Amazon destroying rare books to train AI (This week in books)

This week! Books!

Okay now we really are in the dog days of publishing summer. But I still have some good links for you!

First up, back by popular demand, I’ll once again be hosting office hours on September 3 at 9pm ET / 6pm PT. In order to join, you need to be a newsletter subscriber, so what are you waiting for, sign up! More information to come via the newsletter…

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility – Emanuel Maiberg, The 404 – I realize not everyone may have a subscription to upstart news site The 404, but this article is too important to not lead with. Long story short: The 404 partnered with a used bookseller to put a tracking tag on a rare book. They followed the tag all the way to an Amazon warehouse in Las Vegas, where books are destroyed in order to scan them to train AI models. The logo of the facility is literally a dinosaur holding a book, baring its teeth:

All of this is (probably) legal because in the Anthropic class action suit, a judge ruled that Anthropic only pirated authors by acquiring the books illegally. Destroying books to train AI (probably) falls under fair use. Unreal…

Anthropic’s Text Watermarking Proves AI Companies Do Not Care at All About Writing – Jason Koebler, The 404 / Words Matter. Damnit. – Jeff Jarvis, Whither News? – At a time when AI writing detectors are notoriously faulty, some took heart when Anthropic announced its text would have a “digital watermark” to facilitate AI-detection. Essentially, Anthropic will alter Claude’s word choices in order to change “the source of the randomness used to pick among words,” which should aid detection. By treating not-quite-synonyms as essentially interchangeable, Jason Koebler and Jeff Jarvis argue this is further proof of how little esteem AI companies have for actual writing. And it’s a great reminder that AI models are not writing, they are outputting probabilities that can be arbitrarily tweaked at any time.

AI Has Plunged the Book Publishing Industry Into Utter Chaos (gift link) – Anna Silman, The Wall Street Journal – A roundup of the various recent AI controversies and deluge of slop submissions that have wreaked havoc on the publishing industry, including this wonderful quote from agent Angeline Rodriguez: “When I see something that’s honestly badly written, it’s such a breath of fresh air now.”

How a Highbrow Novel Became Celebrity Gossip (gift link) – Alexandra Alter, New York Times – Many have speculated that literary star Rachel Cusk’s new novel Life of M is based on Natalie Portman. In a new interview, Cusk addresses the controversy, sort of, saying whether it’s based on a real person “is not really the point.”

UW researchers say AI is coming for kids books, but it’s biased – Ann Duan, Seattle Times – In case you needed yet another reason not to buy AI-generated children’s books, they are also filled with pernicious biases.

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. The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett
3. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
4. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
5. The Secrets We Hide by Karin Slaughter

Adult print and e-book nonfiction:

1. Regime Change by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan
2. The Day After by Brian Tyler Cohen
3. Strangers by Belle Burden
4. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
5. London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe

Young adult hardcover:

1. Wings of Reverie by Anna Bright
2. Rootbound by Margaret Owen
3. Fake Skating by Lynn Painter
4. Ruinous Ends by I.V. Marie
5. Thornbird E by Kennedy

Middle grade hardcover:

1. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
2. Refugee by Alan Gratz
3. Wombat Waiting by Katherine Applegate
4. Growing Home by Beth Ferry
5. Pocket Bear by Katherine Applegate

This week on the blog

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

• Know your rights as an author and don’t get scammed

And keep up with the discussion in all the places!

• Follow me on Threads, Facebook, Bluesky, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter

And finally:

When Your Brain Is in Your Arm – Cara Giaimo, Wired – Two-thirds of an octopus’s neurons live on its arms, and other wild facts about these mind-boggling creatures.

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: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, CA. Follow me on Instagram!