Senseless AI-Generated Books Take Over Amazon’s Bestseller Lists
Image generated on Midjourney
Artificial intelligence has replaced human authors, though not exactly in the way you would picture it.
This week, a horde of “books” hastily generated by AI was found to have emerged on some of Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited bestseller pages, despite having few to no reviews.
“The AI bots have broken Amazon,” lamented indie author Caitlyn Lynch, who discovered dozens of fake texts on the top-100 chart for Teen & Young Adult Contemporary Romance eBooks. Only 19 of the titles featured were “actual legit books,” Lynch said. “The rest are AI nonsense.”
Amazon self publishing is going through a thing right now.... pic.twitter.com/Cp1qr3HO0K
— Wesley Chu (@wes_chu) June 27, 2023
Among those names were randomized books like Apricot bar code architecture, Department of Vinh Du Stands in Front of His Parents’ Tombstone, and Her husband doesn’t hurt either—paired with a photo of a cat.
Nobody mentioned Her Husband Doesn't Hurt Either or Drinking with No Return? #KindleUnlimited #kindlebooks #booktwt #BookTwitter https://t.co/v67zbR1yBz pic.twitter.com/EjFJU665Wv
— Maria Vale 🌊 🌻 #RelistWolves (@MariaValeAuthor) June 27, 2023
With the controversy around AI books invading the KU store, I decided to review one of them. pic.twitter.com/cNvoRrT8fx
— Timothy Wolff - SPFBO 9 Author (@TimWolffAuthor) June 27, 2023
It goes without saying that the pages are all gibberish too, defying the belief that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.
An excerpt from a book entitled Our Love reads: “Lam Tan Ngon grabbed Shen Peichuan’s hand, accidentally nailed his nails into his skin, lying in his chest choking and sobbing.”
“Black lace pajamas, very short skirt, the most important thing, now this lace pajamas are all wet,” reads the beginning of Apricot Bar Architecture.
Good lord, that is awful! But these two absolutely take the cake: pic.twitter.com/VN1g5h8GNy
— Kali Anthony Author (@KaliAAnthony) June 27, 2023
Oh, that makes more sense now... pic.twitter.com/6pUZvGAZoG
— Eric 🚀🟧 (@bullfrogdad) June 27, 2023
Outside of the bestseller lists, DesignTAXI spotted other AI-generated creations with names like Jealousy face, ANTI-MAGINATION, and Go to the city to try to reconcile conflicts.
Screenshot via Amazon
Screenshot via Amazon
According to The Messenger, under Kindle Unlimited’s compensation model, authors get paid for every page that’s been read by a user.
Profiteering individuals are likely banking on this system by spoofing as many spammy texts as possible—and engaging bots to read them—to earn a quick buck.
The current #1 title in Amazon's "War & Military Action Fiction" category is a 91-page book titled "URGENT CHARACTER NAME: URGENT CHARACTER NAME"
— Stacy King (@stacyking) June 26, 2023
(which is a hilarious title but the result - screwing real authors out of Kindle Unlimited payments - is way less funny) https://t.co/LXgTO9XGdt pic.twitter.com/gnWmpZZ5e5
By Wednesday, Amazon had purged the low-quality literature from the bestseller lists. However, the titles are still available on the platform.
The AI bots have broken Amazon.
— Caitlyn Lynch aka Catherine Bilson (@caitlynlynch6) June 26, 2023
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://t.co/fy9rtV6Ck6
The rest are AI nonsense clearly there to click farm.@AmazonKDP what are you doing about it? pic.twitter.com/cziuKcQrq3
Wow, it is insultingly bad.
— Roseking (@Roseking1995) June 27, 2023
(This is the sample, no way and hell am I giving this money) pic.twitter.com/28TRK9gEuY
[via VICE and The Messenger, images via various sources]
