Human creativity in the age of AI
The Ralph Prize is a literary initiative being developed with support from Ralph Foundation. It begins with an annual short-story competition and asks what people can create when powerful tools, including AI, are available to them.
Authors may work with AI extensively, lightly, or not at all. They remain responsible for the stories they submit. Human readers and judges make the literary decisions, with the aim of discovering exceptional stories and sharing selected work with a wider audience.
Project status
In development
The Prize is in development. Public entry dates, final rules and award details will be announced here when confirmed.
How the Ralph Prize works
Writers will submit a story and take part in reviewing other entries. Stories will receive independent human reviews, with further review and a final judging stage for work that advances. The planned result is a selection of outstanding stories for recognition and publication.
Only people decide how a story is rated and which stories win. AI may assist administration. The Prize may use AI, including outside AI services, to study stories and reviews and to improve the contest. That is never an input to any story’s result.
What we hope to learn
The Prize also seeks to deepen understanding of what AI can contribute to writing today, where its limits remain, and the role of the writer’s imagination, experience and judgment. We welcome thoughtful disagreement about AI’s place in creative work.
Concerns about originality, authorship and the development of writing skills deserve serious attention. This is a voluntary literary project. We value the practice of writing and the human choices that give a story meaning. We want the work and the discussion around it to help people form better-informed views.
Frequently asked questions
Why welcome stories written without AI assistance?
The quality of the story remains central. Welcoming writers who choose different ways of working allows the Prize to explore AI’s contribution without requiring a favorable conclusion about it. If outstanding stories emerge without generative AI assistance, they deserve recognition too.
Will the results show whether AI is better than human writers?
The stories can provide examples of what writers achieve using different approaches. A competition alone cannot establish a general ranking of AI and human ability: people enter by choice, their skills and tools differ, and literary judgments involve taste. We will be clear about what any results do and do not show.
Building something that lasts
Our ambition is to build a literary institution that earns the trust of writers and readers. The people who help establish the Prize will help shape its standards, its relationships with the literary community, and what it can become over time.
The Ralph Prize is being developed with support from Ralph Foundation.