The publishing world is facing a growing problem that feels both immediate and unsettling: books suspected of being written with artificial intelligence are already slipping into the market, and many in the industry are not confident they can stop it. That anxiety exploded with the controversy surrounding Shy Girl , a horror novel by Mia Ballard that was first self published in February 2025, later released in the UK in November 2025, and then set for a US publication before

The growing clash between artificial intelligence and the publishing world came sharply into focus at this year’s London Book Fair, where thousands of writers united to protest the use of copyrighted books in AI training without permission or payment. Their protest took the form of an unusual publication titled Don’t Steal This Book , an “empty” book containing only the names of about 10,000 contributing authors. That striking format was meant to send a warning about what cou

Amazon is rolling out a new AI-powered feature for Kindle readers that promises to make following books easier, especially for those tackling dense classics or complex novels with sprawling casts.  The feature, called Ask This Book , is now available to users in the US through the Kindle iOS app and allows readers to highlight any passage and ask questions directly within the book. Instead of leaving the page to search for explanations, readers can instantly ask about plot p