A Complement to Bogus Amazon Product Reviews?
October 4, 2023
Note: This essay is the work of a real and still-alive dinobaby. No smart software involved, just a dumb humanoid.
The Author’s Guild and over 10,000 of its members have been asking Amazon to do something about AI-written books on its platform for months. Now, the AP reports, “Amazon to Require Some Authors to Disclose the Use of AI Material.” Writer Hillel Italie tells us:
“The Authors Guild praised the new regulations, which were posted Wednesday, as a ‘welcome first step’ toward deterring the proliferation of computer-generated books on the online retailer’s site. Many writers feared computer-generated books could crowd out traditional works and would be unfair to consumers who didn’t know they were buying AI content.”
Legitimate concerns. But how much good will the new requirements do, really? Amazon now requires those submitting works to its e-book program to disclose any AI-generated content. But we wonder how that is supposed to help since that information is not, as of this writing, publicly disclosed. We learn:
“A passage posted this week on Amazon’s content guideline page said, ‘We define AI-generated content as text, images, or translations created by an AI-based tool.’ Amazon is differentiating between AI-assisted content, which authors do not need to disclose, and AI-generated work. But the decision’s initial impact may be limited because Amazon will not be publicly identifying books with AI, a policy that a company spokesperson said it may revise. Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger said that her organization has been in discussions with Amazon about AI material since early this year. ‘Amazon never opposed requiring disclosure but just said they had to think it through, and we kept nudging them. We think and hope they will eventually require public disclosure when a work is AI-generated,’ she told The Associated Press on Friday.”
Perhaps. But even if Ms. Rasenberger’s gracious optimism is warranted, the requirement only applies to Amazon’s e-book program. What about the rest of the texts sold through the platform? Or, for that matter, through Amazon-owned Goodreads? Perhaps it is old-fashioned, but I for one would like to know whether a book was written by a human or by software before I buy.
Cynthia Murrell, October 4, 2023
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