Story perspectives

Zine Makers Clash Over AI: Handcrafted vs. Automated

4/29/2026

Summary

Story summary

Melbourne video editor Maddie Marshall sold a 92-page handmade anti-AI zine on Etsy.
London zine Polyester, founded by Ione Gamble, screens submissions with an AI checker, rejecting any AI-generated content.
Designer Jesse Pimenta and writer Cheyce Batchelor used Figma’s AI to produce a 97-page 1990s-style zine, citing easy reordering.
MagCulture founder Jeremy Leslie said the site will support any interesting zine, whether or not it uses AI.

History

Historical Context

Turnitin originated from a UC Berkeley graduate-student project in 1994 and launched as a commercial service in 1998 after iParadigms LLC was formed in 1996. By June 2025 its database held 1.9 billion submissions, and in early 2023 it added AI-generated-text detection. The platform’s campus adoption, 2018 VeriCite purchase and 2019 $1.75 billion sale have spurred publishers and zine makers like Maddie Marshall and Ione Gamble to deploy AI checkers.

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Story summary

Melbourne video editor Maddie Marshall sold a 92-page handmade anti-AI zine on Etsy.
London zine Polyester, founded by Ione Gamble, screens submissions with an AI checker, rejecting any AI-generated content.
Designer Jesse Pimenta and writer Cheyce Batchelor used Figma’s AI to produce a 97-page 1990s-style zine, citing easy reordering.
MagCulture founder Jeremy Leslie said the site will support any interesting zine, whether or not it uses AI.

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