Japan's publishing industry is grappling with a surge in submissions of novels created using generative artificial intelligence (AI), leading to challenges in judging new literary awards. In contrast, South Korea's literary community has strictly limited AI-generated submissions due to copyright concerns.
According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on August 17, amateur writers in Japan are increasingly using generative AI to quickly produce novels without extensive practice, resulting in a significant rise in submissions for literary awards.
For the 14th Hayakawa SF Contest, which closed at the end of March, submissions soared to 1,012, more than double the usual number of around 400. The Mystery Literature Award from Takara-jima-sha, titled "This Mystery is Amazing!", also saw a 60% increase, with 731 entries compared to the previous year. Additionally, the Kadokawa Light Novel Award recorded a 40% rise, totaling 5,088 submissions.
The sudden influx of entries has left Japanese publishers alarmed. Literary awards typically undergo one to three rounds of judging, incurring costs of thousands of yen per work when external experts are consulted. The deluge of lower-quality AI-generated submissions could inflate annual judging costs to millions of yen.
Literary critic Yoshinori Shimizu noted, "Amid a magazine recession, it has become economically unfeasible to maintain these awards, and we may see a reduction in new literary prizes in the future. The introduction of tools to filter out AI-generated works before the formal judging process is necessary." In response, the Hayakawa SF Contest has mandated the disclosure of AI usage in submissions and prohibited multiple entries starting from the next round.
Meanwhile, the situation in South Korea is markedly different. Last year, major newspapers and the Changbi New Writer Award explicitly stated in their guidelines that "AI-generated works are not eligible for submission," effectively barring AI involvement in literary competitions. This restriction extends to art and photography contests as well.
Organizers cite the opacity of AI training processes as a reason, stating, "This is due to potential copyright issues that may arise in the future." However, some voices within the literary community argue that, given the pervasive influence of AI on information retrieval, it is urgent to establish social and institutional standards on how much AI usage should be permitted, rather than outright exclusion.
According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on August 17, amateur writers in Japan are increasingly using generative AI to quickly produce novels without extensive practice, resulting in a significant rise in submissions for literary awards.
For the 14th Hayakawa SF Contest, which closed at the end of March, submissions soared to 1,012, more than double the usual number of around 400. The Mystery Literature Award from Takara-jima-sha, titled "This Mystery is Amazing!", also saw a 60% increase, with 731 entries compared to the previous year. Additionally, the Kadokawa Light Novel Award recorded a 40% rise, totaling 5,088 submissions.
The sudden influx of entries has left Japanese publishers alarmed. Literary awards typically undergo one to three rounds of judging, incurring costs of thousands of yen per work when external experts are consulted. The deluge of lower-quality AI-generated submissions could inflate annual judging costs to millions of yen.
Literary critic Yoshinori Shimizu noted, "Amid a magazine recession, it has become economically unfeasible to maintain these awards, and we may see a reduction in new literary prizes in the future. The introduction of tools to filter out AI-generated works before the formal judging process is necessary." In response, the Hayakawa SF Contest has mandated the disclosure of AI usage in submissions and prohibited multiple entries starting from the next round.
Meanwhile, the situation in South Korea is markedly different. Last year, major newspapers and the Changbi New Writer Award explicitly stated in their guidelines that "AI-generated works are not eligible for submission," effectively barring AI involvement in literary competitions. This restriction extends to art and photography contests as well.
Organizers cite the opacity of AI training processes as a reason, stating, "This is due to potential copyright issues that may arise in the future." However, some voices within the literary community argue that, given the pervasive influence of AI on information retrieval, it is urgent to establish social and institutional standards on how much AI usage should be permitted, rather than outright exclusion.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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