As per our human-created content statement pertaining to the text found on this website, the Organising Team at Spectrum Writers London believes that:
The creative products of other persons are at the core of what makes us human – the very heart of our shared and individual culture, values, and ideals.
No matter how quickly AI can spew out regurgitated content, it cannot replicate the human connection.
via No AI Icon/Thomas Knutsen
Naturally, this belief also extends to cover the work created by our members (which, as all art, seeks to share ideas and values and to create emotional and intellectual experiences for its audience), as well as any potential methods used to analyse/critique text.
On this page you can find our policies on different use cases of the technology, but the bottom line on both sides of writing and reading is:
Putting anyone else’s work through an AI/LLM for any reason is strictly prohibited.
For more details, read on.
Using generative AI/LLMs in the writing process
If you have ideas but don’t want to put the work in to be able to express them, you shouldn’t be a writer in the first place. The act of writing (and deleting, and rewriting, and editing, and reworking) is the art, and cannot be outsourced to a machine—simple as that.
Using LLM-assisted tools for research and translation
We are aware of the ubiquity of LLM tools in word processors, search engines, translating software, and other tools used by writers in their day-to-day life and workflow. We cannot and will not police the use of these, however it is important to note the following:
- As AI-generated summaries of search results, books, and documents are often riddled with inconsistencies and errors, we would expect and encourage our members to go deeper into subjects they research for their fiction, and not rely on information provided by an LLM for more than a cursory query.
- LLM-assisted translating software like Google Translate can provide a mostly-accurate word-for-word equivalence between two languages, but it is not capable of parsing the nuances of one language (eg. colloquialisms and local dialects, artistic intent, etc) and translating them into that of another. We believe that any translated text used in someone’s work beyond a simple phrase should be translated by a human, and certainly should not be used wholesale in drafts or finished manuscripts intended to be read by others.
- Spell-check and grammar check tools have reportedly deteriorated since the proliferation of LLM integrations, so we urge members to do their own editing and proofreading, and to not rely on such tools or consider them replacements for editing or proofreading. However, using word processors that have integrated spellcheck/grammar checkers will not be penalised.
Using LLMs to procure critique comments, edit suggestions, etc
In short, do not do this, ever.
First of all, putting a fellow Spectrum member’s work through an LLM to retrieve a summary or get suggestions for feedback entirely defeats the purpose of what our critiques do, which is sharpen your critical thinking and improve your sense of style, structure, and craft. Because of this, critiquing others’ work is in a sense more beneficial to you in the long term than it is to them in the short term.
If you are not willing to put in the time and read your fellow members’ work, you are (a) not committed enough to your own growth as a writer, and (b) wasting their time with pointless feedback. At Spectrum, we are not here to waste each other’s time, but to learn and help one another improve our craft.
Second, as per many warnings around the various LLM tools publicly available, feeding someone else’s work into an LLM is effectively stealing their work and selling it (for free) to a corporation that will use it to further train its algorithms. Simply put: it’s not yours to sell, so don’t even think about it.
Anyone found to have done this will have their membership suspended immediately, and very likely terminated. We’ve never had to do this and hope to never need to—please don’t make yourself an example.
This page was last updated on the 16th January 2026. The Spectrum Writers London Organising Team reserves the right to update this policy as often as necessary.