Apex Magazine removed “Vigil of the Tenth Air” from Issue 153 in July 2026 over suspicion of AI assistance — admitting in their own statement that they have no reliable way to confirm the story used AI tools at all. The decision is the latest in a wave of science fiction magazine AI witch hunts targeting writers based on suspicion rather than evidence, while reader data tells a completely different story. Science fiction author Jon Del Arroz has published both AI-assisted and human-written books — both highly rated by readers — with the AI-assisted title outselling the human one, suggesting that the gatekeeping happening inside sci-fi magazines reflects the anxieties of short fiction editors and aspiring writers, not the preferences of actual readers.
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