AI-written stories blocked the work of the popular publication Clarkesworld

One of the most prominent online publishers of short stories in the science fiction genre, Clarkesworld has shut down writer submissions for publication indefinitely. As the publication reported on its Twitter page, the editorial office was inundated with a stream of stories written not by people, but by AI programs.

Clarkesworld magazine, founded in 2006, publishes science fiction and fantasy stories, as well as articles and interviews with interesting people and experts. The journal monthly accepted for consideration about ten works sent by the authors, publishing some of them. Since January, the flow of applications from potential authors has increased dramatically. The journal was forced to reject about 100 texts that were clearly written using AI programs, and imposed a ban on accepting new texts from these “authors”.

However, in recent days the situation has worsened, and the number of texts rejected since the beginning of February and banned “authors” has exceeded 500. The editors do not have time to read texts written by real people, but are forced to fight this stream of consciousness from AI.

The editors have not yet found an effective solution to this problem. Therefore, it was decided not to accept any texts at all, no matter who they were written. “We will reopen, but we haven’t decided when yet,” Clarkesworld founding editor Neil Clark tweeted. Accepting texts printed on paper, according to the editor, is inconvenient for subsequent work with them. The editor does not want to introduce acceptance of applications on a paid basis, since such an approach can weed out really good authors. The editors do not want to work exclusively with those authors who have already published in the journal, refusing to accept texts from new authors.

According to Mr. Clarke, the people who created this problem are not members of the tight-knit community of science fiction writers. “These are mostly those who fell for the recommendations of third-party “influencer experts” who tempt them with the opportunity to make easy money on texts written by the ChatGPT chatbot,” he wrote. The editor believes that if the publishing community does not find a solution to the problem, “everything will start to fall apart.”

“The time for consideration of applications will be stretched, and it’s even scary for me to think what my colleagues who write responses to letters from potential authors will have to do. Of course, this is not yet the death of the short fiction genre (please don’t say such nonsense), but it will definitely complicate our work,” he said.

ChatGPT chatbot spins the spiral of the technological revolution – in the material “Kommersant” “Word generator hypnotized millions”.

Alena Miklashevskaya