As people searched for more information about the fatal shooting of right-wing commentator and activist Charlie Kirk , some searchers stumbled across some odd Amazon listings – books about the unfolding event.
The Legacy of Charlie Kirk: A Biography of His Rise, Movement, and Tragic Death Read one of the book titles. The Shooting of Charlie Kirk: A Nation on the Edge Read another title.
Perhaps the most viral of these hastily published books was titled The Slavery of Charlie Kirk: A Comprehensive Account of the Utah Valley University Attack, Aftermath, and American Response in the Field.
Amazon page since removed for “The Shooting of Charlie Kirk.”
Credit: Amazon
Amazon visitors were stunned to see these titles on sale, some published within hours of the shooting on September 10. The last, more viral title received additional attention because people noticed that the book included a listed publication date of September 9, one day before Kirk was killed.
Amazon has since removed these books from its site.
“We have content guidelines that govern which books can be listed for sale, and we remove books that do not follow these guidelines,” an Amazon spokesperson told Mashable in a statement.
Despite this, conspiracies spread quickly.
So how do books like this get published so quickly? Answer: Generative AI. What did the “authors” of the books know about the shooting beforehand? Answer: Nothing.
Let us explain.
There is no conspiracy. Just a quick money AI scheme.
All the books about Kirk’s shooting that have since been deleted appear to have been AI-generated. AI platforms can churn out not just articles, but entire books in a matter of minutes. Even the cover art for some titles about Kirk appears to be AI-generated.
AI-generated books can read as if they were written by humans, or they can be filled with falsehoods and barely legible writing. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, many users reported that AI chatbots were providing misinformation by making basic mistakes. And if AI chatbots struggle to produce paragraph-length answers without making mistakes, 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 curb the “flood” of AI-generated books that can be mass- produced and sold for profit.
Real writers can’t write 100 pages of well-written, well-written material in that amount of time. 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 is no competition.
What about the “authors” behind these books? The author of Charlie Kirk’s Shooting is listed as Anastasia J. Casey. However, there is no online trace of the author by 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 have any books printed beforehand. Self-published authors can simply sign up, fill out the relevant information, and upload their book at any time.
And how did the Charlie Kirk shooting go ? Do you have a September 9th release date? Amazon says it was a fluke, which confirmed that the book was published after the shooting.
“Due to a technical issue, the release date displayed for this title while it was briefly listed was incorrect, and we apologize for any confusion this may have caused. The title was released late in the afternoon of September 10th,” an Amazon spokesperson told Mashable. “The title in question is no longer available for sale.”
Mystery solved.
