Authors that don't exist, fake reviews, scanty and questionable content...

A.I. generated content and the rise of self-publication has led to a wave of scam books - that are causing real-world problems

Almost a year ago, we wrote a blog based on a The New York Times article detailing their investigation into a new wave of shoddy AI-written guidebooks, and how they are proliferating on Amazon.  Although the NYT investigation primarily focused on Travel Guides, they found similar titles in cooking, self-help, gardening, business, novels - categories across the board.

Around the same time, Mycological societies began to issue warnings  that one of the topics these books have been proliferating in is guides for foraging wild mushrooms.  As you may know, the differences between delicious edible mushrooms and ones that will poison and possibly kill you can sometimes be very subtle, and you need the best possible references and an experienced eye to tell the difference.

We are revisiting this old post because not long ago - it happened.  According to this post on Reddit asking for legal advice, a family got very sick after being poisoned by mushrooms they foraged using one of these guidebooks.  They didn't know it was AI generated when they bought it. It wasn't until afterward that they started to suspect.

Seemingly created with A.I. Generated text and images, these books often have titles similar to well known books. They claim to be written by authors whose names are odd or similar to well known and trusted authors; but whose portraits are A.I. generated and of whom no other trace can be found.  Despite being thin and cheap, with either vague or questionable information, they can end up highly rated on Amazon search results, bolstered by false claims about the included content and loads of phony 5-star reviews - going beyond being just poorly written wastes of money, to a full-on scam. That can have real-world consequences.

Be Careful before buying any guides from online retailers, especially for things that can mean life-or-death.

What can you look for when shopping, to avoid AI written trash books?  This video has some great tips: