As was perhaps inevitable, ChatGPT--the free chatbot created by OpenAI that has been ruffling feathers ever since it was launched in November--has now spawned "a boom in AI-written e-books on Amazon," according to Greg Bensinger at Reuters. Bensinger counted over 200 e-books in Amazon's Kindle store that listed ChatGPT as author or co-author, which isn't counting the books that were created using the software without acknowledgement (an unknowable, perhaps infinite number). Would-be author Brett Schickler told Reuters that after he learned about ChatGPT--which can instantly generate cogent blocks of text from any prompt--he "figured an opportunity had landed in his lap." "The idea of writing a book finally seemed possible," he explained. "I thought'I can do this.'"

What the hell are we doing? All the best things are shutting down and people are out here using computers to make children's books? Not to get too Jeff Goldblum on you, but just because you build a tool to do something doesn't make it interesting or worthy. To wit, a product designer named Ammaar Reshi (previously employed by Peter Thiel at Palantir) has used AI to create a children's book in praise of AI… and it is fatuous and ugly. Unsurprisingly, those of us who actually like the human touch in art aren't thrilled.