Authors find themselves helpless amid rip-offs of their book summaries being sold on Amazon. These scammers use AI-generated content to steal the ideas of original creators. They have limited options to control the use of imitations.

In 2019, AI researcher Melanie Mitchell wrote a book called “Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans”. The book explains how AI affects us. ChatGPT sparked a new interest in AI a few years later, but something unexpected happened.

A fake version of Melanie’s book showed up on Amazon. People were trying to make money by copying her work. This is just one more instance of Amazon needing more low-quality AI-generated books.

Melanie Mitchell found out that when she looked for her book on Amazon, another ebook with the same title was released last September. This other book was much shorter, only 45 pages. This book copied Melanie’s ideas but in a weird and not-so-good way.

The author listed was “Shumaila Majid,” but there was no information about them – no bio, picture, or anything online. You’ll see many similar books summarizing recently published titles when you click on that name. The worst part is she could not find a solution to this problem.

Melanie thought AI made the fake ebook, and it looked like she was right. WIRED had a company called Reality Defender check the fake version of her book. This computer program said there’s a 99 percent chance AI made it. “It made me mad,” says Melanie, who teaches at the Santa Fe Institute. “It’s just really bad how people are tricked into buying these books.”

After WIRED contacted them, Amazon removed the fake version of Melanie’s book. An Amazon spokesperson, Ashley Vanicek, explained, “We’re okay with AI-made content, but not when it breaks our rules for Kindle Direct Publishing. That includes content that makes customers feel let down.”

When Melanie discovered someone had copied her using AI, she posted on X, asking if it was legal. Now, she’s wondering if she can sue anyone for it. Melanie explains, “I’ve been told you can’t copyright a book title.” Uncertain about what she can do, she has yet to talk to Amazon. Some experts say it’s okay to summarize a book if you don’t copy the exact words.

Some experts in intellectual property are not as convinced. There’s a significant difference between CliffsNotes, which gives a deep analysis and a summary. People make it, and these new quick summaries are causing issues on Amazon.

James Grimmelmann, an internet law professor at Cornell University, explains, “Just summarizing a book is not as easy to protect. There are still many similarities in how topics are chosen and organized, and there might also be some similarity in the language used.”

There’s nothing to prevent someone else from using AI to make another summary and put it on Amazon tomorrow. Melanie says:

“It’s silly that Amazon isn’t doing more to prevent it.” But, on the other hand, the publishing industry doesn’t have a clear plan for dealing with this either. Melanie remembers how her agent reacted when she told her about the AI copy: “This is just how things are now in our new world.”

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