Influencers pushing ‘get rich quick’ schemes led to 500 rejected pitches and banned ‘authors’, said the founding editor
Due to an overwhelming number of AI-generated pitches, Clarkesworld, a renowned publisher of science fiction short stories, has stopped accepting submissions. Despite being one of the few paying publishers that welcome open submissions from new writers, Clarkesworld has decided to temporarily close its doors. The publication has published works by celebrated writers such as Jeff VanderMeer, Yoon Ha Lee, and Catherynne Valente in the past.
According to Neil Clarke, the founding editor, the promise of ChatGPT caught the attention of influencers who promote “get rich quick” schemes through AI. Clarke stated in a blog post that the magazine usually receives around 10 submissions per month that are considered to have plagiarized other authors. However, since the ChatGPT’s introduction last year, the number of rejections has dramatically increased, reflecting the growing prevalence of AI language models.
According to Clarke, in January, the publisher rejected 100 submissions and prohibited their “authors” from submitting again. As of February, Clarke has already banned over 500 submissions. He noted that he has spoken with several editors, and the situation he is facing is not uncommon. He added that markets that are “always open” and have higher profiles are more affected than those with restricted submission windows or lower payment rates. Clarke expressed concern that continuing in this manner would create additional obstacles for new and international authors, who are vital to the world of short fiction.
The issue cannot be resolved naturally and I am currently unable to provide a solution. Therefore, the magazine has decided to take the extreme measure of closing submissions until a viable solution can be found. Although we intend to reopen at some point in the future, we have not yet determined a specific date. As stated by Clarke on social media, the magazine has encountered problems with unreliable detectors, as well as the adverse effects of pay-to-submit policies on legitimate authors, and the impracticality of accepting print submissions.
Individuals who are not part of the science fiction and fantasy community are responsible for the problem, and they are primarily motivated by the potential for easy profits through ChatGPT. These people should be held partially responsible for the negative attitudes towards AI developers. The use of generative AI technology has also created controversy outside of fiction circles. For instance, there have been concerns regarding image generation using tools like Midjourney, Dall-E, and Stable Diffusion. The Colorado state art fair inadvertently awarded first prize in its “emerging digital artists” category to an image produced by Midjourney, although the award money went to Jason Allen, who had inputted the prompt into the AI tool and submitted the output under his name.
