For Christmas, I received an interesting gift from a friend—my very own "best-selling" book.
"Tech-Splaining for Dummies" (great title) features my name and photo on the cover, along with glowing reviews.
However, it was completely written by AI, using a few simple prompts about me provided by my friend Janet.
It's an interesting read and quite funny in parts. But it also wanders a lot and falls somewhere between a self-help book and a collection of anecdotes.
It mimics my chatty writing style, but it's also a bit repetitive and very wordy. It might have gone beyond Janet's prompts by gathering more information about me.
Several sentences start with "as a leading technology journalist…" – cringe – which might have been taken from an online bio.
There's also a strange, repeated mention of my cat (I have no pets). And there's a metaphor on almost every page—some more random than others. There are many companies online offering AI book-writing services. My book came from BookByAnyone.
When I contacted the CEO, Adir Mashiach, in Israel, he told me he had sold around 150,000 personalized books, mainly in the US, since switching from creating AI-generated travel guides in June 2024.
A paperback copy of your own 240-page bestseller costs £26. The company uses its own AI tools to create them, based on an open-source large language model.
I'm not asking you to buy my book. Actually, you can't—only Janet, who created it, can order more copies.
There is currently no barrier to anyone creating a book in someone else's name, including celebrities, although Mr. Mashiach says there are safeguards against abusive content. Each book includes a printed disclaimer stating that it is fictional, created by AI, and meant "solely to bring humor and joy."
Legally, the copyright belongs to the company, but Mr. Mashiach emphasizes that the product is intended as a "personalized gag gift," and the books are not sold beyond the initial creation.
He hopes to expand his offerings, creating different genres like sci-fi and possibly providing an autobiography service. It's designed to be a light-hearted form of consumer AI—selling AI-generated products to human customers.
It's also a bit unsettling if, like me, you write for a living. Especially because it likely took less than a minute to generate, and in some parts, it does sound just like me.