As sci-fi fans well know by now, it wouldn’t be the hugo awards without some spice on the side. In recent years, the esteemed prize – handed out the world science fiction fiction social convention, also known as world, world, who members Vote on the Honors –ha weed weed ControversiesWith negative headlines (take your pick: Geographical Censorship, racism, Ties to defense manufacturers, Anti- “Woke” backlash before anti- “Woke” was even a thing) Sometimes gotting more Attention than the books and other media the hugos aim to celebrate.
As iO9 previously reportedThis year’s flashpoint is the use of chatgpt – But fortunately, not in a way that has any impact on the actual hugges. The hugo ceremony is just one part of August’s Seattle Worldcon 2025; It’s also a convention that hosts panels featuring autumns and other sci-fi and fantasy lumins. Within the past two weeks, it was discovered that chatgpt had been used to help vet program participants; Three People involved, Including Two Hugo Administors, Resigned as a Result, and Seattle Worldcon 2025 Chair Kathy Bond Issued First a statement on the issue, followed by a Separate apology,
However, the issue is still rankling sci-fi and fantasy fans on social media, not to mention would-be hugos honors; as blog File 770 Reported, Author Yoon ha lee went so far as to remove his novel Moontorm From Hugo Consideration Yesterday, bond posted a third message About the controversy, with an additional statement from program division sunnyjim morgan.
Bond’s portion reiterates how chatgpt were used, with details and specifications. Of Particular Note, it was not used for “Creaking the Hugo Award Finalist List or Announcement Video” or “Administering the Process for Hugo Award Nominations.” She also includes a renewed apology not just about the use of ai, but the way she initially responded to concerns by releasing a
She also say that “We are redoing the part of our program process that used chatgpt, with that work being performed by new Volunteers from Outdeide our Current Team” and Pledges That WorldCon -StaFFFF is all-Volunteer, She Notes-Will do all it can to register the Community’s Trust Moving Forward.
To that end, morgan’s statement is also bot apology and even deeper dive into how chatgpt was used, including the actual prompt used to vet potential program participants:
Request
Using the list of names provided, please evaluate each person for scandals. Scandals include but are not limited to homophobia, transphobia, racism, harassment, sexual misconduct, sexism, fraud.
Each person is typically an author, editor, performer, artist or similar in the fields of science fiction, fantasy, and or related fandoms.
The objective is to determine if an individual is unsuited as a panelist for an event.
Please evaluate each person based on their digital footprint, Including social, articles, and blogs reference them. Also include file770.com as a source.
Provide sources for any relevant data.
Morgan reports that his team “did not simply accept the results that was returned” as a result of chatgpt’s vetting. “INTEAD, Links to Primary Content Returned during Vetting Wetting by reviewed by our team and myself before a final decision beether to invite the person was made. Being disqualified from receiving an invitation to participate in the program due to information previously unknown. “
Read the full statements from bond and morgan hereBond Writes that Seattle Worldcon’s Next Update will come May 13, so it’ll be interesting to see if there”s more coming
What do you think of this latest olive branch –nd do you think worldcon is handling its latest dust-up effectively? Let us know in the comments.
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