Has AI Made a Science Fiction
Press Officers' Jobs Easier?

As someone who has done media liaison, including
for SF conventions, Jonathan Cowie takes a look
at how artificial intelligence (AI) is impacting that role.

In my science career I have had on a number of occasions to liaise with a number of media outlets and the specialised science press for symposia and policy intiatives. I have also done the same to promote SF conventions from the late 1970s to 1990s (including 1984 UK national cum European SF convention) and just occasionally in the early 2000s. In short, I've been around the press liaison block a few times.

Now, the first job of any press officer is to compile a press list. This particular chore itself has changed considerably over the years and it is one I now want to revisit from the perspective of an SF convention conrunner press officer...

Back in the 1970s there was no internet or e-mail so the first pit stop was the local library to wherever it was the convention was being held. Back in those days all British public libraries held copies of local newspapers and so one sought those out and then started scouring them for journalist by-lines on articles that relate to science fiction. This could take the best part of an afternoon.

Being an SF fan, one also noticed very occasional articles on SF in national newspapers and magazines and again noted who were the authoring journalists. As we moved into the 1980s a number of SF conventions (Eastercons mainly) called on me to provide a basic press operation and so every other years or so I invested in copies of Benn's Media, an invaluable guide to UK newspapers and magazines.

With the late 1990s came the internet and search engines and matters changed yet again. However, one had to make numerous searches using a number of different search strings in order to elucidate local and regional titles. And with Goggling something like 'science fiction news' it was necessary to scroll through many pages of search results just to get a handful of likely outlets. Additionally, it was always necessary to visit specialist SF/F bookshops to see what magazines were on sale.

Today, in the mid-2020s, we have the rise of AI (artificial intelligence) and in 2026 freely accessible AI-powered search engines. Again, one has to ask it a variety of different questions so as to get a handle on the range of outlets as appropriate to a specific convention and I thought it would be interesting to see how AI perceives our specialist market of SF conventions and fandom. (I have excluded local-to-SF-convention media searches as this article has a worldwide readership.)

So here are what AI has to say about who are the best at covering some SF conventions and fan news. (Here, I am not going to tread on professional SF book publisher press and PR officers' toes as to how to identify the best websites to review Science Fiction books but those entering that profession can tweak the following AI queries as to meet their own specialist respective needs.)

First up, a general question. Here, please note that I am not sure whether or not these are ranked in anyway. And also note that I am not responsible in anyway for what AI says and finally that this does change with time… So you should conduct your own searches and tweak as appropriate to your own needs.

What are the top ten science fiction news websites?

– Locus Online
– Reactor
– io9
– SciFiNow
– File770
– Clarkesworld
– Lightspeed
– TrekMovie
– Amazing Stories
– ScienceFiction

For this next question the AI decided to split its answer into two groups.

What are the top ten websites for science fiction convention news in the USA?

Core News & Event Calendars
– Locus Online
– FansCom
– SciFiCons
– Worldcon.org
– File770

Specialised & Regional Trackers
– CosCove
– FantasyCons
– NASFiC
– SteamPunkExplorer
– TrekConvention FYI Sci-Fi

But for the next question, despite it being similar to the one above, it decided to provide a single list of nine, not even the ten that was asked of it.

What are the top ten websites for science fiction convention news in the UK?

– British Science Fiction Association
– SF² Concatenation
– FanCons.co.uk
– SciFiCons.com
– Sci Fi Convention Calendar
– Sites.Google.com/site/ukconventions
– Novacon
– Sci-Fi London
– SciFiNow

This particular question, more than the previous, produced some spurious answers. In the mix was a Google forum, and two specific convention websites that do not report on the broader UK SF convention scene. Novacon it (mis-)reported as being the 'the UK's longest-established continuously running science fiction convention'. And the excellent Sci-Fi London which does not provide news of other conventions. (I'll return to the question of the utility of AI answers later on.)

What are the top ten websites for news of the science fiction Worldcon?

– World Science Fiction Society
– File770
– Locus Online
– Hugo Awards Official Site
– Reactor Mag
– George R. R. Martin's Not A Blog
– Ansible
– Amazing Stories
– SF² Concatenation

The above listing is interesting in that it contains an authors blog, nor does it acknowledge that the Hugo Awards site, World SF Society and Worldcon.org are managerially connected.

For the next question on NASFiC news, AI once again decided to split its answer into two groups.

What are the top ten websites for news of the science fiction NASFic convention?

Official and Fandom News Hubs
– NASFiC Official Site
– World Science Fiction Society
– Worldcon.org
– File770
– Locus Online

Broad Sci-Fi Community and Convention Directories
– FanCons.com
– FanLore
– Reddit r/sciencefiction
– SF² Concatenation
– SciFiCons.com

Interesting, that despite asking for websites of 'news' of the NASFiC, the above includes a discussion group as well as simple convention listing sites.

For the newt question identifying which sites cover the UK Eastercon, the AI decided to split the answer into three groups. It said that, 'News about the UK National Science Fiction Convention (Eastercon) typically appears across specialised fandom news hubs, literary magazines, and the official operational websites of current or upcoming events rather than ten distinct, dedicated Eastercon news portals.'

What are the top ten websites for news of the UK science fiction Eastercon?

Official and Current Eastercon Sites
– Unconfined - Eastercon 2027
– Iridescence - Eastercon 2026
– Eastercon Official Home

Fandom and Community News Platforms
– File770
– Ansible
– SF² Concatenation

Media and Organizational Outlets
– Starburst Magazine
– DownTheTubes
– British Science Fiction Association
– Facebook: UK Eastercon Community Group

Once again there was social media in the mix with the inclusion of a Facebook group, and with Starburst there was a commercial magazine.

The above answers exemplify that once having identified potential news sites it is important to actually visit them to see what they actually do. SF convention list or calendar sites need really only need be visited once to see if the Press Officer's convention is listed and if not to take steps to ensure it is.

Of course, prior to AI – and back in my 20th century day – it was important to check out magazines, fanzines and newsletter to see how they handle news, which is why good Press Officers never send out just one version of a release, but quite different versions: the needs of a commercial magazine are vastly different from those of a fanzine as are those of national papers compared to local ones.

The other thing about the above questions is that they are restricted to identifying just ten websites and so it is not surprising that the above answers are largely the usual suspects. But any number – twenty, thirty or more – can be asked for, though it is increasingly likely that the greater the number solicited the greater the number of duds will be listed.

Turning to the answers, as always with anything AI it is important to check for your self to see whether or not the sites AI recommend do fulfil your needs: AIs do hallucinate.

Irrespective of AI pros and cons, it looks like AI is here to stay and will continue to develop. It is therefore not so much a question of whether press officers, PR folk, publicists and the like should use it to identify relevant PR outlets, but whther they can afford to ignore these new tools?

Jonathan Cowie

[Up: Article Index | Home Page: Science Fact & Fiction Concatenation | Recent Site Additions]
[Most recent Seasonal Science Fiction News]

[Convention Reviews Index | Top Science Fiction Films | Science Fiction Books]
[Science Fiction Non-Fiction & Popular Science Books]

Has AI Made a Science Fiction Press Officers' Jobs Easier?

Has AI Made a Science Fiction
Press Officers' Jobs Easier?