In recent years, with the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, the online science fiction and fantasy magazine Clarkesworld is facing unprecedented challenges. Neil Clarke, the founder of the magazine, realized as early as the end of 2022 that something seemed "abnormal" in the submissions.
Image Source: Generated by AI, Image Licensed by Midjourney
As OpenAI launched the popular ChatGPT, the situation worsened, leading him to close the magazine's submission portal in February 2023.
Clarke stated: "We found that the generated works were almost on par with real submissions." This situation left the magazine's editors feeling very frustrated, as the large amount of AI-generated content not only diluted genuine creativity but also made the submission environment increasingly hostile. The internet is flooded with these low-quality AI works, with many fictitious authors even publishing articles on reputable websites or creating fake product reviews and academic papers.
Amazon has also not been spared, with the platform flooded with AI-generated books, even creating a market for selling boring and incomprehensible stories. For small and medium-sized publishers like Clarkesworld, this trend is undoubtedly a survival threat, potentially drowning the economy and original ideas of human creation.
Fortunately, after closing submissions, Clarke, with the help of volunteers, established a "very rough spam filter," which somewhat alleviated the situation. However, why would someone choose to lazily submit AI-generated works? Clarke believes this might be related to the current influencer economy, where many claim to make money through ChatGPT on YouTube or TikTok, triggering this phenomenon.
Some scammers even use AI to generate entire websites to attract people to browse ads through search engine optimization, or sell almost incomprehensible books on Amazon. Although Clarke's spam filter temporarily blocked this wave, he also clearly stated: "This situation cannot be sustained in the long term."
Clarke wrote in a blog post in February 2023: "If the industry cannot find a response, the situation will get worse." Although some claim that the death of the short story is not true, he admits that the situation has indeed become complicated.
Key Points:
🌊 Clarkesworld is facing a flood of AI-generated submissions, leaving editors frustrated.
🛑 The magazine founder says closing the submission portal was a last resort, as AI overabundance has worsened the creative environment.
🔧 Volunteers helped establish a spam filter, but a long-term solution still needs to be explored.