“The ladder is particularly worrisome because of the pace at which the problem is growing:”
Our reading, the sentence that was checked:
The problem of LLM-generated fake submissions flooding outlets is growing rapidly.
Assessment: Supported Evidence as of
Where and when Gary Marcus wrote it
Marcus on AI, The long shadow of GPT, paragraph 10.
- Said
- Source observed
- live page, full text, public
- Evidence as of
- the cutoff for this assessment
- Assessment recorded
- assessment marcus-the-long-shadow-of-gpt-c8dabf-a2
We recorded 12 claims from this post. See every claim from this post.
The wording above is the version this site observed on 2026-10-29. The source may have been edited after 2023-03-10. This page does not claim the wording was captured then.
What the claim commits to
- Kind
- Observation
- Deadline, as the speaker wrote it
- None stated. This site does not add one.
- Deadline state when assessed
- No horizon
- Deadline state on 2026-10-29
- No horizon (the release’s reference date)
From the speaker
- the pace at which the problem is growing
- Updated version of the graph.
- Feb 21, 2023
Our interpretation
- 'Ladder' is read as a typo for 'latter', referring to the preceding fake-submission problem.
- The checkable component is rapid growth; 'particularly worrisome' is an opinion.
- The attached Clarkesworld graph anchors the claim to recent submission spam at that outlet, rather than a measured worldwide growth rate.
- January–February 2023 is the comparison period: the recent months surrounding the attached February graph and the latest completed month before publication. This period choice is an evaluator interpretation.
- Rapid growth means a large increase over a short interval; no exact percentage threshold was stated.
Counts as supported if: Comparable contemporaneous counts at the named outlet show a sharp increase in submissions identified as spam associated with LLM generation.
Counts as contradicted if: Comparable records show stable or declining counts, or establish that the apparent increase resulted from changed definitions or counting methods.
Retrospective: these criteria were written after the outcome was public.
Current assessment
Was it true for the period described?
Outcome: Supported
The dated evidence matches what the claim committed to, under the criteria frozen before grading.
Scored on a plain reading. The speaker named no measure for this claim, so it was judged on the reading an informed reader would take, stated below under our interpretation. Both reviews had to find that reading fair.
- Evidence as of
- Deadline state when assessed
- No horizon
- Assessment recorded
- Policy version
- 2026-10-28.7
Rationale
On February 15, 2023, Clarkesworld editor Neil Clarke reported that spam submissions in February's first 15 days had exceeded twice the total for all of January. [e1] He associated the surge with AI-generated submissions but withheld his classification methods and underlying submission data. [e1] His account supports a sharp short-term increase in spam flagged by that outlet as associated with AI generation. [e1]
Limitations
- The comparison covers all of January against only February 1–15, 2023.
- The unpublished submissions and classification methods prevent independent verification of LLM authorship.
- The evidence establishes an increase at Clarkesworld, not a worldwide growth rate.
Evidence (1 item)
Supports the claim: Neil Clarke, Clarkesworld editor and publisher,
In 15 days, we’ve more than doubled the total for all of January.
Why it matters here: The editor reports that fifteen February days exceeded twice January's total, a clear rapid increase. He attributes the surge to AI spam but does not release the underlying submissions or detection method.
- Publisher
- Neil Clarke, Clarkesworld editor and publisher
- Kind of source
- Company disclosure: the company describing itself, not an independent finding
- Describes events of
- Public from
Where it was said (1)
Said once in the sources this register covers.
: Marcus on AI, The long shadow of GPT
The ladder is particularly worrisome because of the pace at which the problem is growing:
- Where
- paragraph 10
- Published
- 2023-03-10
- Source observed
- , live page
- Access
- full text, public
History
Assessment versions
- Assessment marcus-the-long-shadow-of-gpt-c8dabf-a2: Current. Outcome: Supported. Evidence as of 2026-10-28. Public date not recorded.
Recorded events
Assessment publishedBy this site
First assessment published after both reviews and the final-text check passed.