Last updated September 2026
COMPUTE!’s Gazette is written, edited, and produced by people who use and love vintage computers. We think readers deserve to know where AI tools fit into that work, so here is our position.
It comes down to one principle: the idea, the design, and the creative decisions come from a person. We do not tell writers, programmers, or artists which tools they may use. Nearly every modern editor, development environment, and graphics package now includes AI-assisted features, and gatekeeping a creator’s tools is not something we are going to do. What we care about is that everything in the magazine has a human-created genesis. AI can help with the parts; a person is responsible for the whole.
Editorial content. Articles, columns, reviews, interviews, and news are written by human contributors and edited by human editors. AI tools may be used for research, transcription of interviews, grammar and spelling checks, and similar assistance, the same way we use a spell checker or a search engine. AI is not used to write articles, generate quotes, or invent historical claims. Every factual statement and every quotation in the magazine is the responsibility of a named human author.
Program listings and code. A person decides what the program will do, designs how it works, and makes the decisions that shape the finished listing. Individual routines, functions, and other elements may be produced with AI assistance and integrated into that design. We do not publish programs generated as a whole from a prompt and presented as original work. Every program we publish is tested on the target machine or an accurate emulator before it goes to print, and a listing is not accepted until it has been typed in and run. The Gazette’s reputation was built on programs that (mostly!) worked when you typed them in, and that standard has not changed. We still accept bug reports 🙂
Artwork. Covers and illustrations are created by our staff artists, by commissioned artists, or contributors. The artist conceives the piece, directs it, and makes the creative decisions that shape the finished work. We do not gatekeep an artist’s tools. Generative AI elements, filters, and tools may be part of an artist’s process, in the same way stock textures or digital brushes are, and we leave those choices to the artist. Our aim is human-created art throughout the magazine, and we commission it whenever the schedule allows. A monthly publishing cycle does not always leave enough lead time for a commissioned piece, and in those cases some elements of our layout and design begin with generated imagery that an artist then develops, edits, and finishes. What we do not publish is an unedited AI image presented as a finished piece.
Photographs. We use standard tools to adjust exposure, color, sharpness, and noise, and to remove dust or scratches from archival images, including tools that are AI-assisted. We do not use AI to add, remove, or alter what a photograph actually shows. Every enhanced photo is reviewed by a person to confirm, to the best of our ability, that it remains true and accurate to the original. Where poor source quality makes an exact restoration impossible, a person makes the call on how the image is finished, using their best professional judgment. A photo of a circuit board shows that board; a photo from 1984 shows what was there in 1984.
Our archive and contributor rights. COMPUTE! Publications, Inc. holds the copyright to the 1979 to 1995 COMPUTE! and COMPUTE!’s Gazette archive and, as a general rule, to the material published in the current magazine. That archive and that material are not licensed for AI training, scraping, or bulk reproduction. Where a contributor retains individual rights under their agreement with us, those rights are theirs, and we do not license their work for AI training either. Nothing published in the Gazette, past or present, is available for AI training by us or anyone else.
Questions. If you ever wonder whether something in the magazine involved AI, ask. We would rather answer the question than have you guess. This policy will change as the technology does, and we will note revisions here.
Contributor Guidelines
Our rule on AI is simple: the idea, the design, and the creative decisions come from you. We do not restrict the tools you use. AI is fine for research, transcription, proofreading, and for producing individual routines or elements within a program or illustration you designed. It is not fine for writing your article, generating quotes, filling in facts you have not verified, or producing a program or image as a whole from a prompt. Photos may be cleaned up and color-corrected, but do not use AI to change what a photo shows. Any program listing you submit must have been run on real hardware or an accurate emulator; tell us which. If you used AI in a way you are unsure about, mention it in your submission note and we will sort it out together. Rights in your work are governed by your contributor agreement, and whatever those rights are, the Gazette does not license your material for AI training.
Questions? Email info@computesgazette.com