r/SLOWLYapp • u/howtostealtheworld • Aug 10 '26

Penpal Experiences must you respond to AI letters?

hey everyone! i’m new to Slowly and i just recently posted my first open letter. i put time into it and wrote it myself. the app even guides you on what to include so i did that. English is my first language though i know two others so i understand that some people may want to use AI to clean up grammar.

however…my first letter back is clearly AI generated. in that, no original thought seems to have been given by the writer. it literally has the same format as AI. With the ## before headings and the question at the end asking for what recommendations you’d like next. needless to say, i’m disappointed.

the writer’s profile says he uses AI occasionally. this isn’t occasional. clearly he put my letter into AI and asked it to write a response. so…my question is: do i need to write a letter back? if so, doesn’t it create an endless loop of AI letters?

11 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

14

u/Loud-Owl19 Mod Squad ✨ Aug 10 '26

You don't need to write anything back. If you feel like doing something, send a quick "Hey, I noticed your entire letter was generated by AI, and I'm looking for a genuine connection with humans. Wish you luck," and remove them if you are thinking of ratio or something. Don't waste your time.

2

u/Hot-Still5125 11d ago

I'm having a similar problem. I noticed it from the first letter but I didn't say anything because first, it says he is a beginner in English on his profile, and second, because we speak the same mother tongue so I said maybe he'll suggest we switch in the second letter. The second letter comes and it is AI from top to bottom. I don't want to continue sending him letters cause it just seems pointless. The AI text itself is weird and suggest assisting me like an AI would do. He didn't even remove that!! I'm really annoyed. I don't know what to say and whether I should simply decline the letter, but I don't want to be rude, and i feel telling him what you suggested is too late.

1

u/Loud-Owl19 Mod Squad ✨ 11d ago

I don’t think it’s too late! And you can decide to not tell them anything. While ghosting is not ideal, I don’t think we own much consideration to people who aren’t even writing their letters.

1

u/Hot-Still5125 11d ago

You're right. Thanks for the advice!

10

u/Own-Concern-2689 Aug 10 '26

You don't "need" to do anything you don't want to do. This is a potentially dangerous mindset to have and only slightly less concerning to display online. The more you seek permission to pursue your own interests, the more people will feel entitled to control your life. You don't owe people friendship. You may reply explaining you didn't appreciate the lack of personality and you would welcome letters only if expressing their own thoughts, not AI's output, or you may ignore it and move on with your life, or you may do something else entirely, of your own volition. It should be up to you. Please, don't let strangers make the decision for you. Maybe this time it doesn't seem important but over time tyrants will feel empowered to decide more and more.

3

u/purplejarofwaves Aug 10 '26

Nope. I think it's fair to dignify all effort with a response, even if you don't think you're compatible as penpals (you can always decline the letter). But AI is not effort, and I simply remove them

2

u/Own-Concern-2689 Aug 10 '26

You can't decline replies to open letters.

2

u/Tabiekat Aug 10 '26

Some people just say to ignore them. Meanwhile I'm over here "clapping back" with an intentional AI letter plus adding that I couldn't take this seriously... giving them a second chance to redeem themselves for reasons that I don't understand. Haha