Amazon removes likely AI-generated books about Charlie Kirk that sparked conspiracies
As people searched for more information surrounding the fatal shooting of right-wing commentator and activist Charlie Kirk, some searchers stumbled across a few odd Amazon listings — books about the unfolding event.
The Legacy of Charlie Kirk: A Biography of His Rise, His Movement, and His Tragic Death read one of the book titles. The Charlie Kirk Shooting: A Nation on Edge read the title of another.
Perhaps the most viral of these hastily published books was titled, The Shooting of Charlie Kirk: A Comprehensive Account of the Utah Valley University Attack, the Aftermath, and America’s Response.
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Amazon visitors were stunned to see these titles for sale, some published within hours of the shooting on Sept. 10. The latter, more viral title received extra attention because people noticed that the book had a listed publish date of Sept. 9, one day before Kirk was killed.
Amazon has since removed these books from its website.
“We have content guidelines governing which books can be listed for sale, and we remove books that do not adhere to these guidelines," an Amazon spokesperson told Mashable in a statement.
Nevertheless, conspiracies quickly spread.
So, how are books like this published so quickly? The answer: Generative AI. What did the "authors" of the books know about the shooting in advance? Answer: Nothing.
Let's explain.
No conspiracy. Just a fast money AI scheme.
All of the since-deleted books about Kirk's shooting appear to be AI-generated. AI platforms can whip up not just articles, but entire books, in minutes. Even the cover art for some of the titles about Kirk appears to be AI-generated.
AI-generated books may read as if they were human-written, or they may be filled with falsehoods and barely legible writing. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, many users reported that AI chatbots provided misinformation, making elementary mistakes. And if AI chatbots struggle to generate paragraph-length responses without making errors, imagine how many inaccuracies could appear in an AI-generated book. Of course, accuracy may not be the point. Decoder recently reported that Amazon is struggling to contain a "flood" of AI-generated books, which can be produced en masse and sold for a profit.
Real authors can't write 100 pages of well-sourced and reported material in this timeframe. Of course, neither can AI, but it can create a convincing facsimile.
Current events are one target for these types of AI-generated books because there's no competition.
What about the "authors" behind these books? The author of The Shooting of Charlie Kirk is listed as Anastasia J. Casey. However, there's no online footprint for an author of that name.
It's also important to note that anyone can self-publish a book on Amazon. You don't need a publisher. You don't even need to print up any books in advance. Self-published authors can just sign up, fill out the relevant information, and upload their book at any time.
And how did The Shooting of Charlie Kirk have a publishing date of Sept. 9? Amazon says it was a glitch, confirming to Mashable that the book was published after the shooting.
"Due to a technical issue, the date of publication that had been displayed for this title, while it was briefly listed, was incorrect, and we apologize for any confusion this may have caused. The title was published late in the afternoon on September 10th," an Amazon spokesperson told Mashable. "The title in question is no longer available for sale."
Mystery solved.
