Science fiction writers, Comic-Con say goodbye to AI

In recent months, some of the major players in science fiction and popular culture have taken a stronger stance against generative AI.

Separate decisions from San Diego Comic-Con and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) illustrate the depth of AI opposition within some creative communities — though they are certainly not alone, as music distribution platform Bandcamp also recently banned generative AI.

In December, when SFWA announced it was updating the rules for the Nebula Awards. Works written entirely by major language models would be ineligible, while authors who used LLMs “at some point during the writing process” would have to disclose that use, leaving voters to make their own decision about whether that use would affect their support.

As Jason Sanford reported his Genre Grapevine newsletterThis change provoked an immediate reaction as it seemingly opened the door to work created in part by LLMs. The SFWA Board of Directors apologized a few days laterwrite: “Our approach and wording was wrong and we apologize for the distress and mistrust we have caused.”

The rules have been revised again to now state that works “authored in whole or in part by Generative Large Language Models (LLM) are ineligible” for Nebula Awards and that work will be disqualified if LLMs are used at any point in its creation.

In a follow-up postSanford said he was happy to see that SFWA was listening to its members, and he said he refuses to use gen AI in his own fiction writing — “not just because of this theft, but also because the tools aren’t really creative and defeat the whole point of storytelling.” Still, he wrote that there are important questions to be answered about how broadly LLM use will be defined, especially as “these generative AI products are being forced down everyone’s throats by big companies.”

“If you use online search engines or computer products today, you’re probably using something powered by or connected to an LLM,” Sanford said. “We must therefore be careful that writers who use word processing and research tools with LLM components are not unfairly disqualified from awards like the Nebulas or attacked by readers and other writers.”

The massive annual San Diego Comic-Con faced a similar controversy this month after artists noticed rules that allowed AI-generated art to be displayed — but not sold — at the convention’s art exhibit. After artists complained, the rules were in place quietly changed to say“Material created in whole or in part by artificial intelligence (AI) is not permitted in the art exhibition.”

While Comic-Con’s apology was less public than SFWA’s, some artists shared email responses from Glen Wooten, head of the art fair, who apparently said the previous rules had been in place for “a few years” and that they were effective as a deterrent since no one had participated in AI-generated art in the show.

“But the issue is becoming more and more of an issue, so stronger language is needed: NO! Plain and simple,” Wooten reportedly said.

It’s probably safe to assume that other organizations will announce similarly tough positions this year – and that these communities will continue to debate the bigger issues.