I see nothing wrong with using AI to help with research, but as you've pointed out, you need to be careful. I used Bard to provide some info on Justinian, a Byzantine ruler, and it provided me with bogus information that seemed like an attempt to satisfy the premise my prompt established. When I researched the question further, I saw that Bard was flat out wrong. For that reason, I rarely use it. I can get where I want to go with research by using Google the old-fashioned way 99% of the time.

I don't see a huge difference between using AI to complete a simile and using a thesaurus, but using a thesaurus is pretty rare for me, anyway. So metaphor completion is a no for me, too. I don't really care if other people do, though, any more than I care if they use a thesaurus. I just happen to think my writing is better off in the long run when I exercise that part of my brain to come up with my own metaphors and synonyms.

In general, I'm against the use of AI in writing, and I make a point of noting at the end of all my Medium stories that no AI was used.

I do use Grammarly because it is great for catching egregiously stupid things I slap down in a hurry, and, of course, it helps with spelling. I'm a good speller, but not such a good typist. But even then, I find myself often overruling Grammarly because it doesn't understand context very well and it doesn't understand the more subtle nuances of writing.

On the other hand, if I was learning English as a second language, I'd love Grammarly. It's a great tool for that kind of thing.

It's worth noting that many pubs are pushing back on AI, not just Fanfare. The science fiction editorial community is taking a firm stand against, it too. The editor of Clarkesworld did a great ranty blog on it . The other zines, like F&SF and Analog, also make a point of barring its use, to the point where they say things like, "If we determine you are using AI, you may be barred from future submissions and/or editorial consideration."

So when someone says, "Use AI," it depends a lot on what exactly that means. I think most of us who object to it are objecting to using it to "write," not as a tool to help us write.