Hugo Awards Controversy Leads to Resignations

It seems like every year, the Hugo Awards are embroiled in some kind of controversy. This year is no exception, as three leaders from the Seattle 2025 Worldcon, where the Hugos are presented, have resigned from their positions. Although the awards themselves, which are voted on by members of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), are not directly involved in the issue, the surrounding controversy has still caused a stir.

A statement posted on Bluesky by Hugo administrator Nicholas Whyte, deputy Hugo administrator Esther MacCallum-Stewart, and World Science Fiction Society division head Cassidy announced their resignation from their roles ahead of the Seattle event in August. The statement reassured that “no LLMs or generative AI have been used in the Hugo Awards process at any stage.” This clarification may come as a surprise to those who are interested in the Hugos but not aware of the latest controversy.

However, many people in the community are well-versed in the issue. A visit to the blog File 770 or the Seattle Worldcon 2025 website can bring you up to speed. On April 30, Seattle Worldcon 2025 chair Kathy Bond posted a statement explaining the use of AI tools in the vetting process for program participants. Bond assured that only a proposed panelist’s name was put into the Large Language Model (LLM) script and that the outputs were carefully analyzed for accuracy.

Bond’s post emphasized that using the LLM saved hundreds of hours of volunteer staff time and resulted in more accurate vetting. The statement also clarified that the LLM was not used in any other aspect of the program or convention. This point was also emphasized in the resignation post by Whyte, MacCallum-Stewart, and Cassidy, which highlighted that the Hugos themselves were not involved in the process.

Bond later posted an additional message on May 2, apologizing for using ChatGPT in the convention’s program vetting and acknowledging that her initial statement was incomplete and flawed. Despite the apology, the damage has already been done, with the use of ChatGPT creating a furor on social media and inspiring at least one Hugo nominee, Yoon Ha Lee, to remove their book from contention.

Lee, whose book Moonstorm was a Lodestar Award finalist, withdrew the title from consideration in a May 1 post on Bluesky. In a post shared today, the author responded to the news of the resignations, expressing respect and gratitude for the work of the administrators and acknowledging that things had come to a difficult pass.

Seattle Worldcon 2025 will take place August 13-17, and the Hugo Awards will be handed out on August 16.

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