Canadian authors warn readers that AI dupes of their books are popping up on Amazon

[ownedbycats]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...azon-1.7441183

Toronto author Catherine Tsalikis rushed the release of her Chrystia Freeland biography right before Christmas after the deputy prime minister's sudden resignation.

Tsalikis was checking Amazon to see how the launch was going for Chrystia: From Peace River to Parliament Hill when she noticed something odd.

Right below her book, which was published by House of Anansi Press, another book was a shadow of the real thing.

The cover featured an image of a Freeland lookalike. The author shared Tsalikis's first name.

The title? Chrystia from Peace River: A Small-Town Girl's Journey to Parliament Hill.

After reading the book's preview, Tsalikis concluded it was written by artificial intelligence.

"It's a weird mirror image, like a refracted image of my words," Tsalikis said in an interview.

"The sentiment is the same, but the words are different."

It's one example of many, according to Canadian authors and advocates. The AI dupes can be easy to spot for those who know the signs, but they speak to the health of the online marketplace for publishing.

Further down in the article, someone suggests the federal government mandating an AI-generated content label. Yeah, good luck with that.

[Deskisamess]

The AI dupes can be easy to spot for those who know the signs, but they speak to the health of the online marketplace for publishing

I'd love to know more. I read a book, or read about half of the book, a few months ago that I'm fairly sure was AI generated. There were odd words and phrases used for fairly common items. The setting of the book was in Amish Country in Ohio. Instead of the word "buggy", the phrase "horse car" was used. A "lunch box" was called "a meal pack."

I'd love to hear what other clues to watch for.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

I'd love to know more. I read a book, or read about half of the book, a few months ago that I'm fairly sure was AI generated. There were odd words and phrases used for fairly common items. The setting of the book was in Amish Country in Ohio. Instead of the word "buggy", the phrase "horse car" was used. A "lunch box" was called "a meal pack."

I'd love to hear what other clues to watch for.

I would not expect to see unusual word choices in AI generated text. Generative AI produces common word choices, not unusual ones, pretty much by definition.

[ekbell]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

I'd love to know more. I read a book, or read about half of the book, a few months ago that I'm fairly sure was AI generated. There were odd words and phrases used for fairly common items. The setting of the book was in Amish Country in Ohio. Instead of the word "buggy", the phrase "horse car" was used. A "lunch box" was called "a meal pack."

I'd love to hear what other clues to watch for.

Odd word choices like that sound more like a sub-par translation from another language then AI.

[Quoth]

AI has no sense of context. It's dumb plagiarism and pattern matching, so you can get phrases that are not odd in a different context.

It won't know if biscuits in the source are the US kind, which are a kind of Scottish scone, or if they are UK/Irish biscuits.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

AI has no sense of context. It's dumb plagiarism and pattern matching, so you can get phrases that are not odd in a different context.

It won't know if biscuits in the source are the US kind, which are a kind of Scottish scone, or if they are UK/Irish biscuits.

In the US you get biscuits are KFC. They are not much different from scones.

What the UK calls biscuits are really cookies.

[Hasdrubal_Lector]

I think Canadians use cookie and biscuit like the Americans, not the Britons. Different languages use different words for things. US-English is a separate language from UK-English. They are daughters of the same mother, but not twins, not at all. Would an AI mash up the languages? Sure. Would an AI mash up regional differences, like lunch box or lunch pail, teapot or tea kettle, Sit a while or set a spell? I'm guessing yes.

Before objecting,consider that a language is a dialect with an army and a navy.

[DNSB]

Canadians mostly use cookie and biscuit like Americans. OTOH, you will also hear biscuit used for cookie courtesy of the French language influence where a cookie can be a biscuit, a petit gâteau (sec) or (especially for chocolate chip and similar) cookie. Then you have sablé used for short-bread (after their sandy texture), etc.

Britain and America are two countries separated by a common language.

And contrary, to JSWolf's belief, American usage is not the correct usage but simply an alternative usage.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What the UK calls biscuits are really cookies.

No, UK & Ireland (and continent now) has also USA cookies. UK & Irish Biscuits are unrelated (some invented in Dublin). Different recipe and cooking and many are hard to do at home. Cookies are pretty easy to do.

I'll demonstrate (scones, drop-scones=Scottish pancakes, cookies, US & English muffins (unrelated), buns, cup-cakes, fairy-cakes and biscuits anytime you are transiting Shannon and have a few hours to kill. You might like the library, workshop and scenery too. We serve Yorkshire tea and Italian coffee (filter, cafetiere, moka, mud or espresso). Herbal infusions too.

I've worked in USA (NY, Boston, Ohio) so I know the actual US in USA kinds.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Hasdrubal_Lector

Would an AI mash up regional differences, like lunch box or lunch pail, teapot or tea kettle, Sit a while or set a spell? I'm guessing yes.

In the US there have been many decades with large numbers of families moving from region to region, students going to university out of state, and national television shows that ordinary conversation mashes up regional differences.

[Quoth]

Oreos are a bit like some very inferior UK biscuits.