AI (Artificial Intelligence) has been changing several industries worldwide, and the publishing world is no exception. While it has its fair share of advantages (like automation and quick data analysis), it has been heavily misused for its efficiency, especially in the literary world. This could be justified by the increasing number of AI-generated books that have been flooding Kindle Unlimited, some of them even taking the bestsellers spot.
Amazon’s Kindle has been extensively praised for its self-publishing advantage. It allows authors to self-publish e-books/print books for free to ensure widespread exposure. The self-publishing process is quite simple and doesn’t involve any third-party publisher, that’s why it has been commonly cherished by a majority of authors. It also gives complete control of content to the author and allows them to set their own prices in all territories (depending on the publishing rights).
Although self-publishing has its benefits, it has been commonly misused by some deceitful individuals who are responsible for publishing absurd AI-generated books on the platform. The sad part is not only are these books being easily published, but they are also being ranked in the top 100 lists.
As per the Tech Radar article, indie author Caitlyn Lynch took to Twitter to highlight the fact that only 19 bestseller titles in the Teen & Young Adult Contemporary Romance eBooks top 100 charts on Amazon were authentic and real. The rest others were apparently AI-generated.
Her Tweet read:
“The AI bots have broken Amazon.
Take a look at the Best Sellers in Teen & Young Adult Contemporary Romance eBooks top 100 chart.
I can see 19 actual legit books.
https://amzn.to/3Jy5Xkt
The rest are AI nonsense clearly there to click farm.
@AmazonKDP
what are you doing about it?”
Lynch also used the term click farm in her tweet. Click farm stands for a phenomenon where a group of workers are hired to get revenues by manually clicking on online ads. This strategy is commonly applied on websites featuring pay-per-click advertisements. She highlighted the fact that AI-orientated books are being generated for click farming. After her tweet, the Motherload website noticed that some of the books (which were accused of AI-generated content) had vanished from the list, although many of them were still there.
On reaching out to Amazon about the matter, one of the spokespersons said, Tech Radar:
We have clear content guidelines governing which books can be listed for sale and promptly investigate any book when a concern is raised. We invest heavily to provide a trustworthy shopping experience and to protect customers and authors from abuse.
Navkiran Dhaliwal is a seasoned content writer with 10+ years of experience. When she's not writing, she can be found cooking up a storm or spending time with her dog, Rain.