Technology AI, Science and New Things
This week the British comedians Rob Beckett, Romesh Ranganathan and Josh Widdicombe shared images on Instagram of unauthorised biographies of themselves, apparently created via Generative AI and available on Amazon. A search through the online store shows they are not alone: other comedians and celebrities have had similar books written about them, many listed within the past two months. Amazon offers a service, ‘Kindle Direct Publishing’, that allows users to self-publish books in more than ten countries and 45 languages, giving those publishers control over content, cover, price and advertising. Amazon passes on up to 70 per cent of the revenue from self-published books, and takes a cut of the rest. Widdicombe bought Beckett’s book and shared a video of it arriving the following day. Sensemaker hasn’t been so lucky. Our order for Ranganathan’s book was accepted but delivery has been delayed until November.