Author Topic: Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts  (Read 1508 times)

APP

Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts
« on: August 13, 2023, 07:34:21 AM »
An interesting article on this subject, but no real surprises,

https://www.vox.com/culture/23827325/publishing-ai-scams-large-language-models
 

Hopscotch

Re: Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2023, 08:03:29 AM »
Perhaps AI writing should be considered another genre and sold that way, ending the grift by offering competition to the human-made?
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Bill Hiatt

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Re: Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2023, 11:20:33 PM »
Legally, the possibility that AI was trained from scraping pirated copies makes a court defeat for the AI programmers much more likely.


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PJ Post

Re: Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts
« Reply #3 on: August 14, 2023, 02:36:45 AM »
AI isn't the problem here. Amazon has always had bogus/scam book submissions. Con artists aren't new.

If the book is well written and engaging, it doesn't really matter how it came to be. And if it is straight up plagiarism, then it is straight up infringement and therefore actionable. QED

We need to stop focusing on AI as some supervillain enabler and start focusing on the humans and their wholly human intent.
 
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Bill Hiatt

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Re: Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts
« Reply #4 on: August 14, 2023, 03:45:40 AM »
Ai may be a facilitator here rather than the actual villain. There's certainly no question that Amazon needs to better monitor what it distributes.


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Post-Crisis D

Re: Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts
« Reply #5 on: August 14, 2023, 06:10:21 AM »
AI may be more like a meth lab.  Maybe occasionally it cooks up a meal on the burner or gives up some of its stock of cough medicine to a sick child, but most of the time it's up to no good.
Mulder: "If you're distracted by fear of those around you, it keeps you from seeing the actions of those above."
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APP

Re: Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts
« Reply #6 on: August 15, 2023, 04:48:00 AM »
Dear Author, Are You Human? Certifying Authenticity
https://writerbeware.blog/2023/08/11/dear-author-are-you-human-certifying-authenticity/

Will this approach work? I'd like to think it would, but to be truthful, I'd be shocked if it did. Bottom line: I've become jaded through the years.
 

Post-Crisis D

Re: Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts
« Reply #7 on: August 15, 2023, 05:08:17 AM »
Dear Author, Are You Human? Certifying Authenticity
https://writerbeware.blog/2023/08/11/dear-author-are-you-human-certifying-authenticity/

Will this approach work? I'd like to think it would, but to be truthful, I'd be shocked if it did. Bottom line: I've become jaded through the years.

I don't think self-certifying is going to work.  I certainly wouldn't pay for such a service.  I mean, when I file for copyright, I am basically self-certifying at that point that I wrote the work.  Why would I want to pay $55 to the Copyright Office and then pay $50 to self-certify on a website so I can stick a label on it?  Wouldn't my registered copyright already do that?  And I only have to pay that once per work, not annually.
Mulder: "If you're distracted by fear of those around you, it keeps you from seeing the actions of those above."
The X-Files: "Blood"
 

She-la-te-da

Re: Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts
« Reply #8 on: August 22, 2023, 11:03:38 AM »
Well, the court has ruled that "AI" can hold copyright, so it needs to be removed from Amazon and elsewhere. Though it's mostly Amazon, because that's where the cheating pays off.

Guess the cheats and lazy "make a million on kindle" types will need a new hustle. Low content without "AI" may be pushed harder again. :shrug
I write various flavors of speculative fiction. This is my main pen name.

 

TimothyEllis

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Re: Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts
« Reply #9 on: August 22, 2023, 11:10:50 AM »
Well, the court has ruled that "AI" can hold copyright, so it needs to be removed from Amazon and elsewhere.

That doesn't make sense. Did you leave a word out of that?

There is plenty of not in copyright stuff on Amazon. All the public domain works are on there multiple times.

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Bill Hiatt

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Re: Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts
« Reply #10 on: August 23, 2023, 12:31:17 AM »
I think the intent was, "AI can't hold copyright..."

But yes, public domain stuff is available on Amazon. I'd also be in favor of removing AI work, but via a specific Amazon rule. After all, for years Audible excluded audiobooks that weren't narrated by humans, and still does. Amazon could certainly have a rule excluding AI books if it wanted to. At the moment, they do create a poor customer experience.


Tickling the imagination one book at a time
Bill Hiatt | fiction website | Facebook author page |
 

She-la-te-da

Re: Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts
« Reply #11 on: August 28, 2023, 12:55:04 AM »
Yes, I mistyped it. Should be "can't". Since Covid struck, I can't type for you-know-what, it's worse than ever. And I used to be a perfect typist. :(  Usually I catch these things, but lately, not always. Sorry about the confusion.
I write various flavors of speculative fiction. This is my main pen name.

