AI-generated books flood Amazon, squeezing earnings for human writers
Research shows a large share of titles on Amazon are likely produced by AI, reducing sales and revenue for traditional authors.
A recent Originality.AI report identified that roughly two-thirds of over 2,000 religion titles on Amazon were likely generated by large language models. Complementing this, a Stony Brook University investigation of more than 14,000 self-published genre-fiction books found that around 20% had at least 25% of their prose flagged as AI-generated, with many exceeding 50% and nearly a thousand being over 90% AI-written. The researchers observed that while the number of AI-laden books sold each quarter grew dramatically, total quarterly revenue rose far less, indicating a drop in revenue per title.
They attribute this to an “algorithmic bubble” that pushes AI books higher in search results, making it harder for human authors to be discovered. Amazon maintains policies requiring authors to disclose AI use and caps the number of daily uploads, asserting ongoing safeguards to protect readers and publishers. Industry leaders warn the trend could split the market between low-quality AI mass-productions and a niche for high-quality literary works.
Why it matters
AI-written books are crowding out human authors, lowering their earnings and reshaping the publishing market.
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