AI-authored book sparks fear among creative professionals amid copyright questions

An AI-generated book mimicking a technology journalist’s writing style demonstrates both the capabilities and limitations of current AI writing tools, while highlighting broader concerns about AI’s impact on creative industries.

The experiment setup: A technology journalist received an AI-written book about herself as a Christmas gift, generated by BookByAnyone using basic prompts provided by a friend.

• The 240-page book, titled “Tech-Splaining for Dummies,” attempted to replicate the journalist’s writing style and incorporated publicly available information about her
• BookByAnyone has sold approximately 150,000 personalized books, primarily in the US market
• The service uses proprietary AI tools based on an open-source large language model

Content analysis: The AI-generated book revealed both impressive mimicry and notable shortcomings in artificial intelligence writing capabilities.

• The book successfully captured aspects of the journalist’s conversational writing style
• Notable flaws included repetitive content, verbose writing, and factual “hallucinations” such as repeated references to a non-existent pet cat
• Each book includes a disclaimer stating it is AI-generated fiction intended for entertainment

Industry concerns: Creative professionals worldwide are expressing growing alarm about AI systems being trained on their work without consent or compensation.

• Ed Newton Rex, founder of Fairly Trained, emphasizes that AI training data consists of human creators’ life works, including books, articles, artwork, and music
• Several high-profile incidents have occurred, including an AI-generated song featuring unauthorized Drake and The Weeknd voices that went viral
• Major organizations like the BBC have blocked AI developers from accessing their content for training purposes

Regulatory landscape: Governments are grappling with how to regulate AI’s use of creative content, with different approaches emerging globally.

• The UK government is considering allowing AI developers to use creators’ content unless rights holders opt out
• President Trump has repealed Biden’s executive order on AI safety requirements
• Multiple lawsuits against AI firms, particularly OpenAI, are challenging the legality of using copyrighted content for AI training

Market dynamics: New players are emerging in the AI space, challenging established companies and raising additional concerns.

• Chinese firm DeepSeek has become the most downloaded free app on Apple’s US App Store
• DeepSeek claims to have developed its technology at a fraction of the cost of competitors like OpenAI
• The company’s rapid rise has sparked security concerns and questions about US dominance in AI

Future implications: While current AI-generated content shows clear limitations, the rapid pace of technological advancement suggests significant improvements are likely.

• The experiment reveals that AI still struggles with maintaining consistency and accuracy in longer-form content
• However, the technology’s rapid evolution raises valid concerns about the future role of human writers and other creative professionals
• The debate over fair use, compensation, and consent in AI training remains unresolved and increasingly urgent

Looking ahead: The intersection of AI capabilities and creative rights presents a complex challenge that will require careful balancing of innovation with protection for human creators.