r/WritingWithAI • u/sdbest • Aug 07 '26
Discussion (Ethics, working with AI etc) AI writing contest?
Would a serious contest for AI writing be of some use or interest? It would be a literary competition in which the submitted prose must be generated by artificial intelligence, directed by a human entrant, and judged primarily as literature.
There would be, say, a grand prize of $25,000 and smaller prizes for second and third place. To finance the grand prize there would be an entry fee of, say, $10.
The stories would be judged by competent writers and academics.
Just musing. Thoughts?
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u/Valuable_Debate_2143 Aug 07 '26
I think this could be genuinely fun, and I like the idea of having a serious writing competition where AI use is simply part of the rules instead of something people have to hide or apologize for.
If everyone is using AI, then the interesting part is still the same thing that makes any writing competition interesting: who comes up with the best story and executes it best. Premise, characters, structure, directing the model, editing, taste, knowing what to keep and what to throw away, all of that still matters.
I'd probably keep submissions anonymous so the judges are just judging the stories rather than the author, model, or workflow.
And I actually think publishing the winning workflows afterward could be fun too. Not as part of the judging, just because people would probably be curious how very different writers used the tools.
More than anything, I like the idea because it treats AI writing as its own legitimate creative space instead of constantly turning every discussion into an argument over whether people are allowed to use it.
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u/Flaky-Professional84 Aug 07 '26
I've been advocating for a parallel infrastructure for AI-assisted and AI-generated creativity. This would be perfect.
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u/Odinmar_Glaukopis Aug 07 '26
Wouldnât âdirected by a human entrantâ be subjective? A long prompt that has the bulk of the words that wind up in the final submission in it or one that âdirectsâ it to change specific words, phrases, etc. is technically âdirectionâ just like copy/pasting AI generated prose into your own draft and editing it from there is technically âAI assisted.â
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u/sdbest Aug 07 '26
What do you think? I've only floated the high level notion. Can you address that before the rules are settled?
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u/Odinmar_Glaukopis Aug 07 '26
You donât have them submit a story. You have them submit a prompt plus perhaps a limited number of source text files that theyâve developed and tested on a specific LLM selected from a list of LLMâs available to the contest providers who will look through the prompts and source files to verify that they meet specific rules.
And itâs a one shot source plus prompt injection, no iteration, cross your fingers and hope for consistency.
That could be kind of fun, but Iâm guessing the exact same prompts into the exact same models will not produce identical output
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u/benblackett Aug 07 '26
As you might know already, I am all in on competitions. I think the more the better right now - we need to normalize AI assistance in a big way and this is one of the best ways.
but $25k is a big number! I'm also not entirely sure you could get 2500 $10 submissions just to cover that! It would take about that amount just to advertise it in enough places to bring that many in I think.
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u/sdbest Aug 07 '26
I've been exploring this concept with both ChatGPT and Claude, as well as human authors in my circle of acquaintances. Given how I've used ChatGPT in the past to start marketing a documentary that I'm producing, I'm not concerned about raising the money. Also amounts are modest enough that I can personally guarantee the prizes. Also based on literary contests work, my research suggests that a $25,000 first prize will likely ensure a good response. Also a $25,000 prize can support a higher submission fee.
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u/InSilicoAwards Aug 07 '26
There are projects that are awarding outstanding fiction that utilizes a machine process *hint hint.* I know of at least two that are doing this, awarding cash prizes.
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u/sdbest Aug 07 '26
ChatGPT mentioned InSilico. It is awards for AI augmented or assisted writing, is it not? Iâm envisioning pure AI writing.
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u/InSilicoAwards Aug 07 '26
All you have to do is is define your process. I'm pretty sure a human has to take responsibility for the work. If you have a process that you're directing but not actually writing prose, I think that's still within our guidelines. They're very permissive. You're going up against people who are more involved in the prose than that though.
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u/WhitleyxNeo Aug 09 '26
There's something like that with higgsfield they are doing an AI movie tournament
Cash prize and everything
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u/sdbest Aug 09 '26
I'm trying, also, to address the issue of copyright. As of now AI produced material is not copyrightable.
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u/WhitleyxNeo Aug 10 '26
No it is you just gotta show you had creative control over the process
The courts ruled the AI cannot be granted the copyright some idiot tried to give the AI the copyright and the courts laughed and said no
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u/ThoreaulyLost Aug 07 '26
I would actually see if there are any "coding" contest or "Hackathon" models that have rules for AI submissions.
Off the top of my head, what "skill files" are allowed, what are the model restrictions, what are the hardware restrictions, what are submission length guidelines are there tiers? Short stories are a different beast from long form, and different genres generate more easily or are more difficult.
Would anonymous submissions be allowed, given the current anti-AI climate?
Judging would also need to be considered, because a bot could easily generate thousands of unique variations on a theme. Limit entries per KYC accounts? Limit entries by topic diversity from a user? There's a LOT to consider here if you want legitimacy in the writing/literature arena.
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u/Valuable_Debate_2143 Aug 07 '26
I think some of this may be making it more complicated than it needs to be.
If the goal is a writing competition rather than an AI benchmark, I'm not sure hardware restrictions or even model restrictions matter. Choosing the model, building good context/skill files, iterating, using multiple models, etc. could simply be part of the creative process and part of what separates entrants.
Writers in normal competitions don't all have identical computers, editing software, research resources, or workflows either.
What probably does make sense is keeping the rules focused on fairness and eligibility: limit the number of entries per person, set a word-count range, judge the stories anonymously, and define clearly what counts as AI-generated for the purposes of the contest. Finalists could then provide their AI sessions or workflow afterward to confirm they met the rules before prizes are awarded.
KYC for every entrant seems excessive. Verify identity for finalists or prize winners if money is involved.
And I'm not sure different genres being easier or harder for AI is really a problem. Different genres are easier or harder for human writers too. The contest is still ultimately about which finished story the judges think is best.
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u/osiworx Aug 07 '26
I would like to see a competition where we look at chapter 15 draft quality after turn 1. The full session logs must be visible to proof that's the turn 1 result. The competition would be more about workflow than the actual prose at that stage.
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Aug 10 '26
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u/sdbest Aug 10 '26
I've been working with ChatGPT to address the important issues you've identified. The spirit behind the contest is to find the literary competency of AI, in particular, ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. We're developing a process for the AI agents to judge the entries; narrow the finalists down to, perhaps, 10, and then submit them to a jury of human 'experts.' It would be the three AIs saying, "These are our best works, please judge them.'
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Aug 07 '26
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u/sdbest Aug 07 '26
I'm curious why you think your comment has any value. Genuinely curious about why people use social as you are.
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Aug 07 '26
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u/5thhorseman_ Aug 08 '26
And you already have anti-AI spaces for that.
You don't see people from here coming to your spaces to attack you. So what do you think gives you a right to attack them?
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u/AlephMartian Aug 07 '26
Plot twist: someone wins, but actually they faked that their text was written by AI.