Publisher Cancels $2M Novel Deal Over Inability to Prove AI Wasn't Used
sanderssays · x · 2026-08-06
A recent publishing deal has sparked outrage after an author's $2M auctioned novel was pulled and canceled because the agency couldn't prove the book wasn't written with AI.
Commentators are calling the situation ludicrous, arguing that publishers are strategically behind on tech. Critics reject the notion that AI-assisted work can't be copyrighted because frontier labs might claim a share, comparing it to saying a CGI-heavy movie can't be copyrighted because of the software vendor. They also noted that AI copy-editing is simply outperforming human editors.
Related event: AI Books Make Up 40% of Self-Published Sales; Authors Face Proof Burden(15 posts)→
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