AI strikes again, this time through someone who was hired to do a very human job: editing fiction. What would you do if you found out someone you hired had been using AI while you paid them?

This writer hired an editor and wasn’t happy to find that she was using AI. She asked for a full refund and things ended on bad terms.

But now she’s wondering if she made a mistake.

Let’s read the whole story and see what happened.

AITA for asking my editor for a full refund after she completed the work?

One of the my jobs is writing short stories online. I’ve been really fortunate there and recently hit a spot financially where I could hire an editor.

Because I do have a full time job besides writing, I felt like it was a good investment to make sure I had time to write without being worried about editing.

I talked about this with one of my college friends and she volunteered to do it for me for a discounted price – about 20% below market rate from what I’ve seen online.

But it came with a caveat she wasn’t aware of.

She’s trying to build an editing career and said the discount would be fine if I allowed her to use some of my work in her portfolio.

That was in January. I expected my followers to notice an increase in quality in my work, but it’s hard to say if they actually did.

I haven’t received any comments about it nor have I gotten any new followers. That could be because I don’t do well marketing though.

Things seemed fine, until she figured out the problem.

The problem is that she recently got some new clients which I initially thought was great.

I took her out to celebrate her new contracts last week.

I asked her if she was worried about taking on three new clients so close together and she said she wasn’t, since she could run her programs on one while she read through the other.

Long story short, I found out she’s been using AI to edit almost all of her projects, including mine.

She did not like that.

I am strictly anti-AI, especially in the writing space. I’ve talked about it pretty openly and it’s all over my page and in my post history.

I asked for a full refund for everything she’s edited of mine using AI.

It was awkward, but she didn’t care.

I don’t think I was very diplomatic about it (we were splitting a bottle of wine). I told her that I paid her to edit my work and she didn’t.

I pointed out that my followers would be upset if they found out my work was created using AI and that she’d harmed my business by not disclosing her methods.

We fought and left on bad terms.

The editor tried asserting herself, but it came off quite arrogant.

She texted me that night that she was an editor (during our argument, I told her she wasn’t) and AI is a tool that she uses for a first pass, but she is the one who does the final pass.

She said that she wouldn’t refund any of my money because she was doing it at a loss anyway, but that I could consider our “working relationship and friendship at an end.”

She doesn’t see the situation that way, but is now second-guessing how she dealt with it.

I don’t think she was working at a loss – she’s the one who offered to do it for below market rate, but it’s not like I was paying her minimum wage.

Plus, by using AI she completed the work faster than my estimate and therefore got paid more than she actually worked.

But she made it sound like if she gave me a refund, she’d be like an artist working for exposure.

I’m expecting this to hit our friend group soon (if it hasn’t already) and I really want to hear if I’m in the wrong or not for asking for a full refund before I hear it from them.

AITA?

The use of AI should be discussed, especially in a creative project. Let’s not normalize it.

But let’s see how Reddit feels about it.

A reader shares their thoughts.

Exactly.

This person has a different take.

This commenter shares their point of view.

Yup.

Another reader chimes in.

In the next few years, we’ll see more situations like this as people realize that cheap and fast often cost more in the long run.

The reason she gave her a 20% discount is pretty clear now.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.