 

She-la-te-da

Re: Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts
« Reply #12 on: August 28, 2023, 12:59:03 AM »
Amazon allows public domain, but they have restrictions. They require at least 25% new work, which means even if the "AI" created stuff was public domain, it would have to have more stuff added, like commentary, illustrations and so on to comply with the rules.

I really don't see how anyone is going to get this stuff published. You can't claim the copyright on it, no matter how much you do to it (and most of this stuff? Nothing was done, it was uploaded as is).

One thing for sure, Amazon, et. al., needs to settle down and make some firm rules on how this is going to go. They also need to figure out how they're going to explain to their customers how this stuff is coming up on searches, most of it's very bad, and customers have already shown their disfavor.

In the meantime, expect upload times to get longer, searches to get worse, and readers to get angry.
I write various flavors of speculative fiction. This is my main pen name.

 

Bill Hiatt

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Re: Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts
« Reply #13 on: August 28, 2023, 11:26:55 PM »
Yes, I mistyped it. Should be "can't". Since Covid struck, I can't type for you-know-what, it's worse than ever. And I used to be a perfect typist. :(  Usually I catch these things, but lately, not always. Sorry about the confusion.
I sometimes make errors like that as well, but with no good reason for them.  :icon_redface:

I've heard that long Covid can be tough. I'm hoping a cure will arise as time goes on, or at least, a more effective treatment. I'm sure we'll all be keeping a good thought for that.


Tickling the imagination one book at a time
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She-la-te-da

Re: Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts
« Reply #14 on: September 11, 2023, 07:10:40 AM »
As far as I can find, there's really nothing for long Covid. I've seen stuff about supplements, Vitamin D3 and such. I've started back on some of my various supplements, not seeing a noticeable improvement. Oh, well, we shall see. :D
I write various flavors of speculative fiction. This is my main pen name.

 

LBL

Re: Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts
« Reply #15 on: September 12, 2023, 11:46:57 PM »
As far as I can find, there's really nothing for long Covid. I've seen stuff about supplements, Vitamin D3 and such. I've started back on some of my various supplements, not seeing a noticeable improvement. Oh, well, we shall see. :D

It's hard to know what works and what doesn't. Some say masks minimize viral load intake, some say masks do nothing at all. Some say Vitamin D's a cure-all, some say it helps a little bit, if at all. Same goes for so many other supplements and medications. And, let's not even get into the whole vax debates.

Some interventions work, and some don't - depending on the person. Or... so it seems?

Still, I can't help but feel a lot of the time - for all of our health-focused intrusions - we're really, simply prisoners to our own specific, inherited genetics which (probably) ultimately have the biggest say over each of our individual health outcomes, regardless if it's COVID or any other condition.

Long COVID's an especially tough one given we haven't had the virus nor the illness itself around long enough to build a comprehensive enough historical dataset we could then compare, and contrast i.e. study with various sufferer's individual genetic makeups.

Tough one for sure. I hope you're finding something that works.
 

Hopscotch

Re: Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts
« Reply #16 on: September 13, 2023, 12:34:27 AM »
I can't help but feel a lot of the time - for all of our health-focused intrusions - we're really, simply prisoners to our own specific, inherited genetics which (probably) ultimately have the biggest say over each of our individual health outcomes, regardless if it's COVID or any other condition.

That's true, but some claim that dancing naked under a blue moon cures covid.  I've two left feet and rather take my chances with masking/vaxxing/eating my veggies and trying not to imagine 330M of my fellow citizens naked dancing on any blue moon night.
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LilyBLily

Re: Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts
« Reply #17 on: September 13, 2023, 01:39:48 AM »
I can't help but feel a lot of the time - for all of our health-focused intrusions - we're really, simply prisoners to our own specific, inherited genetics which (probably) ultimately have the biggest say over each of our individual health outcomes, regardless if it's COVID or any other condition.

That's true, but some claim that dancing naked under a blue moon cures covid.  I've two left feet and rather take my chances with masking/vaxxing/eating my veggies and trying not to imagine 330M of my fellow citizens naked dancing on any blue moon night.

Seriously? Dancing naked under the blue moon we had last month? Oops. Too late--and a good thing, too.  :lalala
 

writeway

Re: Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts
« Reply #18 on: September 17, 2023, 10:08:51 AM »
There were scamming generations before AI. There has been scamming on retailers since retailers were invented and it always will be. The bottom line has nothing to do with AI but scammers. Scammers are gonna scam, period. AI seems to have become the scapegoat for AI-haters but AI didn't invent scamming.
 

Bill Hiatt

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Re: Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts
« Reply #19 on: September 17, 2023, 11:56:21 PM »
No, but AI does make some scams easier.


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