Associated Incidents
One book cover shows a cat with green eyes baring humanlike teeth. Another has an angel soaring above a yellow freight train.
The authors of the books, which were submitted to one of New Zealand's largest literary competitions, didn't know that the artwork was created using A.I. They found out last week, however, when they were disqualified because the covers had violated the contest's new rule about A.I.-generated material.
The studio that designed the covers defended them, saying that A.I. is part of their creative process. And the independent publisher of the works of fiction said that the contest, the 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Award, had not given publishers enough time to comply with its new A.I. rules.
The publisher, Quentin Wilson, said in an email on Tuesday that the episode was "heartbreaking" for the two authors, who do not use A.I. in their writing, and upsetting for the production and design teams that worked hard on the books. He added that the rapid rise of A.I. has put the publishing industry in "uncharted waters."
"As an industry, we must work together to ensure that this situation does not happen again," Mr. Wilson said.
The episode is one of many "fronts of chaos" as creative industries try to establish fair and sensible rules for A.I.-generated content, said Oliver Bown, a professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia whose research looks at intersections between art, technology and creativity.
The problem, he said, is that changes come so fast that new regulations are inevitably developed and communicated in a rush.
The disqualification means that the two books by Mr. Wilson's authors --- "Obligate Carnivore," a story collection by Stephanie Johnson; and "Angel Train," four linked novellas by Elizabeth Smither --- can't compete for the contest's fiction prize, worth about $36,000.
The award is considered one of New Zealand's most prestigious literary honors. The New Zealand Book Awards Trust, the organizer, said that it introduced the A.I. regulations to match other international book awards with similar rules.
The covers of "Obligate Carnivore" and "Angel Train" were flagged by a bookseller, the trust said in a statement. After consulting with the publisher and the designers, the trust confirmed that the illustrations had been created with A.I.
But Mr. Wilson said that the contest's A.I. regulations were released in August, too late for publishers to reflect any changes before the October deadline. Both books were published in November.
The designers at Sugarcube Studios, the New Zealand company that made the covers, said in a statement that they saw A.I. "not as a replacement for creativity but as a natural extension of our craft, a new way to explore ideas and enhance our process."
Ms. Johnson, who received New Zealand's 2022 Prime Minister's Award for Literature, said in an email that she had never used A.I. in her writing and never would. She said she was worried about its impacts on the book industry and that she thought there was a desperate need for A.I. regulation.
"All of us around the world who work in the creative sphere are concerned about the rise of AI, so I absolutely understand that the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards people were compelled to draw a line in the sand," she added.
Ms. Smither, who won the 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Award in the poetry category, said she had not realized the cover of "Angel Train" had been generated with A.I. She said she didn't doubt the integrity of her publisher or the designer.
"The book is not the same as the cover," she said. "Without the cover it would still be a book, and the book comes first."