

Ethagon 23 Sep 2025 17:50

	YEA	NAY
Overall Rule Change	X
Disallow AI Translations		X

My own misgivings on disallowing partial AI translations aside, I really think that point needs more input from users related to translation portions of the side.

Re: [VOTING] AI Rules Overhaul

Prismal 23 Sep 2025 18:34

	YEA	NAY
Overall Rule Change	X
Disallow AI Translations		X

Re: [VOTING] AI Rules Overhaul

AstralNavigator 23 Sep 2025 18:39

	YEA	NAY
Overall Rule Change	X
Disallow AI Translations		X

I've actually come around to needing further discussion on the AI translation; I'm convinced there's nuance there that we need to explore further. Still in favor of the overhaul generally.

Last edited on 23 Sep 2025 19:32 by AstralNavigator Show more

Re: [VOTING] AI Rules Overhaul

radian628 23 Sep 2025 19:10

	YEA	NAY
Overall Rule Change	X
Disallow AI Translations		X

I'm in support of the overall rules change. However, Ethagon's points in the discussion thread have changed my mind on the AI Translations rules. While I think complete machine translations should definitely be banned, I really want to hear the perspectives of people involved in human-made translations first for less clear-cut cases (e.g. someone using an AI translator to remember a common idiom).

Re: [VOTING] AI Rules Overhaul

aismallard 23 Sep 2025 22:17

	YEA	NAY
Overall Rule Change	X
Disallow AI Translations	X

Re: [VOTING] AI Rules Overhaul

Mooagain 24 Sep 2025 01:51

	YEA	NAY
Overall Rule Change	X
Disallow AI Translations	X

Re: [VOTING] AI Rules Overhaul

VapidPoem 24 Sep 2025 06:25

	YEA	NAY
Overall Rule Change	X
Disallow AI Translations	X

page 1 of 3123next »