Pay-for-a-Paper? Fastcode AI packs a $100K contract into a conference publication
maier_ak · x · 2026-09-14
Andreas Maier scrutinizes Fastcode AI's "Research as a Service" model on Substack: the Bengaluru-Stuttgart startup (founder Arjun Jain) charges a flat $100,000 to turn a client-defined problem into a peer-reviewed conference paper co-authored with the client within 3-4 months, including rebuttal prep and one resubmission — with no acceptance guarantee.
The five-step pitch: client supplies research direction, domain data and constraints; both sides agree on the research question and success criteria; Fastcode designs methods, runs experiments and writes the manuscript; they submit to a jointly chosen conference; rejection triggers a resubmission.
Red flags: the website names no clients, shows no case studies, and no paper credits both Fastcode and a customer; all 62 of Jain's papers and 5,500 citations predate the company's founding; four "in-review" titles are unverified. The $100K fee equals a modest university grant, and acceptance may be limited to lower-tier venues, raising ROI questions.
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