Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited platform has recently faced a concerning issue with an influx of AI-generated books filled with nonsensical content. The situation came to light when indie author Caitlyn Lynch expressed her disappointment on Twitter, pointing out that the Best Sellers in Teen & Young Adult Contemporary Romance eBooks Top 100 chart was inundated with AI-generated books meant to manipulate rankings and increase clicks. As Vice reported, out of the top 100 books on the chart, only 19 appeared to be genuine.
While Amazon seemed to have taken action against these books by Wednesday morning, this incident highlights the problem of individuals spamming the platform with AI-generated content and finding ways to monetize it. Caitlyn Lynch’s tweet on Monday referred to the situation as AI bots breaking Amazon and shared a screenshot of the Best Sellers list in the Teen & Young Adult Contemporary Romance category, where the majority of books were clearly AI-generated, created for the purpose of click farming.
Despite some books falling off the bestseller list by Wednesday, they remained available for purchase on the platform. Examples of these AI-generated titles included “When the three attacks,” “Apricot bar code architecture,” “The journey to becoming enlightened is arduous,” “Department of Vinh Du Stands in Front of His Parents’ Tombstone,” “The God Tu mutters,” “Ma La Er snorted scornfully,” and “Jessica’s Attention,” among others.
Lynch shared a screenshot of one particular book, titled “wait you love me,” which was ranked 90th in the Top 100 Bestseller list for Teen Contemporary Romance. The book featured a black-and-white photo of a seagull with neon yellow title text across it. With two one-star reviews labeling it a “fake AI book,” the integrity of Kindle Unlimited was called into question.
Lynch expressed concern that if Amazon failed to address this issue, it could have severe consequences for Kindle Unlimited, leading to a decrease in the KENP payout (based on the number of pages read by Kindle users) and causing writers to remove their books from the platform. She also expressed surprise that Amazon hadn’t effectively dealt with click farms.
While the AI-generated books are no longer present on the bestseller list, they can still be found and read as samples on the site. For example, “Apricot bar code architecture” begins with a nonsensical line: “Black lace pajamas, very short skirt, the most important thing, now this lace pajamas are all wet.”
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