ChatGPT e-books appear on Amazon – problem for publishers

The AI ​​software ChatGPT can not only write texts that can hardly be distinguished from human ones, but also complete e-books. Hundreds of such digital books have now appeared on Amazon. This should pose a problem for the online retailer and many publishers.

ChatGPT has literally turned the digital industry upside down. The AI ​​software not only delivers impressively precise answers, but also writes texts that can hardly be distinguished from human ones. But that is also a problem.

E-Books: Hundreds of books written by ChatGPT surfaced

While Microsoft recently integrated AI into its Bing search engine and Google presented a ChatGPT alternative, the state of New York has banned artificial intelligence in public schools. The reason: the school authorities there fear negative effects on the learning effect.

The climate footprint of artificial intelligence also reads frighteningly. But that’s not all. Because after the initial hype surrounding ChatGPT, the problems and risks of AI are becoming more and more visible. For example, hundreds of e-books have already appeared on Amazon in which ChatGPT is named as the author or co-author.

ChatGPT e-books: problem for authors and publishers – copyright unclear

That comes from a report by the news agency Reuters out. According to this, more than 200 such digital books are said to have been for sale on Amazon by mid-February 2023. The number of unreported cases is likely to be significantly higher. Meanwhile, the covers of numerous ChatGPT e-books come from AI image generators such as Dall-E.

The problems of such publications are complex. On the one hand, copyright and data protection for AI texts and images are unclear – even if ChatGPT is named as the author or co-author. Because the information and data of the AI ​​software often comes from the users themselves.

On the other hand, ChatGPT e-books pose a threat to many publishers and human authors Reuters: “These books will flood the market and many authors will lose their jobs”. Amazon also seems to be hardly able to recognize AI texts.

ChatGPT: OpenAI founder Sam Altman calls for regulation of AI

In theory, Amazon could ban text written by ChatGPT outright. But even here the legal situation seems unclear. At least the US company could probably insist on naming the AI ​​software as authors or co-authors. But for that, the company would first have to be able to recognize such content.

However, the problems surrounding AI software like ChatGPT are not only increasing. So far there have been hardly any solutions and only a few unambiguous answers. Even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, head of the company behind ChatGPT, is therefore calling for AI regulation by politicians.

According to Altman, he is concerned that society and institutions will not be able to react quickly enough to developments in the field of artificial intelligence. On Twitter he wrote:

The temptation is great, it [ChatGPT: Anm.d.Red.] super fast, which is scary – it takes society time to adjust to something this big.

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