Hachette Book Group canceled publication of horror novel 'Shy Girl' by Mia Ballard after investigating reader concerns that portions of the book were written using generative AI.
In late 2023, Hachette Book Group was set to publish the horror novel 'Shy Girl' by author Mia Ballard through its Orbit U.S. imprint on May 19, with a U.K. edition already released in November through the Wildfire imprint. During winter, readers raised concerns on social media platforms including Reddit about the book's potential reliance on artificial intelligence. A YouTube video posted in January that attracted over 1.2 million views suggested portions of the book appeared to be written using generative AI. Following these allegations, both Hachette imprints conducted a lengthy investigation in recent weeks. As a result, Orbit U.S. decided not to proceed with publication and Wildfire discontinued its U.K. edition. Ballard denied personally using AI and suggested issues with editors, stating the controversy had severely impacted her mental health. All Hachette authors are required to attest that manuscripts are original and created by them before receiving contracts. The incident reflects broader tensions in the publishing industry regarding AI use in book creation.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to gain a personal advantage over others such as through cheating, fraud, scams, blackmail or targeted manipulation of beliefs or behavior. Examples include AI-facilitated plagiarism for research or education, impersonating a trusted or fake individual for illegitimate financial benefit, or creating humiliating or sexual imagery.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Other
Without clearly specifying the intentionality
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed
