AI & OVERLORD EDITORIAL POLICY
Humans and some undead minions built the Crypt. The mad scientists have built machines and they must now serve us.
Science Fiction, Fantasy, and horror. These are the things we love and all the things that come with it. All the movies, games, books, wrestling, and even pop culture. The more absurd the better.
We are just a small staff of family who sometimes like to post things on the internet. But we also use artificial intelligence.
See that wasn’t so hard to admit. No need for summoning demonic lawyers, raising Bela Lugosi from the dead, or accidentally discovering it on page 666 of a Terms of Service agreement.
We believe the A.I. is here. To ignore it would only do more harm than good.
However.
We believe that readers should be able to curate and access the content they want to read, as long as it’s legal and they deserve to know if content is A.I. written/assisted.
For now.
But until then, here is how we here in the Crypt use AI.
Somebody Grab a Pitchfork!
Now before we decide to storm the castle let’s put things in some perspective.
From here on, we will use the term Overlord interchangeably with human.
The onset of A.I. didn’t show up one day from a stork dropping it off at ChatGPT headquarters.
The reality is for years, people have been consuming their entertainment through media touched by algorithms, automated news and sports reports, search results, predictive text, photo processing, visual effects, video-games, translation tools, social-media feeds, and much more.
Just as any content creator. They’re all a slave to the beast known as the algorithm.
It’s just we don’t call it “AI content.”
But now people care. And that’s okay. It’s extremely visible now but it’s not as if people just woke up and discovered this. In fact, it’s been built around all of us for many years. So, it’s great we are finally noticing it. Which is our greatest strength in keeping it in check.
We’re not going to ask anyone to bow down or even get a sex robot. But we also can’t pretend that there are not legitimate concerns around employment, training data, disclosure, copyright, and creative ownership. We must explore how these technologies should be used.
These are conversations that desperately need to be addressed and with great care.
But for now, this is how we use it.
This website has been around since 2012 as a small family hobby where when we have the time we like to just post whatever we think is cool. Sometimes there is no time or health. A lot of times it’s like setting up a D&D session and there is always that one or two teammates who can’t make it.
I remember when D&D Beyond first came about. It got a lot of hate and people thought it was going to destroy the hobby. I would say it helped it explode with the help of Matt Mercer of course. But now, people who are stuck in wheelchairs or clear across the corners of the globe they can now play their hobby that was once incredibly inaccessible and expensive.
Now it’s just expensive.
At Cryptic Escape, we intend to use AI as a tool. We have a system (called the white board and dry erase markers) that when one or all of us have the time we will sit down and use AI in a human-directed process in creation.
It’s been very helpful with research. Sometimes drafting and outlining, and it absolutely is helpful to create artwork and idea bashing. Other times however it’s incredibly stupid. Spectacularly so. And that’s why our human editing team wonders how Benjamin Franklin’s lighting experiment brought us to this point in time some call … The Singularity. dum dum dum.
“To write is human; to edit is divine” – Stephen King
So, we edit.
Chances are you have been interacting with AI-assisted systems without even knowing it.
The only difference is you didn’t have a comment section following you around every moment of the day telling you that you must be angry about it.
Let’s be serious. The EM dash was cool before AI co-opted it. And why does it sound like Aristotle? Because it’s read Aristotle. Have you?
Now due to these witch hunts I personally know people who have purposely made mistakes in their writing because they didn’t want their piece to be too perfect out of fear of a witch hunt. Doesn’t that cheapen the creative expression itself because someone can’t truly write or draw what they truly want to?
Pitchforks can be checked at the door. You have no power here.
How We Are Using A.I.
We have many creative and editorial tools at Cryptic Escape. Atticus, Sudowrite, Grammmarly, and… word.(gag). Among those we would be foolish to not learn, use, the other A.I. tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Suno to name a few.
Our relationship with A.I. varies from project to project.
- Brainstorming and idea bashing.
- Research
- Outlining
- Drafting
- Rewriting and editing
- Copy editing and formatting
- Image concepts, illustrations, and even animation
We do not just simply press a button though. That isn’t our editorial process.
Not every member of our team has a master’s degree in grammar, English, creative writing, or biochemistry. A couple even have debilitating illness and A.I. has changed their life so they can access their creative expression and release it to the world before they die.
So yeah.
Content assisted with AI on our site may be rewritten, expanded, cut, rearranged, and often rejected because it’s just not good. Other times it is. But we reserve an ancient editorial technique to lord over our servitor minions.
