This graph posted on Twitter shows the unprecedented rise in submitted stories to Clarkesworld Magazine since February of 2023.

AI-Written Stories Alarm Science Fiction Magazine Publisher Who Halts Submissions

What a weird world we are building. And it is getting weirder every day thanks to the excitement over chatbots, particularly ChatGPT. We have been writing several stories lately that are all about chatbots and how they are affecting different occupations. Such as a short story sci-fi writer.

Clarkesworld Magazine isn’t accepting any stories currently, and ChatGPT is the reason why, according to a story on pcmag.com.

Clarkesworld Magazine is temporarily suspending short story submissions, citing a surge in people using AI chatbots to “plagiarize” their writing. The magazine announced the suspension days after Clarkesworld editor Neil Clarke warned about AI-written works posing a threat to the entire short-story ecosystem.

At the end of last year, the sci-fi publication encountered a rise in plagiarism as AI-powered chatbots gained the public’s attention, Clarke wrote in a blog post. Since then, Clarkesworld has seen a massive spike in short story submissions, but much of the writing appears to come from humans relying on AI tools to generate the text.

“In his post, Clark declined to specify how he detected the AI-generated writing, saying he had ‘no intention of helping those people become less likely to be caught.’ Nevertheless, he said the alleged AI-based works show ‘some very obvious patterns.’ “

Although the magazine could tap software to detect AI-generated writing, those tools can be costly and produce false positives.

“It’s clear that business as usual won’t be sustainable, and I worry that this path will lead to an increased number of barriers for new and international authors. Short fiction needs these people,” Clarke said.

The magazine will just outright ban those who continue to submit chatbot stories. Even though it only pays 12 cents per word, the magazine has its standards.

Since the debut of ChatGPT, people have been taking advantage of a free AI writer. Imagine all the other applications that chatbots will be used for to take shortcuts in the future.

read more at pcmag.com