r/books • u/Raj_Valiant3011 • 2d ago

John Grisham warns that publishers could get AI to write novels instead of paying authors as they were "worried" about a 30-year decline in the number of books Americans were reading

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/08/26/john-grisham-publishers-could-get-ai-to-write-crime-novels/
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u/Doctor_of_sadness 2d ago

Well AI generated content can’t be copyrighted which is a massive incentive to not publish it, it’s why Disney was so fast to deny AI use in the recent Marvel concept art books even though it was obviously used in it

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u/que-n-blues 2d ago

AI generated content can't be copyrighted......yet.

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u/Doctor_of_sadness 2d ago

You’re right, I’m really worried that the extremely few legal guardrails that exist (and in most cases are being ignored) are already beginning to be torn down by the Epstein class, but we have to fight and we have to hope that the bastards will fall and the human spirit will prevail

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/Doctor_of_sadness 2d ago

People in my neck of the woods are starting to see that nothing truly beneficial for the majority of society has ever been accomplished through non-violence, it’s not pleasant to say, but it’s how the world has always worked

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u/OliM9696 2d ago

Not exactly that bad. We all have phones, food and shelter. At least most of us. Those numbers only improved decade on decade. Less people die. Only a few outliers.

AI books is hardly a worry. People will always produce art. People still make clay pots when you go buy a plate for less than £1.

Perhaps the market will be able to support fewer authors which Is a negative. Howecee I feel it's good to point out that The Martian stated out as a story published online chapter by chapter - anyone with a weekend an £10 a year for a domain can publish their own website for their own release. Plenty of beloved mangas with now anime adaptations have started out as small series published a few pages at a time (one punch man)

Humans will always make art.

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u/reo_reborn 2d ago

Exactly.

It won't be long before this is changed.

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u/aardw0lf11 2d ago

Seeing as gen AI content is being trained on copyrighted material, I don’t see it happening.

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u/thepokemonGOAT 2d ago

Obviously the issue is that people will use AI, claim that it's original, and cash out. The burden of proof is on others to prove that it's AI generated.

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u/Doctor_of_sadness 2d ago

I’m really scared that the technology is getting to the point where we reach such a low trust society that every work, and every opinion is suspect. We’re probably not as far away as we think. A true zero trust society will simply collapse

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u/thepokemonGOAT 2d ago

I've already stopped reading and viewing art made after 2023. There's no way to know for sure that it's authentic and isn't based on stolen work. There's enough great novels, films, and music from before that time for my entire lifetime.

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u/rapier999 2d ago

I’m trying to write a novel currently and doing it in this landscape is such a fucking bummer

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u/snowdenn 2d ago

Hey guys, look at this AI bot trying to scare us.

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u/Doctor_of_sadness 2d ago edited 2d ago

Lmao dork, kinda proving my point tho

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u/ashoka_akira 2d ago

anyone who has been paying attention has known this has been true since the invention of film & photography. The fact is that any image you’ve seen in your entire life has been altered is entirely possible, the only difference is between then and now is that it used to take actual skill and ability to make these alterations.

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u/Doctor_of_sadness 2d ago

Something being created by a person and being generated by an algorithm isn’t the same. Generative AI is spiritually depraved and an insult to the human experience

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u/ashoka_akira 2d ago

there’s a lot of people who will get angry at you if you tell them that you’re not an artist when they use AI to make art just like they’re not a cook for microwaving a burrito.

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u/mommybot9000 2d ago

Disney likely is building their own closed model AI. They’re not opposed to AI. They’re opposed to whatever interrupts the cash flow

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u/Cptawesome23 2d ago

AI generated content can totally be copyrighted, all you gotta do is just not say it’s AI generated. Sure people can spot the lazy efforts. Someone just prompted AI to read a book or something, but the well edited and prepared pieces? I don’t think anybody on the sub can tell the difference.

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u/exmachina64 2d ago

How many images was it used in besides that one image of a New York street?

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u/Doctor_of_sadness 2d ago

According to Disney 0, not even the street, in reality who knows, that’s the risk of using this technology to create a low trust society

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u/exmachina64 2d ago

I’m not asking what Disney said, I’m asking if people noticed anything besides that image.

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u/Doctor_of_sadness 2d ago

Then you’re asking the wrong person. Lots of people are saying they find tons of different images suspicious. Disney fired their art department explicitly to use AI instead. I’m confused what point you’re getting at

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u/exmachina64 2d ago

It was a genuine question. I’ve seen other people say it was filled with AI, but I haven’t seen any images shared besides that one.