It has been brought to our attention that a story in Issue 153 of Apex Magazine, “Vigil of the Tenth Air,” is suspected of being written with AI assistance. After careful review, we have decided to remove the story from our website, and will send amended copies of Issue 153 to all readers free of charge.
Additionally, upon further investigation, a story shortlisted for Violet Lichen’s upcoming anthology ECO25: the Year’s Best Speculative Ecofiction, was found to be attributed to the pen name Irene W. Collins, whose work has been recently removed from several other short fiction publications under suspicion of AI usage. While this story was not selected for publication, we will be removing it from the ECO25 shortlist announcements on both the Apex Book Company and Violet Lichen websites.
In light of these recent discoveries, Apex Magazine, Apex Book Company, and Violet Lichen will be updating our approach to tackling AI submissions. These changes will include refining the language of the AI Clause in our Submission Guidelines and Publication Contracts, expanding our internal review processes, and other amendments as the editorial and reading team see fit. In the event a piece is suspected of AI use after publication, the editorial team will reach out to the author to discuss the story in further detail. We will not be implementing AI “detection” tools, software, or services at any point in our submission process. We will also not be requesting notes, outlines or early drafts from authors.
The Apex team is resolved to apply the lessons learned both from our experience, and from the invaluable reports and statements compiled by fellow indie publishers, to fortify our submission process against AI-assisted work, and to continue uplifting strange, surreal, beautiful speculative fiction written with passion and care by humans, for humans. We would like to thank our slush readers for their patience as we continue to work out our next steps, and we deeply appreciate their time and effort dedicated to Apex Magazine. They are the front line encountering and wading through these submissions, and we recognize that effort. Thank you as well to our editors, team members, and to our readers for your continued support.
