First Cup of Coffee – August 5, 2026

I'm addressing a listener question today about HM Wolfe's DAGGERMOUTH and the discourse around it regarding generative "AI" and other, similar situations and what I think about community policing. Basically I come down to listen to the experts and professionals. (Also, you can pry my em-dashes from my cold, dead keyboarding fingers.)

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Transcript

00:01.05
Jeffe Kennedy
Good morning everyone. This is Jeffe Kennedy also writing as Jennifer K Lambert author of epic fantasy romance. I'm here with my first cup of coffee.

00:15.58
Jeffe Kennedy
Which is delicious.

00:19.22
Jeffe Kennedy
Today is Wednesday, August 5th into August now. Uh, the birthday month has officially commenced for me.

00:30.97
Jeffe Kennedy
um so I've already started receiving happy birthdays from some people.

00:38.14
Jeffe Kennedy
My therapist hashtag I'm in therapy now. Uh, yeah, so I've been ramping back up on Never the Roses 3, getting going on that.

00:50.04
Jeffe Kennedy
I have a few things I want to talk about today. One is a listener a question. I love it when I get a listener a question. I do have author friends who make up reader questions, uh, you know, cause they don't always get them. And so they like, um, make them up or they,

01:10.98
Jeffe Kennedy
consolidate them from standard frequently asked questions, which actually no shade on that. But, um, and I happen to know because one of them had said, had asked me if she could use something that I had asked her as her, um,

01:31.67
Jeffe Kennedy
reader question and I was like yeah go ahead whatever. Anyway, ah, this is an actual listener question that you could see in the comments. And it's it's interesting and I really do appreciate that. I love it when you all send me questions and comments just saying no onus but it is really good to hear about.

01:52.79
Jeffe Kennedy
So this person commented saying I don't know if you have seen the Atlantic article on Daggermouth. I had not at that point but I have now um well I knew about the controversy but I had not read the article I did go and read it for you um Okay, the Atlantic article on Daggermouth being possibly AI generated or at least partially AI assisted. Let's put those in quotation marks AI. Um, how do you feel about these kinds of speculations? Do you think that they are unfounded witch hunts or that for want of any regulation, a AI novels should be community examined and policed?

02:33.72
Jeffe Kennedy
And it's a good question. So, um, the article in question, uh, I don't think I'm gonna bother to link to it. It's pretty easy to find if you want to, uh, is actually fairly bland considering the amount of social media discourse I saw and stuff, which is how am i so find out about anything these days. It's kind of interesting. It's like this, um,

02:59.96
Jeffe Kennedy
i don't know if it counts as backwards. It's an interesting social I want a social media social phenomenon that I hear people commenting on or riffing on a particular topic before I find the actual source. And I know other people are doing that too where we're all like okay somebody clue us and we need context. What are you all talking about because people assume context.

03:27.99
Jeffe Kennedy
which is I think part of the lure of the social media strategy to arouse curiosity. You know, it's like overhearing hot conversation at the table next to you in the restaurant.

03:41.08
Jeffe Kennedy
So I had seen a lot of the discourse on this article and people being very upset about it, saying things like witch hunt and, um,

03:53.08
Jeffe Kennedy
And there's a sense of that if someone is accused of using generative AI, AI, that it is, um, indefensible, that there's not any way to prove that you did not. So that's some of the comparisons to the old witch trials, which you know, basically you, you could not win, right? You know, you were put in the drowning chair and if you drowned you were innocent but if you didn't drown then you were definitely a witch and got stoned to death or some such you know so it's there's a sense of that being accused of using generative AI in your work is.

04:39.38
Jeffe Kennedy
a stain from which you cannot escape once the accusation is flung.

04:46.52
Jeffe Kennedy
The Atlantic article itself was musing on. the rising phenomena of this where, you know, okay, folks, we know that people are using generative AI to write books. There are people out there baldly admitting to it. Okay. We know that this is happening. happening There is a, um ah like some sort of I can't even remember what it is now. I, and I don't care to look it up. Uh, it was like a online university. I'm putting that in air quotes to, teaching you how to use generative AI to write your books. And they had a Google doc survey on how authors were actually using generative AI. And let me tell you, I had a really good time filling this out and explaining how I would never, ever, ever use it and how loathsome I think it is and why.

05:42.26
Jeffe Kennedy
You know, and of course they're trying to cash in. Everybody's trying to fricking cash in. Um, I keep thinking that this pendulum is going to swing back and I don't know, you know, do we need the guillotines, whatever, but it's just like increasing cash in, uh, for years and years and years.

06:00.54
Jeffe Kennedy
Uh, and I'm just waiting for this to, to burst. I don't know. Maybe it never will. Maybe I, my idealism coming to the fore anyway. Um, you know, Corrine does little, um, cuts of this podcast for me. And when I bounce around topics, it makes it really difficult for her. Sorry, Corrine.

