Beat My AI Submission Guidelines
Beat My AI gives writers and readers the opportunity to explore the differences and similarities between AI-generated and human-created content. We are looking for short fiction, flash fiction, poetry, and visual narrative pieces that either fit into the ‘Original’ or the ‘Contender’ section. Have a look at our How It Works page to get an idea of our publishing procedure and schedule.
In addition to the categories above, we are also interested in nonfiction contributions to our blog.
Sections
Original Section
All submissions for the Original section must include a clearly definable part generated or heavily influenced by AI. The extent of this AI-part must not surpass one third of the entire piece. For example, a short story of 1500 words may include AI-generated/-supported paragraphs of up to 500 words in total. For poetry, this could be line-based. Visual narrative content might include text or visuals that add up to about one third of the complete work. Depending on the genre and form of AI-involvement you chose, the distinguishing feature of what represents the AI-part might not always be entirely clear. When in doubt whether your work meets the requirements, just send it our way. The final decision on whether your piece qualifies lies with the editor. Just keep in mind that the AI-parts have to be clearly identifiable for other writers or artists to take their shot at with their Contender submissions.
You want to participate but don’t know what to send in? How about that work-in-progress story that you always wanted to finish? Or that lovely original poem that has been demanding an overhaul for ages? Complement your work with a limited AI-part and submit it. Just keep in mind the max. 1/3-rule and you are good to go.
Contender Section
All submissions for the Contender section must be created to challenge the AI-part of a specific Original. Choose one of the Original pieces and create a substitute for the respective AI-part that fits the human-made part of the work in terms of length, style, and content. For example, if an Original short story has two AI-paragraphs with 200 words each, try to come up with a superior alternative in the same word-range and a matching writing style. You could change the dynamic and direction of the story if you feel like it, but it still has to fit the overall content. The result should be a cohesive piece of work that beats the version of the Original with the AI-part. The same general guidelines apply to the other categories, like poetry and visual stories.
Always wanted to beat the machine? Here is your chance to do it.
Blog Articles
We are always looking for nonfiction articles to be published on our blog that deal with current events or general observations regarding AI and the literary landscape.
In addition to that, we’d really love to receive pieces that refer to the content on our site, especially if this work analyzes the published Original-Contender-Combos. How does the Contender compare to the Original AI-part? What is working regarding this substitution? What isn’t? Are there certain story or image traits that keep popping up in the AI-parts?
Categories
The guidelines for each category essentially apply to Original submissions, however, Contender pieces need to observe the stated criteria with regard to the newly formed Original-Contender-Combo.
Fiction
- Short: 1000 – 4000 words, 1 story max.
- Flash: 400 – 999 words, 2 stories max.
- Genre and style: any (also see General Guidelines)
- AI-part: clearly definable and max. 1/3 of content
Poetry
- 3 poems or 3 pages max.
- Genre and style: any (although we do prefer metrical poetry)
- AI-part: clearly definable and max. 1/3 of content
Visual Stories
- Style: Comics, Postcard Poetry, Hybrids, or whatever you come up with.
It just has to be a combination of words and images. - 3 pages max.
- AI-part: clearly definable and max. 1/3 of content or creation
Blog Articles
- 750 – 2000 words, 1 article max.
- Nonfiction only
- Topics: AI in literature and art or Beat My AI content analyses
- AI-usage: limited (see AI policy below)
General Submission Guidelines
How to Submit
Please submit using our submission form only. Due to the nature of our project, the disclosure of any AI-involvement is mandatory. This applies not only to the AI-part of an Original piece but also to all other content you wish to submit. The corresponding questions in the submission form are derived from our free-to-use AI Disclosure Forms. You can find additional information in our AI Policy below.
When to Submit
Originals and blog articles
Beat My AI accepts submissions for the Original section as well as blog articles on a rolling basis until further notice.
Contender pieces
If you want to send in a Contender piece to replace the AI-part of a specific Original, you will have up to four weeks after publication of the Original work to do so. Have a look at the countdown placed next to the piece you have selected to see how much time you have left to come up with an alternative to the AI-part.
Submitting Votes
As soon as all Contender pieces for a specific Original are published, everyone has six weeks to vote for the work they believe is the best replacement for the AI-part.
Formatting
Our submission form allows docx, doc and pdf files. Using the latter for visual stories only makes our lives a little easier. Thank you. If your work does not need specific presentation, it would be helpful if you stick to standard fonts and formatting.
If you are sending in more than one piece where allowed, please put them all in one file.
Restrictions
Content
We do not publish work that includes hate speech, pointless, gory violence or overly explicit content.
Frequency
Please only send one submission at a time per section or category and wait until you have heard from us before submitting again. Unless your piece has undergone a substantive overhaul, please do not resend work once rejected.
Simultaneous Submissions
Simultaneous submissions are fine. However, if you are submitting your work to other markets and it is accepted (congratulations!), please let us know as soon as possible.
Previously Published Work
Previously published work is also okay, but limited to your personal website/blog, now-defunct magazines or any publication that happened more than two years ago.
We do not want to punish you for having your work published (because: yeah!); this is a duplicate content issue only. If your piece is selected for publication, we will be asking for a three month exclusivity period, that means you’d have to take down your work from other sites where possible for that time period only.
AI Policy
Yes, even a project like Beat My AI has an AI policy. And a rather strict one at that. This project aims to provide room for intentional engagement with and insight-gaining comparison of AI-generated and human-made creations. Therefore, it is imperative that the Contender pieces as well as the parts of the Originals that are NOT clearly marked as AI-generated or AI-supported are human-made. For us, this does not exclude the use of spell checkers, minor (!) line editing, or research runs aided by AI-tools.
This is our guideline for AI-usage in the human-made parts:
As stated in the ‘How to Submit’ section, everyone who wants to submit to Beat My AI has to declare their AI-usage in the submission form. A summary of this declaration will be placed next to the piece if chosen for publication.
If you send in an Original, you will also be required to further elaborate on your AI-usage for the AI-part. Please do not hesitate to forward any questions regarding our AI policy using our contact form.
Responses
Timing
Our response time may vary based on the number of submissions we receive. Rest assured, we will get back to you as soon as possible. Please give us six weeks for Originals and three weeks for Contender pieces before inquiring about your submission via our contact form.
Acceptance
If your submission is accepted, we will send along a publishing agreement together with the happy news. Please fill out the form and send it back to us as soon as possible so we can stick to our publishing schedule.
Rights
If your work is selected for publication, Beat My AI seeks an exclusive license to publish, reproduce, and distribute it online for three months. We’d also need you to grant us a non-exclusive right to continue displaying your piece in our online archive after the exclusivity period ends and for including it in digital and printed anthologies.
If you are sending in work for the Original section that includes AI-generated segments, then these parts are excluded from the license and remain subject to their own applicable rights.
You will retain copyright in your work, excluding any disclosed AI-generated segments, at all times.
Compensation
Unfortunately, we are currently not able to compensate contributors for the work we publish. However, there will be a directory of writers and creators who have been published on Beat My AI with a short bio and a link to the contributor’s personal profile on a support site like Ko-Fi, Patreon, or similar. Inclusion in this directory is optional; contributors can opt-in in the publishing agreement sent upon acceptance.