We See You

Some people think no one will notice

when their prose comes factory fresh

But every contest has its bloodhounds

sniffing out that glossy mesh

🤖

They drop in lines too polished

too pristine to be true

and darling, when the bot writes it

Just know, we all see you

🤖

You'll swear you typed it all yourself

You'll say you're just that slick

The rules say write it with your hands

Not use a magic trick

🤖

Your metaphors are vacuum sealed

Your pacing... too on cue

When that AI shine starts leaking

Just know, we all see you.

🤖

Your plotlines come pre-packaged

like a meal you nuke at night

Humans leave their fingerprints

Their mess, their grit, their fight.

🤖

Your dialogue's a mannequin

Stiff smiles, no point of view

And bots write sterile sentences

so, trust me... we see you.

🤖

The tell-tale shine of bot-born lines

The perfect rhythm hums...

Real writers bleed a little ink

but yours just... gently comes

🤖

Too smooth. Too neat. Too polished

for a human point of view

and every time we read those words

We grin, cuz we see you

🤖

Your watermarks scream louder

than your caption ever could

You'll swear it's just a coincidence

Cheating? You never would!

🤖

You post your little writing pics

with the Gemini logo stuck in view

Honey, if you're gonna cheat

Try harder... we see you

🤖

So, here's a friendly warning

for the ones who try to cheat

These challenges aren't Turing tests

They're meant for human heat

🤖

Your Franken-stories wobble

Your voice is never new

And every time you fake the craft

Just know... we all see you.

🤖

Authors note:

I was lurking around in challenge submissions and noticing how much AI slop has been submitted to not only Vocal but to challenges as well. I read Vocal is trying to slow this down, but my question is- are these challenge pieces actually going to be considered for a win? Because the rules clearly state NO AI. I am not referring to someone who uses it for research or something, but when your entire submission is AI generated, wrapped up with a nice little generative AI logo... what the fuck? If you can't write, what are you doing here? Are you actually proud of this piece? That's embarrassing. You didn't write it. You entered a prompt and copy and pasted it and pretended you did something. It's weird. It's like printing out a picture and showing it to your friends as if you drew it.

Ok, rant over.

Maybe.

-Sara