AI has brought a surprising trend in the world book markets. Recently, lots of AI-generated books flooded Amazon. Amazon once offered a variety of genuine books only. Now, it is facing an increase in ebooks created by algorithms that imitate the writing styles of real authors.

In 2019, AI researcher Melanie Mitchell wrote a book on AI to shed light on its impact. Fast forward to the present, Mitchell faced a new challenge - a startling AI-generated imitation of her work on Amazon. When searching for her book on Amazon, Mitchell discovered a knock-off ebook of her work written in awkward language.

Mitchell thought AI probably created the knock-off ebook, and she was right. WIRED asked Reality Defender, a startup that detects deepfakes, to analyze the fake version of the book, and its software said the book was 99% likely AI-generated. Michelle expressed disappointment, stating how horrifying it is that people get tricked into buying AI-generated versions of books. 

This incident has brought attention to a broader issue: the proliferation of low-quality AI-generated ebooks on the platform.

Prevalence of AI-Generated Books and Summaries

Amazon has long struggled with the issue of misleading book summaries, and the problem has worsened with the advent of generative AI. Large language models, adept at quickly producing summaries, have flooded the market with AI-generated book summaries, often lacking value for readers. Authors, including well-known figures like Tim Ferriss, have voiced their frustration.

Mitchell's encounter is not an isolated incident; other AI researchers, including Fei-Fei Li, have found summaries of their works flooded across Amazon. These summaries, often claiming to be independent publications, are suspected to be AI-generated and provide little value to readers. 

The rise of generative AI has exacerbated the problem, flooding search results with these summaries and making it challenging for readers to find authentic content.

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Sarah Stankorb was surprised when summaries of her book "Disobedient Women" quickly popped up on Amazon days after the book's release. Stankorb believes one of them, appearing just before her book's release, might have been based on an advance copy often given to reviewers.

Jane Friedman, an experienced author and consultant in the writing and publishing field, shared with CNN that a reader of her work purchased one of the counterfeit titles on Amazon. These fake books had titles resembling the topics she usually writes about, but the content seemed like a generative AI model had been used to mimic her writing style.

Amazon's Attempt to Counter AI-Generated Books

Amazon implemented a restriction in 2023. Authors can self-publish only three books per day due to an increase in suspected AI-generated content on the platform.

Despite Amazon's attempt to limit daily uploads to three books per author, AI-generated summaries continue to proliferate. Even nonfiction authors celebrating their book launches are dismayed to find quick, AI-generated summaries for sale shortly afterward. This trend has prompted concerns about the ethical implications of distilling carefully crafted stories and language through automated processes.

In 2023, numerous authors filed a legal case against OpenAI. They claim that OpenAI copied their works without permission or compensation, using the copyrighted materials to develop large language models. These lawsuits accuse OpenAI of benefiting from the unauthorized use of their copyrighted content.

As the debate continues, the growing opinion is that even Amazon's current policies and restrictions may not contain this trend. In a world where AI-generated content has become an unexpected problem for literature, the literary community finds itself in unknown waters. How the industry will adapt to this new reality remains a lingering question.

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