Just two months ago, fellow newsletterer Chloee Weiner discussed publisher Hachette’s decision to scrap the release of an upcoming novel because it used artificial intelligence. Typically we’d avoid retreading the topic so soon, but it’s hard to ignore the controversy that has overtaken another sector of the industry: literary awards honoring writing (by humans). Note the phrase in parentheses — by humans — which, until recently, had been considered so obvious many of these awards hadn’t even felt it necessary to spell out. Not so anymore.

Let’s start with the Eisner Awards. Named for comics legend Will Eisner, they’re the preeminent prize for comic book creators who are humans. At least, that was the assumption before they nominated Stardust the Super Wizard earlier this month for best anthology. The crowdfunded tribute to the original Golden Age comics includes stories from a raft of contributors — including Michael Todasco, who, in his defense, has been quite transparent about his expertise in AI and its deployment in his own contribution. The nomination was followed by public outrage, then its voluntary withdrawal from consideration, then a statement issued to Publishers Weekly earlier this week promising to revise the awards’ policies with regard to AI.

At the same time, a similar dust-up has engulfed another literary award: the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, which honors unpublished pieces representing different regions of the British Commonwealth. This year’s regional winner from the Caribbean, “The Serpent in the Grove” by Jamir Nazir, promptly elicited allegations that AI aided its composition. Unlike the controversy around the Eisner Awards, which proved to be fairly cut and dried, this one has been rather more difficult to resolve. For one thing, many claims against the story have had to resort to AI detectors that are themselves powered by AI and far from infallible; for another, Nazir, unlike Todasco, adamantly maintains that “this work was entirely written by me, drawn from childhood memories.”

Razmi Farook, director-general of the Commonwealth Foundation, says the group takes the allegations seriously but still stands behind the jury’s decision – and he also assured that the foundation is reviewing its judging process for the future to ensure that it’s “able to meet the growing threat that AI poses for creativity.”

Of course, these are far from the only AI controversies that have cropped up this month, but I think that’s enough head-spinning for now. Oy. Once you regain your bearings — presuming that’s possible anymore — we’d love to hear your thoughts on the unprecedented difficulties facing literary prizes. Do you have any ideas about the best way forward? Let us know at bookoftheday@npr.org.