ICYMI

AI-Generated Books are Tarnishing Authors’ Reputations

And—surprise, surprise—Amazon isn’t doing nearly enough about it.

Episode Notes

On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton and Candice Lim are joined by Jane Friedman, author of The Business of Being a Writer and the publisher of Hot Sheet, a newsletter about the publishing industry. The three discuss Friedman’s recent battle with AI-generated books that were being published and sold under her name on Amazon. Friedman published a blog about the saga titled “I Would Rather See My Books Get Pirated Than This (Or: Why Goodreads and Amazon are Becoming Dumpster Fires)” detailing the dangers that the increasingly prolific practice presents to authors and the publishing industry at large.

This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton.

About the Show

Join Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton twice a week as they gaze deep into the online abyss—and tell you what’s gazing back. All episodes

Hosts

  • Candice Lim is the co-host of ICYMI, Slate’s podcast about internet culture. She comes to Slate from NPR, where she was an assistant producer at Pop Culture Happy Hour. Prior to that, she was an intern at NPR’s How I Built This, the Hollywood Reporter, WBUR, and the Orange County Register. She graduated from Boston University with a bachelor's degree in journalism and grew up in Orange County, California.

  • Rachelle Hampton is a culture writer and reporter at Slate and co-host of ICYMI. Her work has appeared in the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian Magazine, and In These Times. She still hasn't recovered from Tumblr’s demise.