3 submissions to poetry competition were AI-generated
Three winning entries of a poetry competition were found to be generated by artificial intelligence (AI) in the first such case in Singapore.
On Sept 23, the Migrant Writers of Singapore (MWS) announced in a Facebook post that they had recalled the list of winners for their recent poetry competition after discovering that some submissions were generated by AI.
The post said: “Our team at MWS is committed to upholding and preserving the integrity of the competition. We will take allegations of all such cases seriously and conduct a thorough investigation with our participants.”
MWS is an inclusive platform for migrant workers to engage in and volunteer for the literary arts, creating connections between migrants and Singaporeans over a shared love of literature.
Eight winners were listed in the original post. Other participants and volunteers with MWS notified the team of the problem after the list had been announced, and a check by AI-detection tools Scribbr and Quillbot found that a sizable number of submissions were also created with AI.
The post added: “AI is a relatively new tool for all of us and we are still learning to navigate a writing world with such tools involved. We apologise for the oversight in this matter and the delay in results, and seek your kind understanding.”
Participants who disregarded the guidelines will be banned from future competitions.
A spokeswoman for MWS told The Straits Times: “We are disappointed that this situation has arisen, because the use of AI-generated writing has made it harder for the genuine voices of our migrant writers to receive their well-deserved recognition and reach a wider audience.”
An open call for submissions to the competition, themed Embracing Empathy, was announced on Sept 2 on the MWS Facebook pages as part of the Migrant Literature Festival 2024 that will take place on Oct 13 at the National Library. The top three winners would receive cash prizes while the other five would receive books, and all would be invited to recite their poems at the festival.
Submission guidelines stipulate that “submissions must be original works” and written in English.
The spokeswoman added: “In future competitions, we will explicitly highlight that AI-generated writing will not be accepted, as well as check all poems for AI usage. As a community of literary enthusiasts, we highly respect writing as a craft and medium of expression. Poetry need not be free of English errors for us to appreciate the thoughts and emotions it holds. We will continue to strive to be a community which produces and advocates for authentic writing.”
MWS is also arranging to speak with the individuals suspected of using AI-generated works.
“We understand that some may have used translation, grammar or spell-checking tools before their submissions and perhaps this might have erroneously been picked up by AI detectors as AI-generated text. Each case is unique and we will consider their situation with sensitivity,” the spokeswoman said.
The judging panel consisted of Singaporean spoken word artist Stephanie Chan, better known as Stephanie Dogfoot, Filipino attorney Josue Sim Zuniega and Indonesian novelist and entrepreneur Okky Madasari.
All of them have agreed to another round of judging before the new list of winners is announced at a later date.
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