Amazon stopped selling five books this week that appeared to have been written using AI and carried the name of someone who did not write the books. It’s the latest cautionary tale for business leaders about the dangers that new technologies and scam artists can pose and how companies need to be prepared to deal with them.
‘Preying On Writers’
In a blog posted on August 7, author and publishing industry expert Jane Friedman said she was rankled by “garbage books getting uploaded to Amazon where my name is credited as the author. Whoever’s doing this is obviously preying on writers who trust my name and think I’ve actually written these books. I have not. Most likely, they’ve been generated by AI.”
Friedman says she felt violated and angry after investigating the “substandard” work for herself, according to CBC.
“The books are just bloviating garbage. It was repetitive like a really bad student essay [and] didn’t have anything really meaningful in it,” Friedman told the news organization.
When Friedman acknowledged that she could not prove that she owned the trademark on her own name, she said Amazon said it would leave the book up and for sale,” Decrypt reported.
Reversing Course
But the online retailer reversed course after the Authors Guild interceded on Friedman’s behalf,
“We’ve worked with Amazon on this issue in the past, and we will continue our conversations with them about advancing their efforts to keep up with the technology,” the Author’s Guild said in a statement shared with Decrypt. “Meanwhile, we encourage everyone to report these books that try to profit from your brand through Amazon’s complaint portal.”
Statement From Amazon
“‘We have clear content guidelines governing which books can be listed for sale and promptly investigate any book when a concern is raised,” Ashley Vanicek, a spokesperson for Amazon, said in a statement.
“We welcome author feedback and work directly with authors to address any issues they raise, and where we have made an error, we correct it. We invest heavily to provide a trustworthy shopping experience and protect customers and authors from misuse of our service.”
A Growing Problem
The crisis faced by Friedman “is a new scam” and represents a growing problem in the publishing and other industries, Mary Rasenberger, CEO of the Authors Guild, said in a phone interview today.
The problem will get “much worse,” she predicted. “We are going to find so many [more] junk AI-generated books on Amazon. I’m very worried about it… we are very concerned that people are going to take advantage of the Kindle platform…to post AI-generated books that compete unfairly with real books.”
Crisis Management Lessons
Be Vigilant
‘You have to be vigilant to see who’s, who’s trying to knock you off,” Rosenberger said,
“That includes knowing who’s using your brand to produce content. You also need to have rules for your employees about using AI. You can’t trust any content that AI generates to be factually accurate,” she warned.
Act Quickly
Companies and individuals need to be aware of the issues or problems that can be caused by the use of AI by others and immediately take steps to resolve the situation.
That means, as in Friedman’s case, bringing the matter to the attention of others, seeking advice, counsel and support when necessary.
The longer business leaders wait to respond to AI-related issues; the worst things can get.
Have The Right Policies and Procedures
Have policies and procedures in place for preventing and handling AI-related issues and crisis situations. Regularly evaluate and update the protocols as needed, and include them in corporate crisis management plans.
“As AI advances, companies will face a number of legal and business risks, first, from bad actors leveraging these technologies to harm businesses and, second, when businesses themselves wish to implement chatbots or other forms of AI into their functions,” Matthew F. Ferraro, a cybersecurity attorney with the law firm Wilmer Hale, said via email last March.
Practice, Practice, Practice
Don’t wait until you are faced with AI-related challenges to figure out how you will respond to them,
Build those scenarios into your crisis management training exercise, and update plans and procedures based on what you learn from that exercise.
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