Send the arXiv AI-generated slop, get a yearlong vacation from submissions
Ars Technica AI · John Timmer · 2026-05-15
arXiv will impose one-year submission bans and permanent mandatory peer-review requirements on researchers who submit AI-generated hallucinations or fabricated content to the preprint server.
Extraction
Topics: arxivscientific-publishingai-slopacademic-integrity
Claims
- AI-generated fake citations, unedited prompt responses, and nonsensical diagrams have been appearing in peer-reviewed scientific literature.
- arXiv will ban submitters of inappropriate AI-generated content for one year.
- After a ban, affected researchers face a permanent requirement that future submissions undergo peer review before arXiv will host them.
- The policy was announced by Thomas Dietterich, a member of arXiv's editorial advisory council and moderation team, though official confirmation from arXiv leadership was pending at time of publication.
Key quotes
any inappropriate AI-produced content submitted to the server will result in a one-year ban and a permanent requirement that future publications undergo peer review before the arXiv will host them.
Fake citations, unedited prompt responses, and nonsensical diagrams have all slipped past editors and peer reviewers, and it's not always clear if there are any consequences for the people responsible.