Over 1,400 Books Written by AI in Just 4 Months — Is This the End of Human Authors?

Picture this for a second: you open your Kindle, eager to find something interesting to read, and suddenly realize—over 1400 new books have popped up in just a few months. But wait, there’s something even more surprising: all of these books were written by artificial intelligence. Yep, you heard that right—entire books generated by machines. How is that even possible? Is this the end of human writers?

What exactly are books written by artificial intelligence and why did they become popular so quickly?

The truth is, a book is considered “AI-written” when more than 50% of its content is generated by an automated model like ChatGPT. Amazon Kindle already lists around 1400 books that openly credit ChatGPT as an author or co-author—and chances are, there are many more that don’t.

This explosion of AI-generated content is reshaping everything we thought we knew about the publishing world. Not long ago, writing a book could take years, and getting it published took even longer. Now, with these powerful tools, someone with no formal background in literature can create a full novel in just weeks—or even days.

The Real-Life Case of Stephen Marche:

Let me share something fascinating I discovered while researching: Stephen Marche, a well-known Canadian author famous for The Next Civil War: Dispatches from the American Future (2022), decided to experiment with AI for his new novel Death of an Author. Can you believe it?

Marche revealed that about 95% of the book was written by an AI, while he focused only on polishing and editing the final product. That really shows how far this technology has come—and how much potential it has.

How to Detect if a Book Was Written by Artificial Intelligence (Rules of Thumb)

You might be wondering how to tell whether a book was written by a person or generated by AI. Well, here are a few clues I found:

• If the writing feels repetitive or overly generic, there’s a good chance it was produced by a machine. Human writers tend to be more unpredictable and creative.
• A lack of deep emotion or very specific details is another giveaway. Machines still struggle to replicate that unique human spark that brings stories to life.
• Check how many books the author has released in a short time. Unless they’re someone like Ryoki Inoue (who’s published over 1,000 books!), most human writers can’t keep up that kind of pace.
• Finally, super basic or cliche titles and covers might be another sign you’re looking at AI-generated work.

Conclusion: How to adapt to the inevitable rise of books written by artificial intelligence

Now, let me be honest with you: the rise of AI-written books has real consequences. On the one hand, it’s amazing because it democratizes publishing and allows more people to share their ideas with the world. On the other hand, it could flood the market and make it harder to discover truly great reads.

What excites me most is that, even in the face of such a massive shift, we always find ways to adapt. Just like we did with the Industrial Revolution or the dawn of the internet, we’ll learn to use AI as a powerful tool to boost our creativity—not replace it.

So here’s my advice: don’t be afraid of these technologies. Learn about them, play with them, and most importantly—never lose that human spark that makes your stories truly one of a kind.

Would you read a book knowing it was written by AI? Why or why not? Share your thoughts below.