With the proliferation of AI across seemingly every website, app, and device connected to the Internet, I felt it was time to make a personal statement regarding AI usage on heyitsfree.net.
I need to formally put this on the site somewhere, but for posterity's sake I just want to say that I never have, nor ever will, use AI on HIF.I see other freebie sites using slop AI images or blatantly AI regurgitated nonsense. That garbage will never end up on HIF for as long as I'm in charge.
— Hey, It's Free! (@freebies.bsky.social) 2025-12-31T22:42:34.786Z
I do not use any AI during my research, discovery, or vetting process for freebies. All freebies are discovered by a human; either myself or via the occasional tip from a reader. All freebie legitimacy is performed manually by me. Any company or corporate verification is performed manually by me.
I do not use any AI for images or visual content. AI images are abysmal and pure slop. They look terrible and I'd rather have no image whatsoever than some AI slop garbage. Any images posted on HIF are either promotional images directly from freebie companies, free stock photos, or licensed stock photos.
None of my content is generated, written, edited, or proofread using AI. For better or worse, every single word is manually thought of by my own brain and manually typed onto HIF by my own fingers. Misspellings are occasionally caught by my default browser spellcheck, but that's it and I have used Firefox for this purpose since 2005. Occasionally, I type with one hand because the other is holding Cheez in my lap.
HIF uses many third-party plugins and code to support the functionality of the site. Some are free off-the-shelf items, while others are premium plugins that I pay for. When I discover that a plugin is using AI-generated code, I switch plugins when possible. No user data is provided to any AI services by me – and I barely collect any user data to begin with.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!
