Some Amazon Kindle users are complaining that their ereaders are suggesting they purchase AI-generated content.
Amazon’s Kindles are sold in two versions, one that shows ads on the lock screen and one that does not. The ad-supported version typically sells for $20 cheaper than the ad-free one.
According to those with lock-screen ads, many Kindles are displaying ads for AI-generated books. The issue started several months ago, and the books in question reportedly have “clearly AI-generated art,” according to Futurism.
According to the site, a good number of the books in question appear to be blatant rip-offs of existing titles. The books also don’t appear to be very popular, which leads the site to suggest that perhaps the book’s creators are gaming Amazon’s algorithm somehow to get the ads to show up on the lock screens in the first place.
Users have complained about the ads and shared images of a few of them on social media:
Since Futurism’s initial report, Amazon says it’s removed a number of the AI-generated books from the ad queue. It also provided the site with a boilerplate statement that says all of the "books in the store must adhere to our content guidelines, regardless of how the content was created. We both proactively prevent books from being listed as well as remove books that do not adhere to those guidelines."
Amazon allows AI-generated content on its site; however, it requires authors to notify the company of AI-generated content including text, images, or translations when authors publish a new book or make edits to and republish an existing book through Kindle Direct Publishing.
Last year, in a bid to crack down on the flood of AI-generated books on its platform, Amazon capped the number of self-published books an author can release per day at three, which is obviously ambitious for even the most prolific human writer.