Publishers sue Google over A.I. (This week in books)

This week! Books!

Publishers, Authors File Class Action Lawsuit Against Google – Jim Milliot, Publishers Weekly / Book publishers sue Google for copyright infringement over Gemini AI training – Emma Loffhagen, The Guardian – Hachette, Cengage Learning, and Elsevier, along with author Scott Turow, have launched a class action lawsuit arguing that Google illegally repurposed books from Google Books and Google Scholar to train A.I. Pay me, Google!

The Most Famous AI Writing Tic Is Also the Most Mysterious – Will Oremus, The Atlantic – A deep dive in the “why does A.I. write like that” genre, tackling the most notorious A.I. speech tic of all: “It’s not X, it’s Y.” As with much of A.I., no one quite seems to know why it happens, and it’s surprisingly difficult to get chatbots to stop doing it.

I Got Slopped – Kashmir Hill, New York Times – Someone used A.I. to sell a fake biography of Kashmir Hill on Amazon. The “author” refused to talk to her, so she found a different A.I. slop artist, who’s quite a character.

Tomi Adeyemi Doesn’t Want Anything to Do With The Children of Blood and Bone Movie – Alejandra Gularte, Vulture – In the wake of controversies surrounding the adaptation of The Children of Blood and Bone, author Tomi Adeyemi has disavowed the film.

Labor of Love: On Editing and the Rewards of Collaborative Effort – Samantha Paige Rosen, Lit Hub – Writing is usually solitary, but some of its most rewarding moments come when collaboration kicks in.

This week in bestsellers

Here are the top five NY Times bestsellers in a few key categories. (All links are affiliate links):

Adult print and e-book fiction:

1. Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
2. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
3. The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett
4. Project Hail Mary by Andrew Weir
5. Whistler by Ann Patchett

Adult print and e-book nonfiction:

1. Regime Change by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan
2. Revolution by Eric Metaxas
3. Strangers by Belle Burden
4. Cancel Me If You Can by Dave Portnoy
5. Communion by JD Vance

Young adult hardcover:

1. The Escape Game by Marissa Meyer and Tamara Moss
2. Fake Skating by Lynn Painter
3. If Only I Had Told Her by Laura Nowlin
4. Release Me by Tahereh Mafi
5. The Secret World of Briar Rose by Cindy Pham

Middle grade hardcover:

1. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
2. Refugee by Alan Gratz
3. Wombat Waiting by Katherine Applegate
4. Sleepless by Gordon Korman
5. Unsettling Salad! by Aaron Reynolds

This week on the blog

In case you missed them, here are this week’s posts:

• How to find the best freelance book editor for you, and what it’s like working with one

And keep up with the discussion in all the places!

• Follow me on Bluesky and Threads

And finally:

The Disappearing Las Vegas Buffets Hold a Mirror to the American Soul – Tejal Rao, New York Times – Have we reached the twilight of a once-grand tradition?

Have a great weekend!

Need help with your book? I’m available for manuscript edits, query critiques, and coaching!

For my best advice, check out my online classes, my guide to writing a novel, and my guide to publishing a book.

And if you like this post: subscribe to my newsletter!

Photo: The Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA. Follow me on Instagram!