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AI Policy

AI Policy

Plough’s Mission and AI

Plough aims to publish work that illustrates, as our tagline puts it, that “another life is possible.” To this end, we publish stories, essays, literature, and art that explore the Christian tradition, engage with cultural questions, and pursue dialogue between people of different faiths and points of view.

In the words of Eberhard Arnold, Plough’s founding editor, we believe that “only where the plough of God has tilled our lives can sowing bear fruit. . . . Therefore our main task is to work for that spiritual revolution and re-evaluation which leads to metanoia – the fundamental transformation of mind and heart.” We want to publish work that gives witness to metanoia in people’s lives, as one human heart and mind speaking to another. This means we can only publish human-written work.

Our Policy

We are committed to publishing work that is completely conceived, written, and edited by human beings. We believe that thinking well requires writing well; as the old saying goes, “How can I tell what I think till I see what I say?” Writing that is generated by large language models does not reflect the contemplation and judgment of a free mind. Instead, because it draws on the content of already-written work, the output of LLMs reflects the contours of human thought and a human voice as it already exists. Doing so, it regurgitates ideological prejudices, assumptions, and clichés, often in a manner undetectable to the casual reader. Because Plough is committed to publishing original insights, and to at least try to break new ground in public discourse, we want to avoid the influence of LLMs on our writing as much as possible.

We reserve the right to reject a piece if we are convinced the pattern of writing exhibits characteristics of LLM-influenced prose.

We reserve the right to take down articles that appear to us to have been substantially written by an LLM, even if they were published before this policy was promulgated. These articles will be replaced with the following note: “Article taken down because it did not meet our AI policy.”

Guidelines for Authors

  • Authors may not use a large language model (LLM) to generate text for an essay;
  • Authors may not use an LLM to condense, expand, or “flesh out” an essay, or to add any material to it whatsoever;
  • Authors may not use an LLM to edit their essay, which includes: rewriting, rephrasing, adding transitions, polishing, or otherwise changing the substance of their work;
  • Authors may not use “humanizer” software to try to get past our AI policy.
  • Authors may use an LLM for research purposes, independently of the writing process. Do this cautiously and make sure you work from original sources. Be prepared to send documentation, including of your LLM logs, if requested.

Procedural Notes

  • As part of our editorial process, our editors will read all articles with an eye toward detecting the telltale signs of LLM-generated prose.
  • Apart from editorial oversight, Plough will test every piece of writing we receive for use of LLMs.
  • Substantially LLM-generated writing (in the judgment of the editors) will result in automatic rejection.
  • Minimally LLM-generated writing will trigger a conversation between author and editor to clarify whether an LLM was used improperly in the composition of the piece.