Following the flood of AI-generated books and the KENP scam I was discussing a couple of weeks ago, Amazon has started taking action — just as I had predicted. As the Goodreader reports, Amazon KDP has recently introduced new content guidelines specifically addressing AI-generated books on the platform. This is to maintain transparency and quality of books available to the readers.
Now, authors must disclose whether their book(s) contains AI content. Specifically, during the upload process authors must inform Amazon of any AI-generated content – images, text, or translations – used in their book. This is necessary both when they publish a new book or edit and republish a new one.
Amazon presented the move as part of an ongoing process:
We are actively monitoring the rapid evolution of generative AI and the impact it is having on reading, writing, and publishing, and we remain committed to providing the best possible shopping, reading, and publishing experience for our authors and customers.
Humans vs. AI vs. AI
As part of the new process, authors must select one of the following options:
- None of the text/images/translations are generated by artificial intelligence.
- Some sections with minimal or no editing were generated by AI.
- AI-generated some areas with extensive editing.
- The entire work, with minimal or no editing, was developed by AI.
- The whole piece, with extensive editing, was generated by AI.
Failure to accurately report AI content may result in penalties or account termination in the future.
Crucially, authors who create content themselves using AI-based tools to “edit, refine, error-check, or otherwise improve that content” don’t need to report that usage. This is great news to anyone using tools such as Grammarly (yes, I know we don’t normally consider Grammarly to be an AI tool but that’s exactly what it is — especially now that it offers suggestions on your content).
Of course, authors still have to adhere to all content guidelines regardless of whether they include AI-generated or AI-assisted content.
I see this as just the first step in what is bound to be an interesting battle between scammers and Amazon. On its own, it does little to protect either authors or buyers. Therefore, it’s likely setting up the stage for the next step, which is to automate the process of identifying AI-generated content (ironically enough, the best way to do this in bulk is through the use of AI tools).
Once that happens, Amazon will deal swiftly with scammers using AI-generated content to game its KENP algorithms. When the hammer falls, I expect many titles to be forcibly removed and many innocents to suffer until Amazon finetunes its detection algorithms.
At the same time, it’s a necessary step that may help immensely with AI detection, as current tools are woefully inadequate, generating both false positives and negatives. Perhaps, then, Amazon will manage to solve the issue by identifying AI content more accurately.
My guess is that Amazon is going after the low-hanging fruit first: people who pretend they haven’t used any AI but Amazon’s detection algorithm shows they have. These could easily be 80% of the cases, so the company will target them first. It remains to be seen what effect this will have on KENP royalties or what unintended consequences there may be.
Update Sep 19, 2023: A few days after I published this post, Amazon took the second step against AI.
Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes said:
All well and good, Nicholas… but they will need a lie detector too, won’t they?
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Good point. I think it’s the low fruit they’re going for now: people who haven’t disclosed their use of AI but Amazon’s detector shows they have, indeed, used it. My guess is that this could easily be 80% of the cases.
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Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes said:
But will that stop it?
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Hopefully, it will stop some of it. How much is anyone’s guess!
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Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes said:
Better than nothing, I guess!
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wilfredbooks said:
I hope this is a positive move in the right direction, Nicholas. Cheers, Jon.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Amen to that!
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coldhandboyack said:
Glad they’re doing something. I’m like you and there will probably be innocent victims until they fine tune the process.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Yeah, it’s an ongoing process for sure
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beetleypete said:
Thanks for the update, Nicholas. It looks like there is still a long way to go before the ‘detection’ process is foolproof, but it is definitely a good start.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
It was only a matter of time. KENP royalties were slashed last month and I believe the KENP scam was the main reason why. If Amazon let this go on much longer, it would have to discontinue the program altogether.
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Esther Chilton said:
That’s really good to know.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
We’ll see! It’s good that they’re doing something about it but I’m worried because of Amazon’s heavy handiness with such matters in the past
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K Morris Poet said:
Thanks for informing me and others of this, Nicholas. A few months back I inputted some text (a mixture of human with a significant quantity of AI) into a well known AI detection tool. The result came back that all of the inputted text was human generated, which it clearly was not. I recently read a book of AI generated poetry where the “author” was upfront in both the book and it’s description on Amazon, that it’s contents was AI generated. I wasn’t impressed with the poetry, but I give some credit to the “author” for being honest that the work was generated by AI. Having said that, the poetry was so bad most readers would, I think have guessed that the work was not the product of the human mind. Best. Kevin
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Interesting! Thanks for sharing that, Kevin
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DebyFredericks said:
Glad to hear it. I’ve been really surprised that a huge tech firm like Amazon seemed so unprepared for this technology.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
In Amazon’s defense, I think it caught everyone unawares – including Google!
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harmonykentonline said:
I have my doubts about Amazon’s eventual intention. Are they looking at ways of making more money? Will some of us be accused of using AI when we haven’t? No AI can predict or analyse accurately enough as yet.
Great post, Nicholas, and thanks for sharing 💕🙂
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Oh, absolutely. Of course Amazon is looking at making money – which is fine as long as it realizes its interests lie in working *with* authors rather than against us. And you’re spot on: AI predictions suck at the moment. Plenty of us will be accused of using AI even when we haven’t. Hopefully, after all the teething problems, something good will come out of it all.
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Michelle Morrison said:
Catching up here. It’s good to see you posting more often. It will be interesting to see what happens here.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thank you, Michelle! It feels good to post more often 🙂
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robbiesinspiration said:
Hi Nicholas, lets hope it doesn’t end up being worse for authors than when the AI generated books were being published. Amazon has a tendency to end up persecuting innocent writers.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
My guess? It’ll get worse before it gets better, but it *will* get better in the end.
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Smorgasbord - Variety is the Spice of Life. said:
Thanks Nicholas.. it is a start and hopefully the ‘innocents’ will not be too impacted during the process. Definitely something to keep an eye on.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
From your mouth… Based on past experience, there will be some bumps but hopefully Amazon will figure out the right balance before long.
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thomasstigwikman said:
I have been wondering about this. It is great to know that Amazon now has taken steps to address AI generated content. I guess it will be an arms race. Thank you for a very interesting read.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
It’s just like you said – it’s going to be another another arms race between scammers and Amazon. What makes this particularly sad for me is that I use AI daily for my day job and it’s a great tool for research. Because of a few bad-faith actors, we risk throwing out the baby along with the bathwater.
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OIKOS™- Art, Books & more said:
Thanks for the update, Nicholas! I share your concerns and also mention that Amazon wants to make money with the tests. Hopefully it won’t become a monopoly. But for now better thank nothing. Best wishes, Michael
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Well, yeah, Amazon’s bottom line is to make money. It’s just that the company’s interests and ours typically align (even if not always).
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