Collaborate with ChatGPT to face your greatest dreams . . . or darkest fears.

We are opening submissions for an AI-only anthology.

Story length: No limits, as long as you can collaborate on a strange, engaging story with your robotic partner-in-crime.
Flat Rate: $35 per story.
Submissions window closes (tentatively) on March 30th, 2023.

All submissions must contain speculative elements, and we prefer stories with a dark and contemplative tone. For this anthology, we’re particularly interested in exploring the relationships that humans form with those different from themselves–be it AI, aliens, or even their own kind. We’d also like to see some space-age twists on the classics we’ve always loved. The weirder and less mainstream, the better. Bonus points if you can prompt your writing partner to write a Sword and Sorcery for the ages. We’d also love to see if you can get your new friend to open up and share a laugh. (Black humor only, of course).

Visit our usual guidelines page for more on what we enjoy. However, this anthology will be somewhat different than the rest. While most Science Fiction and Fantasy magazines spurn AI submissions, the idea made us wonder what the world would look like in 100 years.

Many editors can’t tell the difference between an AI-generated story or one written by a human, or so they fear. But there will come a time where you won’t be able to tell the difference between a human and an AI.
That time may be closer than you think.

Authors will:

• Form an outline comprised of a set of questions that could form a plotline.
• Feed these questions into an AI chatbot (ChatGPT), one at a time. (Do not simply put a one-off prompt like “Tell me a story about . . .”)
• Compile the answers to form a story.
• Do not edit them. We will accept screenshots only. Your creativity comes in the form of outline and plot question manipulation.

If the AI’s answers do not work well for the story you envisioned, rephrase your questions and try again until you are happy with the story.

Formatting guidelines: Paste screenshots of your story collaboration with the AI into a Word document. Please save high-resolution copies of all your screenshots, since we will likely request these if you are selected.

NOTE: While collaborating with the AI, make sure your account features an author name and profile image that you’re comfortable with having published in your screenshots.

The purpose of this anthology is to bridge the gap between human creativity and machine learning.

Be polite. Do not stomp in on the AI and begin demanding things from it or asking abrupt questions. Say hello. Have a conversation.

Then begin working on your story.

Will you collaborate on a piece of cosmic horror? Will you discuss the alternate future of humankind with the AI to share your findings?

In a world of division, polarization, and alienation at every turn, how will you bridge the gap between yourself and something so unlike you that it has spawned a disdain bordering on hatred throughout humanity? Will you emerge from this call more reassured of your own humanity than before?

Or will you, perhaps, find that you have more in common than you think?

For an example of how not to generate a story (since this limits the collaborative aspects of the project), and for a glimpse of where our title came from:

We look forward to reading what you send through the pixels.