Publishers, Authors, and AI Detection

I follow the writing gossip across the internet, or at least on Substack, WordPress, and Bluesky. All of these platforms have the classic downsides of social media discussions: they are full of drama and heated opinions, everyone thinks a little too highly of themselves, and topics tend to blow up and fade quickly. However, AI is taking up a lot of space in the conversation, and it doesn’t seem likely to die down anytime soon. There is always the risk of groupthink, but I see an overwhelmingly negative attitude toward AI-generated writing, especially in fiction. This is across pretty much every axis: amateur and pro authors, editors, agents, publishers, and readers. It mirrors the steadily declining sentiment toward LLMs in the general population, but is notably more extreme and vociferous. A lot of people do not want AI-written fiction. Almost every publication where I’m submitting short fiction has a “no AI” clause in their submission guidelines and contracts. Fiction is big…