Author loses $2M book deal after AI use allegations
An author reportedly lost a $2 million book deal after his agent withdrew support due to inability to authenticate how his debut novel was created, citing concerns about possible AI use. The author acknowledged using an open-source AI model for research but denied using AI for writing, and claimed the allegations reflect racial bias in how AI concerns are applied to Black authors versus white authors.
What happened
Jerry Falade, a graduate student at Southern Methodist University, secured a $2 million book deal with Minotaur for his debut crime novel 'Call Me, I'll Hide the Body' following a 14-publisher auction. HarperCollins won UK rights.
After the deal closed, Falade's agent Marc Gerald at Europa Content notified publishers that he could no longer support the book due to concerns about possible AI use in its creation. The agent stated that aspects of Falade's story about how the manuscript was created had changed.
Falade acknowledged using an open-source AI model run on his own device to research details for his crime novel, including information about chemical topics, but stated he did not use AI for writing the book itself. He said he chose this method due to the sensitive subject matter of his research queries.
Reported impact
Falade lost the $2 million publishing deal after his agent withdrew support for the book due to inability to authenticate how the manuscript was created.
Falade claims the allegations are part of a pattern of diminishing intellectual contributions of people of color, stating that white authors publicly use AI without consequence while Black authors face accusations over similar work.
Index analysis
AI detection tools are reported to produce false positives according to Falade, who noted that the manuscript passed through multiple editors and publishers without AI concerns being raised during the submission process.
During submission, one editor questioned AI usage but Falade denied it, and the agency chose not to run the manuscript through AI detection software without his consent.
Governance controls
Publishers expressed concerns about copyright ownership and authorship verification when AI usage was questioned, leading to withdrawal of the book from publication.
Falade stated he was never asked by editors about AI usage during the book-sale process and was not asked to consent to his manuscript being run through AI detection software.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.