These Books Were Judged by Their A.I. Covers, and Disqualified; The New York Times, November 19, 2025

Jin Yu Young , The New York Times; These Books Were Judged by Their A.I. Covers, and Disqualified

"The authors of the books, which were submitted to one of New Zealand’s largest literary competitions, didn’t know that the artwork was created using A.I. They found out last week, however, when they were disqualified because the covers had violated the contest’s new rule about A.I.-generated material.

The studio that designed the covers defended them, saying that A.I. is part of their creative process. And the independent publisher of the works of fiction said that the contest, the 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Award, had not given publishers enough time to comply with its new A.I. rules.

The publisher, Quentin Wilson, said in an email on Tuesday that the episode was “heartbreaking” for the two authors, who do not use A.I. in their writing, and upsetting for the production and design teams that worked hard on the books. He added that the rapid rise of A.I. has put the publishing industry in “uncharted waters.”...

The episode is one of many “fronts of chaos” as creative industries try to establish fair and sensible rules for A.I.-generated content, said Oliver Bown, a professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia whose research looks at intersections between art, technology and creativity.

The problem, he said, is that changes come so fast that new regulations are inevitably developed and communicated in a rush."