ChatGPT has been officially listed as an author or co-author of at least 200 books on Amazon’s Kindle Store.
This finding is one in a line of concerns about ethical and authentic authorship and AI writing. Most recently, there has been building concern about the use of ChatGPT in academia, leading to the development of an AI-based software tool by OpenAI that aims to classify AI-generated text.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT is the ambiguous author behind the poetry collection “Echoes of the Universe” and children’s story “The Power of Homework,” among others, which can be found on the Kindle Store
“This is something we really need to be worried about, these books will flood the market and a lot of authors are going to be out of work,” stated executive director of The Author Guild Mary Rasenberger.
Science-fiction publication Clarkesworld Magazine has also gotten a taste of ChatGPT’s authorship. After noticing a pattern in short-story submissions, the sci-fi and fantasy magazine has been forced to temporarily halt all submissions due to the suspicion that aspiring contributors are using ChatGPT without disclosing that information to editors.
From what I can tell, it's not about credibility. It's about the possibility of making a quick buck. That's all they care about.
— clarkesworld (@clarkesworld) February 20, 2023
Clarkesworld Magazine now officially prohibits the use of stories “written, co-written or assisted by AI.”
In addition to authentic authorship, ChatGPT is also under fire for plagiarism and misinformation. It has been reported that the free tool often gives out incorrect information and uses previously published content without the original author’s permission or knowledge.
