Hachette Book Group has announced that it will no longer publish the novel “Shy Girl” due to concerns that artificial intelligence was used to generate the text.
The novel was scheduled to be published in the United States this spring. Hachette has announced that it will no longer sell the book in the UK, where it is already available.
Although the publisher claimed that the decision was made after a thorough review of the text, reviewers on GoodReads and YouTube speculated that the book was likely generated by AI. And the New York Times said it asked Hachette about the “Shy Girl” concerns the day before the announcement.
In an email to The New York Times, author Mia Ballard denied using AI to write her novel and instead blamed an acquaintance who asked her to edit the original self-published version of Shy Girl. Ballard said she is suing, saying the controversy has left her “at an all-time low mentally and my reputation has been destroyed for something I did not personally do.”
Author Lincoln Michel and other industry observers note that when U.S. publishers acquire titles that have already been published in another format, they rarely make extensive edits.
