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A black and grey banner with 5 icons representing different types of media (a typewriter, a film strip, a palette, a zine and a cassette). The text of the banner reads: "Cultus Dispatches. Fandom Draws the Line: Fanworks, AI, and Resistances by Dawn and Grundy".

Fanworks fandom in 2026 is not a culture defined by boundaries. Generally, fans accept that all manner of fanworks (even if not to their personal liking) have a right to exist. AI-generated fanworks, however, have pushed the limits of even fanworks fans' considerable levels of tolerance.

When Dawn and Grundy were recently tasked with presenting about how the SWG developed its AI policy, they ended up taking a deep dive into the impacts of generative AI within the broader Tolkien fanworks fandom, finding that communities that are generally resistant to boundaries have set up firm limits on how AI can be used in their spaces. Social justice, ethics, and community governance all play roles in how fan communities have responded to generative AI—and how larger fandom institutions have not.

You can read the article "Fandom Draws the Line: Fanworks, AI, and Resistance" here.