AI-Generated Book Falsely Attributed to French Author Sold Online
A French travel writer discovered an AI-generated book published on Amazon under his name that he had never written. The book, priced at €17.05, bore his description as a "traveling author" but was created by AI. After he filed a complaint, the book was removed from Amazon but reportedly remains available on other websites.
What happened
French travel writer Julien Blanc-Gras discovered a book published on Amazon titled "Komplett Guide for Abenteurers: Handbuch zum Überleben für modernen Reisenden" (or similar translation variant: "Potpuni vodič za avanturiste: Priručnik za preživljavanje modernog putnika") bearing his name as author, which he had never written.
The book, priced at €17.05, included his biography describing him as a "traveling author" and "globe-trotter", but was entirely generated by AI. Each page bore the phrase "protected by copyright material".
After Blanc-Gras filed a complaint, the book was removed from Amazon, but he reported it subsequently appeared for sale on multiple other websites including American, Danish, and Korean platforms.
Reported impact
Blanc-Gras stated that his identity had been stolen and that the boundary between reality and fabrication had been breached, describing it as "parasitic" use of his name and likeness.
He highlighted that technology companies were appropriating creative work and author identities without consent or compensation to train AI models, and that AI now threatens to claim voices, images, and names in fraudulent schemes.
Index analysis
The incident reflects vulnerabilities in online marketplace content moderation systems that allow AI-generated content attributed to real people to be published and sold without verification of authorship.
The rapid re-listing of the same content across multiple international platforms after removal from a major retailer suggests insufficient coordination or enforcement across e-commerce sites to prevent the sale of fraudulently attributed AI-generated works.
Governance controls
Amazon removed the book after receiving a formal complaint from the author, but this action does not prevent republication elsewhere.
No pre-publication verification system prevented the fraudulent attribution, and no mechanism appears to have blocked the author from being able to verify his own works before they were listed for sale.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.