Amazon sells fake AI Jane Friedman books

Occurred: August 2023

US-based author Jane Friedman discovered five fake books being sold under her name on Amazon, resulting in an outcry.

In a blog post titled 'I Would Rather See My Books Get Pirated Than This (Or: Why Goodreads and Amazon Are Becoming Dumpster Fires)', Friedman said she suspected five books published under her name on Amazon and its Goodreads subsidiary had been generated using ChatGPT or a similar AI system. 

The post triggered a wave of complaints and negative media coverage accusing the technology company of poor content moderation and tone-deaf customer relations.

Amazon had refused to remove the books after Friedman submitted a complaint on the basis that she did not hold a trademark to her name.

The technology company finally relented several hours after she had posted her take on the situtation online. 

System 🤖

Operator: Amazon
Developer: Amazon

Country: USA

Sector: Media/entertainment/sports/arts

Purpose: Moderate content

Technology: Content moderation system; Machine learning
Issue: Accountability; Accuracy/reliability; Transparency

Page info
Type: Incident
Published: August 2023
Last updated: November 2023