The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in writing is a hot topic and one Chicken Soup for the Soul has started addressing in their callouts. An added paragraph states that contributors must attest that their work was not created “using AI in whole or in part . . . except to fact-check or do research for the work.” Additionally, contributors must agree to “accept all costs associated with removing the work from the finished book if AI is discovered to have been used to create it.” After all, Chicken Soup wants to read our true stories, not ones made up by AI.

A subscriber contacted me, concerned about the new policy, so I checked with Chicken Soup. They said the only people who should be concerned are those who submit AI generated stories. If we know we wrote our stories and the stories are true, we have nothing to worry about.

In a recent newsletter, Chicken Soup editors said they’d already received both AI-generated and AI-assisted stories—and they were NOT good. They have also received pieces they think started out as a good story, “but the writer did an AI pass at the end to make the story ‘better.’ That doesn’t work! AI adds a bunch of wordy, flowery language and does not create the kind of work that we publish.”

Just to be clear: Using Grammarly or MS Word spell/grammar check is fine, even if these sites suggest a word change or deletion to tighten the story. That’s considered proofing. However, telling an AI computer all the elements of a story and having it write the story or using the “improve” feature on Grammarly crosses the line.

Write your own stories from the creative gifts God gave you and leave AI out of the equation.