06:21.08
Jeffe Kennedy
All right. So regarding dagger mouth and generative AI sticking specifically to that example, uh, Bramble UK and the rest of Tor have and Macmillan have backed the author.

06:39.19
Jeffe Kennedy
And I think this is something that regardless of anything else, yeah and this is essentially your question, valued listener, is should there be these policing by the community. And to that, I say no, because people don't know what the frick they are talking about, right? There's like this whole thing going around that if you use MDashes, you must not...

07:08.57
Jeffe Kennedy
It must be generative "AI" because humans don't use MDashes, which is one of the most insane takes I have heard in, lo, my 60 years of existence. I'm going to say I was using an MDash when I was three years old.

07:24.12
Jeffe Kennedy
Probably wasn't that young. But I did see someone getting a rejection letter from a publisher saying that they rejected it because of ah that it must have been written with generative "AI" because of the presence of M dashes. And even chidingly said, i know you don't have an M dash symbol on your keyboard.

07:46.17
Jeffe Kennedy
And, you know, I'm sorry for those of us who grew up programming in Dawson high school. yeah it's i hate to, I hate to shake my cane and be all get off my lawn, but you know, I miss word perfect still. And we all know that if you do dash dash, it automatically converts to an M dash. And like most writers, I will say you can pry my M dashes out of my cold dead fingers. Uh, this idea that it's humans don't use it ah and that there's not a cube. It's like, have you never heard of a keyboard shortcut? Uh,

08:28.60
Jeffe Kennedy
Crazy, crazy. Um, little pro tip. This is, I've shared this at other times, but if you are like me, a user of weird fantasy words, you can, oh take advantage of auto correct on the spelling and.

08:46.04
Jeffe Kennedy
have a shortcut of letters for your your weird words so that you don't have to remember exactly how you spelled it was all of the accents and everything you can type in a chain of like for a who for example ah you can type in a chain of like THC and it or something that's I can't remember what I use now it's like muscle memory but ah something that you don't otherwise use because it will just convert to that word.

09:16.34
Jeffe Kennedy
Anyway keyboard shortcuts how many of us have been using them for you know since since dinosaurs walked the earth essentially.

09:26.36
Jeffe Kennedy
So sorry Corrine I know I'm bouncing. Ah I would say the short answer is is trust the professionals and not some random literary journal person who doesn't understand how keyboard shortcuts work but when the Bramble UK team and, and, and with Daggermouth, it's my same editor as for my Bramble UK books, Gillian Greene, who's I've never met, but seems awesome. She sends me flowers. Um,

09:58.17
Jeffe Kennedy
If, if those people say that they back the author and they believe that generative AI was not used, then I trust the professionals. I mean, this is sort of like one of these things that's getting eroded in our society where we believe the voices of influencers over that of the experts and professionals. And, you know, people, this is the whole point of people, you specializing in an expertise, especially in a society like ours where you cannot be expert in everything. You pay other people for their expertise, right? that's

10:36.37
Jeffe Kennedy
That's how it works. You go to your doctor because your doctor has studied these things and your doctor knows. Uh, Your doctor knows more than the person who did their own research. and That's also an air quotes, uh, on, you know, who knows what idiots blog. Right.

10:58.52
Jeffe Kennedy
Just because people say things confidently. And in fact, if somebody says things very confidently, that's a cause for question because experts and people who understand nuance will rarely put anything as black and white. They'll say, well, except for this. And let me caveat that. And it's possible this other, whereas the influencer types will say, no, it's that, you know,

11:23.42
Jeffe Kennedy
Like an example in the wellness community is you know, like there's all these people saying you should drink raw milk and that raw milk's really good for you. And then they've discovered this great hack that um if you're worried about getting sick from bacteria. Yeah. ah From raw milk when parasites, as you should be that the great hack is that you boil it first.

11:44.31
Jeffe Kennedy
So like they've, they've reinvented pasteurization. The, the level of ignorance is just insane. Anyway, that's a, a side, side note.

11:56.58
Jeffe Kennedy
Conversely. So I'm saying that with dagger mouth. If the professionals say that they think that, uh, HN Wolf did not use it. Uh, I think that they, I believe them.

12:09.82
Jeffe Kennedy
Right. Uh, those are the people who are qualified to pass judgment on these things. There was the case of this other book where, that got this ridiculous sum of 2.4 million for a debut book. This is what happens with oxygen, ah oxygens with auctions. Um, you know, you get the blood in the water and then it was later discovered that the book was completely written with generative AI. And of course the author has gone on social media to cry, witch hunt and so forth. But this was a case where the editors, once they dug in they could tell. And again, they are professionals. They have read and edited so many books.

