The impact of use of Artificial Intelligence tools like ChatGPT or similar (hereinafter referred to as “AI”) has been on the increase globally and the creative community is not exempt. The actual impact of this is still yet to be fully ascertained as it touches upon various legal aspects including (but not limited to) ownership, trademarks, copyrights etc. Though the legalities surrounding this is yet to catch up to the actual pace of AI usage, we at FanFiAddict.com (which includes TBRCon & SFFAddicts Podcast) (Hereinafter collectively referred to as “FFA”) have decided to set ourselves certain self-enforced rules, which would align with the values of the site, its owners, bloggers, guests and other participants.
Why?
To put it simply, we stand with the people. From the inception of the site, we have supported the people behind the publishing industry, be it authors, artists, publishers et al and this policy makes for a public assertation of our aforesaid stance. We do acknowledge that AI is being used by some creators due to its cost or ease of access, and that some may feel pressured into using it so as to compete within a changing market. While it may be that the future of the publishing industry might eventually incorporate AI, it should not be at the cost of people.
How?
FFA will not knowingly host any Content, Reviews, Cover Reveals etc. (hereinafter referred to as “Activity”) where the creators have used AI tools to create or assist in creation of the said content. When we review works by other Publishers (Traditional, Vanity, Indie or Self-published) we will depend on information available in public domain obtainable by a reasonable search effort to determine absence of AI.
FFA constitutes a volunteer fellowship of fantasy and sci-fi reading enthusiasts and as such we do not have the expertise, skillset or budget to independently verify use of AI. As such, we will depend on the words of the creators to voluntarily disclose the same. Upon such disclosure, FFA will withdraw our participation and will not use FFA to host the said activity. We also acknowledge that sometimes the creators themselves may be in a similar situation as ourselves having to trust the words of their service providers (e.g. from artists they have commissioned to do cover art). Such situations will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
To err is human.
Given that this is an honor code type control, where we will depend on others to disclose information, mistakes (intentional or otherwise) are unavoidable. If we do get it wrong, the related activity will cease and any published content will be withdrawn with our sincere apologies, as soon validated proof is made available to us.
– FanFiAddict.com, TBRCon, SFFAddicts Podcast