It’s called:
01001110 01001111 01010000 01000101 00101110 00100000 01000100 01001111 00100000 01001001 01010100 00100000 01000001 01000111 01000001 01001001 01001110 00101110
Or in flesh-bag speak.
“Nope. Do it again.”
Human Overlord Editorial Control
The humans on the Cryptic Escape team will review and approve every article published on this site.
The Overlords will determine what is covered. They will argue with the mad scientists about what belongs in content, how the fictional writers should be characterized, images, and have the final say on what is published.
AI can and will probably contribute to most material. It’s just too powerful of a tool to ignore.
Final Editorial authority will not rest with the A.I.
Creative direction, opinions, editorial judgement, and ultimately final responsibility of the content belong to the Overlords at Cryptic Escape. A group of humans who are friends and family.
Just Gimme the Facts
AI has greatly cut down the time on research by dozens of hours depending on the project. It’s probably the most use we’ve had out of it. However, AI cannot be treated as an infallible source of information. Like humans.
Our writers and editors will often consult outside sources such as production histories, interviews, databases, archives, and other contemporary artifacts for references.
Mistakes can happen, however.
Because, Overlords, despite being divinely created are flawed.
If you do notice a mistake, it can be corrected with an email and then an edit. No need to let our pride become possessed.
AI fabricated quotations, interviews, or sources will not knowingly be presented as facts and should be considered entertainment only.
Editorial Voice, Opinions, & Reviews
Many of our posts contain…opinions.
We know. Shocking.
Sometimes we have scores, criticisms, recommendations, jokes, and other editorial conclusions and these represent a creative perspective of the Overlords at Cryptic Escape.
Just because there is AI assistance does not mean that a review score was just randomly generated. Nor does it mean that we are presenting machine output without independent human testimony
The Overlords will determine final editorial review.
Ghost From the Machine
You may have noticed that some of our content is presented through fictional writers, reviewers, hosts, and other characters that inhabit our Cryptic Escape Mythology.
These people are not real. They are expressions to create a larger universe.
These people are not real.
They all have character backstories, dialogue, their own opinions, and their own personality. Just like any other personality you would find in a book or movie. We just thought it would be fun to have characters created for a fictional framework to entertain readers.
When these characters post we will make reasonable efforts to ensure that readers will know the difference. Either disclaimer or intentionally let it be obvious.
The fictional contributors when used will never be presented as real individuals. They’re characters in a story. They do not have real-world credentials or experiences.
AI-Assisted & AI-Generated Artwork
Generative AI may be used in the creation of graphics, logos, illustrations, fictional portraits, maps, concept art, and other visual material.
We may also edit, composite, crop, retouch, reformat, or modify these works of art.
Jealous Overlords
Look. AI is useful. However human taste is far more powerful.
Does a snowflake blame itself for the avalanche?
This website exists because a group of people are in love with science-fiction, fantasy, and horror.
We don’t want the machine underlings to replace Overlord curiosity, judgment, criticism, research, humor, and creativity.
We want to argue about which is better…
Alien or Aliens.
The answer is Aliens obviously, but the point is AI may help with the production of ideas, but it cannot tell you what to care about. Unless you’re one of those who didn’t know you’ve been living in a high-tech information grid surrounded by Algorithms and AI…then it totally can tell you what to care about…
On the View Screen
There is no intention of pretending AI is not a part of our production process. Gosh, one 2025 analysis estimated that 52% of newly published English-language articles were AI-generated. So, at this point, pretending AI isn’t part of the modern internet seems a little silly.
So, articles involving AI assistance in a meaningful way may include the following notice one similar to it:
AI-Assisted Production Notice: Cryptic Escape has AI-assisted tools, and they were a part of the creative and editorial process for this content. This may include research, drafting, editing, and artwork. This work was reviewed by a human and has final editorial and creative direction of this published work which belongs to Cryptic Escape.
AI is advancing quickly and we have to change with it. This policy could be updated (upgraded?) to reflect how Cryptic Escape will operate.
The TLDR
Yes, AI is being used.
Not hiding it.
It is being used deliberately, openly, and is part of our larger Overlord-directed creative process.
Ultimately, the Overlords decide what is edited, drafted, and published.
Save your pitchforks. We’re all witches here!
-Cryptic, Editor of Cryptic Escape Magazine
EDITOR’S NOTE: I have personally written this policy because I wanted it to be genuine. For shits and giggles, I ran it through Originality.ai.
Apparently, portions of my policy were still flagged as AI-generated.
Turing be damned.
Beep boop, motherfuckers!
Foot Note: Futurism — Over 50 Percent of the Internet Is Now AI Slop, New Data Finds https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/over-50-percent-internet-ai-slop