AI-generated knockoffs of Joanna Stern's book keep flooding Apple Books despite removals

AI-generated knockoffs of Joanna Stern's book keep appearing on Apple Books

In a video published on YouTube Shorts today, Joanna Stern called out Apple over AI-generated knockoffs of her book that continue to appear on Apple Books. Here are the details. AI-generated clones have become a common problem for book authors Two years ago, shortly after publishing Burn Book: A Tech Love Story, Kara Swisher called attention to a wave of AI-generated knockoffs that had flooded Amazon, copying both the book's cover and content. As she brought attention to the issue, other authors said they were facing the same problem. At the time, Swisher said she raised it with Amazon's leadership, which acted to curb the knockoffs of her book, though most authors did not have the same access. Now Joanna Stern is raising a similar issue, this time involving Apple Books. In a YouTube Shorts video published earlier today, Stern said that shortly after her book, I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything, was released, she found more than 10 AI-generated knockoffs on the platform. Many featured similar covers, while at least one was published under a slightly misspelled version of her name. Stern says that she took the issue to Apple, which moved to remove the books from Apple Books. However, it wasn't long before other versions returned. In the video, Stern also says that while Amazon appears to have improved at handling AI-generated copycats of bestselling books, she still found (and bought) two workbooks based on her own book. Amazon has since removed both listings. Back to Apple, the company told Stern that in addition to having transparency and disclosure rules around AI-generated content on Apple Books, its policies "strictly prohibit content that misleads customers or infringes on copyright." Worth checking out on Amazon

Apple Books apparently has the same knockoff problem as Amazon

WSJ's Joanna Stern says copycat AI books based on her work continue to pop up on the platform. Apple Books has long been viewed as a cleaner alternative to Amazon's Kindle Store. But if a new investigation is anything to go by, it may be fighting the same battle against AI-generated junk. In a recent YouTube Shorts video, The Wall Street Journal's Joanna Stern revealed that fake, AI-generated versions of her book have repeatedly appeared on Apple Books, despite being reported and removed. Joanna Stern says fake copies keep coming back As highlighted in the video below, Stern discovered multiple AI-generated books impersonating her work on Apple's digital bookstore. The fake titles copied her name, mimicked the cover art and descriptions, and appeared convincing enough that unsuspecting readers could easily mistake them for legitimate releases. Further, Stern explains that even after Apple removed some of the fraudulent listings, new ones quickly surfaced in their place. The cycle has become a game of digital whack-a-mole, suggesting that simply taking down fake books isn't enough if new AI-generated copies can be uploaded just as easily. She also points out that the issue isn't unique to Apple, with Amazon's Kindle Store having struggled with similar AI-generated knockoffs over the past year. AI made publishing easier. It also made copying easier. The funny thing is that AI isn't really the problem here. It's how effortless it has become to mass-produce convincing books that imitate real authors. Digital bookstores were built around the idea that publishing should be accessible, but generative AI has dramatically lowered the barrier for bad actors looking to flood marketplaces with low-quality or outright fraudulent content. Apple and Amazon now face the same challenge: keeping their stores open to legitimate independent authors while preventing AI-generated impersonation from slipping through. If platforms can't get ahead of the problem, readers may soon find themselves questioning whether the book they're about to buy was actually written by the author on the cover, or simply generated by a chatbot trying to cash in on someone else's name