12:58.68
Jeffe Kennedy
That they are going to know. And yeah, I'm going to trust the opinion of the professionals. And I know that there is a counter narrative to this, that there is a distrust of the gatekeepers. I'm using air quotes tons today. Um, and that they are.

13:18.42
Jeffe Kennedy
you know, targeting people of color, um, marginalized groups and that this is that they are more likely to be accused. And I think what's happening and I cannot say this definitively here I go. Caveatting it. Um, can I, yeah, I guess I can use that that way.

13:39.95
Jeffe Kennedy
Uh, is no no, I distracted myself. Um,

13:48.09
Jeffe Kennedy
Is that we are hearing about the cases where it's a marginalized author more often because it's more interesting and it's more click worthy. Uh, it is happening to other authors as well and not getting the same kind of notoriety.

14:07.16
Jeffe Kennedy
But that's what it comes down to for me. If some Joe reader says, I think this is AI because it has M dashes.

14:18.04
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, no, I don't care. And I'm not going to pile on. Uh, if somebody says they fed it into the AI test, please don't do this. Do not feed that. know how we always have the saying, do not feed the trolls. Okay. Do not feed the AI machine.

14:33.46
Jeffe Kennedy
Just, uh, Don't don't use it. Don't touch it. Don't go near it. Don't feed it. We want this to starve and die. Okay. I mean, I'm very hard line about this and I know that there have been authors falsely accused of using generative AI. There have been authors accurately accused of using generative AI.

15:02.90
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, I have not been accused that I know of at least nobody's accused me to my face. Um, and I don't know if it's because I am so vocal. I mean I've seen authors out there. I'm frothing at the mouth.

15:18.84
Jeffe Kennedy
I have seen some of my author friends posting. You know, I don't use it. And with a lot of things, i I really just resist like putting up some sort of statement to signal these things, although I will blab endlessly about it on my podcast. So maybe people know I don't use it and don't want to use it.

15:39.19
Jeffe Kennedy
um I don't think that. I think that this is similar in some ways to accusations of sexual assault, uh, that you have to take the accusation seriously.

15:55.13
Jeffe Kennedy
Believe women. Um, but that does not mean that you pass sentence. And I think this is something we've lost. We've lost this sense of due process with our incredibly corrupt government and with social media, lynch moms and so forth. But the thing is, is accusation is not conviction. So somebody gets accused of something you can pay attention to it. Uh, and then if it's serious enough because this is like how our court system works right? You you have to have an arraignment the prosecution has to demonstrate that they have enough evidence to take this to trial to, you know, that it's not just some sort of random harassment suit.

16:42.42
Jeffe Kennedy
And then you go through and you have a jury of your peers and you have lawyers and you have a judge and you have people who are experts. You have both the people who are supposed to be of like you, you know, a jury of your peers means people who are like you, who are from your walk of life to weigh in along with the experts was a crime committed. Right. And we are treating generative AI in books and,

17:13.02
Jeffe Kennedy
as a crime and i and I say rightly so I know there are people who would argue with me about that but saying that you created a work that you actually did not create but instead scraped from other people's work which is what generative AI does is um, unethical and it's not something that we want to support.

17:38.17
Jeffe Kennedy
So this is a very long winded answer to the whole dagger mouth thing. Um, the the experts support HM Wolf and so so do I,

17:51.26
Jeffe Kennedy
um there are, you know, one of the things about romances that romance novels were hugely fed into the AI machine, uh, including a lot of mine and yeah, there are certain phrases that do turn up.

18:06.30
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, we all just let out the breath. We didn't know we were holding, right?

18:14.17
Jeffe Kennedy
So, um Yeah, I had another thing I wanted to talk about but now I've spent so much time talking about this I'm out of time but it can wait for next week. Um, I'm interested to know your thoughts. I do think that there's nothing wrong with saying.

18:30.90
Jeffe Kennedy
um I think that there might be some generative AI here. There's certainly some clear cut cases like when people leave the prompts in their books.

18:42.55
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, But remember, accusation is not conviction. And having the conversation, talking about it is fine.

18:53.43
Jeffe Kennedy
oh blowing it out of proportion is apparently what we do on social media, ah where the discourse takes on so much more vehemence than, for instance, this article, which was, I thought, you know people were tagging the author of that Atlantic a article and calling him out and saying,

19:15.74
Jeffe Kennedy
accusing him of stuff and I thought it was actually fairly factually presented it was like here's what people are saying and this is what people have done which is actually what journalism is supposed to do I know we're all forgetting that but yeah all right on that note I'm going to go write my book myself um I hope you all have a terrific week and I will talk to you all next Wednesday you all take care bye bye