Humanity’s latest tool just got its start as a newborn infant, and we hate AI already. “Art” is the first syllable of Artificial Intelligence, but AI gets no credit for that.
Publishers Hate AI
I haven’t done a survey, but I suspect most publishers won’t accept stories written by AI. According to this post by Steve Levandoski, the following publishers forbid AI-written submissions: Spectrum Magazine, Flash Fiction Magazine, Small Wonders Magazine, The Fabulist Magazine, and Clarkesworld Magazine.
The reasons for this prohibition vary, but include assertions that AI (1) writes with poor quality, (2) can inundate a publisher with too many submissions, and (3) can’t possibly understand the human condition.
Authors Hate AI
In July 2025, 70 famous authors signed an open letter calling on publishers not to publish books or content written by AI.
Their rationale, aside from the obvious “AI is stealing my job” argument, included (1) only a human can understand another human, and (2) the ability of AI to write depends on the text the AI vacuumed up from existing literature, which it stole without paying or even acknowledging the human authors.
Readers Hate AI
In March 2025, Australian author Jessa Hastings, writer of the Magnolia Parks Universe, shared AI-generated renderings of her characters. Reader fans objected, saying she should have hired human artists, and claiming AI harms the environment. Hastings argued AI was a tool, and if her readers used tools in their daily lives, they were being hypocritical. Further, she threatened to kill one of her beloved characters.
In December 2025, the Nebula Awards for science fiction were about to allow some use of AI. Reader attendees created an uproar. Nebula officials revised the policy and will not bestow an award for a work written in whole or in part by AI.
In March 2026, readers accused author Mia Ballard of using AI to write her novel, Shy Girl. It had been published in the UK and was due to be published in the US. The author denied using AI, but based on the accusations and the quality of writing, the publisher cancelled the planned US launch and cancelled the UK contract.
Should I Hate AI, Too?
You might think it’s tough, as a human beginning writer, to succeed in the fiction writing business. Try walking a block in AI’s shoes. (AI doesn’t wear shoes, but work with me here.) Nobody likes AI. Nobody wants AI.
As a science fiction, writer, I think about new technology and extrapolate it. I ponder what it might become. Forget how poorly AI writes today. AI can improve faster than a human writer. AI might write as well as humans in a few years. It might soon write better.
The more I think about fiction-writing AI and the world’s reaction to it, the more I’m reminded of human writers just starting their writing journey. The world seems to hate them, too. Some give up, unable to stand the rejections. Others persist and work to improve their craft. In time, a few become better writers, get published, and gain a following among readers.
The Case Against AI Fiction Writing
I don’t dismiss the valid concerns about AI aside from the current, rather bland, quality of its writing. To the extent AI takes input from works under copyright protection without paying for it, that’s not good. I take input from other writers, too. All writers do. We read widely. But we buy each other’s’ books.
Does AI harm the environment? At the very least, the data centers behind AI consume vast amounts of electrical power. Human writers don’t do that. I can understand and agree with this concern. I hope someone—or some AI—comes up with a way for AI to use less power.
Will AI put human writers and artists out of business? I don’t know. Every previous labor-saving invention tended to put people out of work. But these innovations often ended up creating at least as many other jobs.
So far, AI only works under human guidance, after human prompting. No AI starts its day thinking, “I’m going to start writing a novel today.” Humans do. Perhaps, soon, AI will initiate its own creative pursuits.
All Up to the Reader
Readers have always determined the quality of fiction writing. Earlier, I cited examples of readers hating AI. Maybe that will change. Some readers will always hate AI no matter how well it writes. However, if AI improves its craft, I can imagine a time when it attains, and even surpasses, the skill level of human writers. It might earn a loyal fanbase of human readers. It will put the “art” in artificial intelligence.
Poor AI. I’ve been where it is now, a writer struggling to make it in a tough business. Wishing it luck, and sympathizing with its struggles, I’m—
Poseidon’s Scribe
