Planning Research for my AI class

[Leslie]

Morning all!
I am working on my new AI for Writers class that starts next month. I have a lot of content. Boy do I! One thing I ran across this morning in the Washington Post was the article from a tech writer who noted that another book about his content was published a few weeks before his. As he noted, the title was unusually specific so he dug in.

He wrote a book on a rare subject. Then a ChatGPT replica appeared on Amazon.

TLDR, it was written by an AI and published by a Mumbai-based publisher named InKstall. The book had a bunch of suspicious-sounding 5-star reviews on Amazon: Automating DevOps with GitLab CI/CD Pipelines by Marie Karpos. This was exactly the title of the actual author, Christopher Cowell's book.
When he looked for more information about the author, there was absolutely nothing online. This book has been taken down after WaPo contacted them. They also took down all the content from this publisher. Which in my mind also triggers a concern of Amazon overreach: what if someone decides that a book you have written is AI generated? We all know what a nightmare it is to get Amazon to do anything.

The article goes on to discuss more websites that are using AI-generated content etc.

My question to you is have you ever seen for yourself any fiction online for sale or otherwise that you suspected being AI-generated?

For my class, The Writer's Guide to AI, I am going to find examples of this and also how we can educate ourselves to detect it, and what we can do if we suspect.

Thanks!
Leslie

 

[Cristininha]

I never read anything and suspected it to be AI generated. But there has been many instances as of late, where I feel i'm reading the same story and same type of character over and over again with just minor changes. I have been on a DNF reading slump for a long while. I'm bored. Usually when this happens I jump to other genres, but I have noticed it is happening with more frequency than prior years. Could AI be the reason for this predictable pattern or have I just read too many books? I don't know. In my opinion, AI is probably presenting to users what is selling, has good reviews, and popular highlights opposed to one that no one one has ever heard of. It is sourcing information from somewhere, but we don't really know where and how many times that same scenario, quote, or description has been duplicated.

I feel AI is more like mismatched patchwork on a fictional quilt purchased at a yard sale. It's been previously used. I'm not convinced that it's creative. It goes beyond utilizing tropes. I also don't think it's capable of possessing an author's unique voice with consistency. It clones someone who invested a lot of time and effort in publishing their work. I have mixed feelings about AI.

 

[flsunfan]

I also have not read anything I suspected to be completely AI generated.

AI will never replace authors because although it can provide plot ideas, settings, and more, it cannot replace an author's creativity.

One of the reasons why you may be seeing "the same story" is that AI will generate a plot. If 10 people ask: "Give me a plot for a romance where the characters knew each other back in college and meet again years later and fall in love." You may end of with ten different versions of "the same story". A basic request will generate a basic result.

What each author does with the basic plot and how they develop the setting and individual characters is what makes the story unique and worth reading.

Although AI is great for jump-starting your own ideas, but will never replace you and your unique perspective.