City screens student MLK essay and art contest entries with AI tools after suspicious submissions

City staff outlined rules and timelines for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. essay contest and the Black History Month art contest and told the commission they have begun using AI-detection tools to screen submissions. Greg, who leads the contests for the city, said the essay window opens Jan. 1 and closes at the end of January; art submissions are accepted through the end of February. He described a multi-stage judging process that uses school and library preliminary rounds and finalist judging by partner organizations.

Greg told commissioners staff had begun using an AI identifier after encountering suspect entries. "There was 1 of the submissions that I had to disqualify because it quoted doctor King as having said something, but he never said it," he said, and added that the city uses a teacher-oriented AI checker and manual review to flag entries. Commissioners raised concerns about detection accuracy and suggested safeguards including a single-day supervised writing session or parental/teacher attestations; staff said parental permission is already required for minors and that current tools are imperfect but helpful for screening.

The commission reviewed options for next year’s prompts for both art and essay contests and chose to gather votes and finalize prompt choices offline before the November meeting. Staff said they will supply finalists’ rules to area school districts soon and will continue screening for AI-generated work.