The Newest Trick in the Book

It was only a matter of time. A book has been pulled from publication because it’s suspected to have been written by Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The fiction in question was what independent authors dream about. Shy Girl is a horror novel whose success as an indie title caught the attention of publisher Hachette. They published it in the UK last fall and it was due for a US release this spring. But allegations started bubbling up online from readers that the book might be “AI slop”, as it’s known. An AI detection tool reportedly found that 78% of the book was written by AI. Hachette pulled the plug.

The author, Mia Ballard, is devastated. She claims she hired an “acquaintance” to edit her original, self-published version of the book. That’s where she believes the AI was brought in.

But I have questions. In what world is it still your book when you’ve allowed an editor to rewrite three-quarters of it? And why doesn’t Hachette, one of the world’s biggest publishing houses, not use AI detection before offering a contract? The answer to both of those queries is, it’s a whole new world and everyone’s figuring it out.

There Are No Rules…Yet

Lots of people are trying to see what they can get away with using AI. (I’m not suggesting Ms. Ballard did this.) Readers are routinely duped into purchasing AI slop even though authors are supposed to disclose it. Some startup publishers brag that they’re AI-only. They appeal to those who want to write a book without having to, you know, write a book. It remains to be seen whether transparently AI-written books will attract readers. And there will be confusion until everyone gets on the same page – pun intended.

There are no government protections against anyone selling an AI book as human-written. It also happens with audio books. You think you’ll hear a person but it ends up being a computer generated voice. There are giveaways. For example, if the AI doesn’t realize that combine, to mix, is pronounced differently than combine, the farm machinery. It’s irritating once you notice it.

The Authors Guild (US) has taken on advocacy on behalf of authors’ works being scraped by AI. Because AI, if you’re not aware, doesn’t create anything new. It steals from previous creations and there’s no agreement on that being okay. The Guild has launched a lot of lawsuits and demands for compensation on behalf of authors. Meanwhile, the UK Society of Authors has created a logo to go on books that are 100% written by humans. It’s a great idea but it will have to be policed carefully to ensure it’s not misused.

Journalism and AI

Just last week, I had a conversation with an employee of the Globe and Mail about AI in journalism. They wanted to know about my experiences with AI in voice work. Many ethical questions come up in journalism, not just about writing, but also research. AI isn’t reliable enough to count on even as a research tool. It makes a lot of mistakes and doesn’t know what to do when it finds contradictory material. There’s still no substitute for going to directly to a source and asking a question.

Experts say there are things that AI does in writing that give it away. PC Mag highlights a few: The overuse of em dashes–like these–is supposedly one bit of evidence. Repetition of words and phrases like underscore, pivotal, and realm. And a complete lack of a human experience. AI is capable of writing the magazine articles I write but it can’t include any personal touches. PC Mag’s article says AI also likes to make too many lists for one article.

Several AI detection tools are on the market. Grammarly even has a free one on their website for short bits of text. AI is getting more than its share of attention right now, like any exploding technology will do. Eventually, things will settle down, AI will find its place, and rules will be developed. Until then, there will be more firsts to serve as precedents for how to handle it. Just like this first book cancellation by Hachette.