Nowadays, when searching for e-books on Amazon, beware of AI-generated junk books. These books are not only bland but can even be deadly.
Some e-books on Amazon give advice. The books are about mushrooms. For example, the book “The Wild Mushroom Cookbook” is one. Another is “Top Mushroom Field Guide for the Southwest.” These books say to identify mushrooms by their smell and taste.
The advice to sniff or taste mushrooms is dangerous. As the saying goes, all mushrooms are edible, but some only once.
Experts interviewed by The Guardian warned, “This seems to encourage people to use tasting as a method of identification. It should never be done.”
Some mushrooms mentioned, like the “lion’s mane,” are edible but protected in the UK. They taste like a sewing machine, if you must know.
Originality.ai is a company. It checks if text is written by AI. It found those mushroom books scored 100% as AI-written.
The New York Mushroom Society gave a warning. Do not buy mushroom books by unknown writers. Only buy from expert authors. Eating the wrong mushrooms can kill you.
Over a year later, AI has rapidly advanced, and Amazon has yet to find effective ways to stop this issue. This venerable e-book site is being disrupted by AI.
Let’s review the timeline.
In November 2022, ChatGPT emerged. Just a few months later, books on Amazon started appearing that seemed to be written by AI. These books were often poorly made, with shoddy content and covers. A clear sign was authors publishing multiple books in a single day.
By then, YouTube creators were already teaching how to use ChatGPT to write and sell books on Amazon.
In mid-2023, news sites said AI books flooded Amazon.
Writer Caitlyn Lynch found that 80% of top teen romance ebooks were likely AI-made. They did not make sense.
Authors complain that AI books steal their work.
Some book types have many AI books. Famous authors are targets for “shadow books” that steal readers. This happens when new books are released. Fake biographies flood the market.
Kara Swisher is a famous tech journalist. She interviewed Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and others.
Kara published her memoir “Burn Book” this year. Then strange Kara Swisher biographies appeared on Amazon. One author “wrote” four biographies in one month.
The biographies had titles like “Kara Swisher: The Bulldog of Silicon Valley.”
Kara saw these as AI-generated books stealing her new book’s traffic. Furious, she texted Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, “What the hell is this? You’re wasting my money.”
The CEO of the Authors Guild spoke about fake books on Amazon. It is a problem that gets worse with AI. AI makes books cheaper to create. He said, “Every new book has other books trying to steal sales.”
Book theft happens to new and experienced authors. Melanie Mitchell wrote “Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans” in 2019. Recently, she found an ebook on Amazon with a similar title.
The 45-page ebook repeated Mitchell’s points badly. It seemed AI-written. The author had no picture or bio. But they had dozens of summary books.
A deepfake detection company checked the book. They said it was 99% likely AI-generated.
They also checked books copying Fei-Fei Li’s “Seeing the World Through My Eyes.” Unlike Mitchell’s case, Li’s book had many ebooks labeled “summaries.” But these acted more like AI rewrites, not summaries.
When told about this, Li responded with a “mind-blown” emoji. She did not know about the AI copies.
Amazon hasn’t done anything, but its actions have been slow and limited in effect.Jan Fridman is an expert on publishing. Last August, she criticized Amazon and Goodreads.
She wrote a blog post titled “I’d Rather See My Books Pirated Than This.” Several books on Amazon used her name, but she did not write them. Goodreads also listed these books under her author page.
This could make readers think the low-quality books were Fridman’s work. It could damage her reputation.
Fridman asked Amazon and Goodreads to remove the fake books. But they refused. Amazon wanted trademark proof, which Fridman did not have.
After Fridman complained publicly, Amazon and Goodreads removed the fake books. Fridman said her visibility helped. She wondered what would happen to less well-known authors. Fridman’s complaint led to reactions. The Authors Guild said it would support authors. The FTC wrote about generative AI and book sales. It shows they are watching the issue closely.
In September, one month after Fridman’s post, Amazon cracked down on AI books. They changed the rules for Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). Authors can now only upload 3 books per day, not unlimited.
KDP was a hotspot for AI books. It lets authors sell directly on Amazon without publishers. Amazon never fully banned AI content. But it must be labeled and not harmful.
Amazon said they are monitoring how AI impacts reading, writing, and publishing.
However new cases of AI books hijacking authors’ work keep appearing. So Amazon’s efforts are still not enough.
We welcome your messages and feedback. Whether you have questions about our event schedule, need additional information, or simply want to share your thoughts, we're here to listen. Your input is valuable to us and helps us improve our services and offerings. Feel free to reach out with any comments, suggestions, or inquiries you may have. We're committed to providing you with the best possible experience and look forward to hearing from you.
Comments