A library in India has been accused of stocking shelves with books that have been partially or wholly AI generated
Concerns were raised by an author who visited the library and spotted thousands of books purchased from a little-known publisher
The books were apparently riddled with mistakes and inaccuracies, and were written by unfamiliar authors
There is a wide debate about whether AI will benefit or hinder the creative industries. You’ve likely seen adverts and posters plastered with AI slop outside restaurants and venues, or maybe you’ve come across a new song and wondered if it could be entirely AI generated . Well now the problem has spread into libraries, with a brand new library in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu facing an investigation over allegations that the shelves have been stocked with AI generated books. The Periyar Arivulagam library, built at a cost of 3 billion rupees ($34m, £26m), opened on October 16 and almost immediately received accusations from international recognized Tamil novelist Perumal Murugan that as many as 1,800 books purchased by the library may have been partially or wholly generated using AI. (Image credit: Getty Images) Anti-corruption investigation opens into AI books
All of the books involved in the scandal were purchased from a singular publisher at unusually high prices, according to BBC reporting, with many of them containing false information, suspicious author names, and questionable International Standard Book Numbers (ISBN). Accusations over who is to blame for the scandal have already begun flying, with the state government blaming the previous administration for purchasing the books in question — an allegation the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam denies. According to Murugan, who raised the alarm in an online magazine after visiting the library, thousands of books in the Tamil section were written by unfamiliar authors, contained inaccurate or incorrect information, and were priced unreasonably high. Tamil Nadu’s School Education Minister A Rajmohan said that if the accusations were to be true, it could be “India’s first AI scam.”…