[Hotstorage-chairs] HotStorage paper similarity

[Keith Smith]

Hi Young-ri, Bryan

I just wanted to raise a potential concern about some of the submissions in
case you haven't noticed or nobody else has brought it up.

The last three papers that I reviewed -- papers 102
<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fhotstorage26.hotcrp.com%2fpaper%2f102&c=E,1,QuHJMwWXVLJJfjoYo2IsYL6Axn0J7xCaicimQH9vJlkroUghT0i8EzG5Rh3Rmi_uxYk9R0Z7ufw9rxO6UDrZn944LXQC-gMv_UR5lIks5p5MKBs,&typo=1>, 197
<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fhotstorage26.hotcrp.com%2fpaper%2f197&c=E,1,_-uQA4ugLqqa4OnAWB1dRwu50ZMe7yAMOeuXuiSTFW9skImE2D2XtZbSFOVFzjyHPdxuG4jEKPNoFTiK2k-DUG6En5tklJmv900jfYnZ5p7URUuXot6eUI8c&typo=1>, and 209
<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fhotstorage26.hotcrp.com%2fpaper%2f209&c=E,1,JUX-UmUR5XFBabo69foVKaoZrGnQf1DUH9EgGzuiguiBuuhPgAF4o1vLD-ahu_ZVi3OHe9aGeWEhecoxsrAm25GNnGejbSqdG72bXDxdYtuL_FbcopkihU9FZeI,&typo=1> -- were strikingly similar.
They all describe a similar concept applied to different areas. The papers
have similar structure, similar language, and similar flaws. In addition to
the papers I've reviewed, at least 4 other papers (based on a quick scan)
seem to match the pattern (22 <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fhotstorage26.hotcrp.com%2fpaper%2f22&c=E,1,PAKoFJ7Mtx7RCItOK4wujcQn3u1LpF8H8yDp5tsogYFfwSTYduHKQnvg9b1_PaFDKqWa59lFslr_-ofeC5KMWIyVXfeQxZiT8fAuf06Ymw,,&typo=1>, 40
<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fhotstorage26.hotcrp.com%2fpaper%2f40&c=E,1,6KuUbiKjAO0Ru4kCwzkERwNFbQJ5xIeOaYnNtfJOtHMy-InJT3xlzclTXFLzZ72aRtGSmoKk7bybTK_tQvms3cN2dS9ZLPt1lsqeJ9j_NCgaItia5w,,&typo=1>, 49
<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fhotstorage26.hotcrp.com%2fpaper%2f49&c=E,1,3d2itnJeBD85VQQP50kTo4ZHa91j7fM8SqAxsJoh29B6RlXxUsEUpSzd9L1VYgGbOTG0YH1HPli5gCGEDDjZpg_BA_USzYOW5ZArVsQkrw,,&typo=1>, and 117
<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fhotstorage26.hotcrp.com%2fpaper%2f117&c=E,1,DJ6Gh4usNubtQMiVJsSaYfShyxl8IYn_tahzzb8kohsCLRFpQ9qUAC636-welPRX62uHj_XD4CsG3SbakXZ7GA0FaZsXni6RdNkuDYe4u8lwvQ,,&typo=1>). I can explain the
similarities if you want.

Given the strong similarities I suspect they are all by the same author(s).
In this day and age, it seems likely they were largely AI generated, but
that's hard to tell, and anyway the ACM author guidelines
<https://www.acm.org/publications/policies/new-acm-policy-on-authorship>
explicitly say authors can use AI to generate the text of their paper
without disclosing that.

So I don't have reason to believe that the author(s) here have violated the
rules. And I'm not asking you all to do something about it (unless
something here strikes you as illegitimate).

Still I wanted to point this out, in case you haven't noticed this. And I
would suggest that the Steering Committee might want to consider changes to
the submission guidelines for future years. In particular, I'm concerned
that it is too easy for authors to spam a workshop like HotStorage with AI
generated submissions, since the ACM allows the undisclosed use of AI in
writing papers, and a position paper does not need to have original
research content (where AI use would have to be disclosed).

Keith
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