The AI of Judith A. Barrett

Boy, oh boy, it’s my favourite time of year again, when I downloaded interesting books, but it turned out they were created using AI. So, who’s the AI writer this time?

Judith A. Barrett, the culprit, “The Librarian”.

Now, it didn’t take me long to figure out something was amiss, but I try not to compare poor writing to AI since writing is a skill and what I consider poor might be higher than others, but what tipped me off was in chapter two when I read this.

The Librarian – I answered the plumber’s knock and invited him in. He was tall and muscular and wore his wire-rimmed glasses on top of his head. His gray hair was thick and curly, and his mustache was red with gray streaks.

“Maggie, your mother is sure proud of you. Whenever I come to fix her cantankerous dishwasher or whatever’s broken, she points at your high school picture with your green eyes and blond curls. Did you know your real name’s No-Sensatall?” I loved his laugh. My favourite guffaw.”

That just felt so... unnatural that I had to pause and look to see if the author uses AI and it turns out, she does.

A quick Twitter search will show that she follows both Midjourney and Authors AI.

Not to mention her own image in the about the author section of her webpage was created using AI (most likely by Midjourney) So yeah, it’s pretty safe to assume Judith uses AI to write stories.

Before I delete this book from my records, I might as well have some fun with it.

The main character has a mother who appears throughout the story, the mother’s name is Isolde...that doesn’t get revealed until you’re 82% of the way through the story. Even after this revolution, the story continues to still not call Isolde by her name and instead as just "Mother". In fact, I have now referred to the mother character as Isolde MORE TIMES THAN THE BOOK!

We also got weird sentences such as this - “I like your attitude, girl. You just stick with me. We’ll tell ’em I got the big boxes and you got the little ones.” I loved her booming laugh. - The Librarian, Judith. A Barrett

Where’s the booming laugh?

Also, the story just sounds very AI, there’s no personality, and it’s all very robotic sounding and flat. The words don’t flow and there are weird sentences. You can feel there’s no love put into this story. Again, I try not to go with the argument, that poor writing means it was created by AI because even with poor writing you can feel the soul in a story. You can hear the author's voice, this was done by AI and it’s very easy to see if you just read the first two chapters.

You can’t copyright AI text

You shouldn’t be able to at least.

This entire post is gonna be a response to this article: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/04/author-granted-copyright-over-book-with-ai-generated-text-with-a-twist/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR2V8UhBqIhPZOItkutVWV5dbrdzcfv1temluvDLoqq2mH_VYhQ8XQmJWeg_aem_AVdhQregse5E_2iNn2sfJWW_g2qbp6kMQe1224x8sroZY6JNpxAl20foXPq5_FhwZm3VnVmoyXoNWXK8mFpY7JmR

So if you would like full context, go take a quick read then come back to me, I’ll wait.

Now with that out of the way, let’s begin.

The article talks about how Elisa Shupe was able to get her book copyrighted despite using AI text in her novel and in a weird turn of events no one mentioned her book or where to find it, so I did the work and discovered it’s called “AI Machinations: Tangled Webs and Typed Words” under the pen name Ellen Rae, which you can find here: https://www.amazon.com/AI-Machinations-Tangled-Typed-Words-ebook/dp/B0CKWSQYVV/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=Mnte1&content-id=amzn1.sym.cf86ec3a-68a6-43e9-8115-04171136930a&pf_rd_p=cf86ec3a-68a6-43e9-8115-04171136930a&pf_rd_r=138-1086470-4047013&pd_rd_wg=JsCX3&pd_rd_r=95cbab0f-fbc0-4b67-8c1f-dbdc7d81c427&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk

I was only able to find this thanks to the United States Copyright search engine here: https://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=1&ti=1,1&SAB1=Elisa%20Shupe&BOOL1=all%20of%20these&FLD1=Keyword%20Anywhere%20%28GKEY%29&GRP1=OR%20with%20next%20set&SAB2=Ellen%20Rae&BOOL2=as%20a%20phrase&FLD2=Keyword%20Anywhere%20%28GKEY%29&CNT=25&PID=KsAg2GziUD-KWXZ2p16doyefGFC9I_&SEQ=20240423225121&SID=8

The copyright office doesn’t seem to acknowledge Elisa as the owner of her “completed work” but merely in the “arrangement” in which those AI texts are placed. “This means no one can copy the book without permission, but the actual sentences and paragraphs themselves are not copyrighted and could theoretically be rearranged and republished as a different book.” - KATE KNIBBS, WIRED.COM – 4/18/2024 11:24PM

Now I don’t need to know and I don’t care why Elisa created a book with AI text, all I want to focus on is what this means for the future of storytelling and copyright?

For starters, since the book is free thanks to Kindle Unlimited, I can download it, and rip the text straight from the book but as long as I rearrange the words, I’m safe. First of all...how much of it needs to be rearranged for it to no longer count as stealing? Can I simply move words around or do I need to add in my own input? How much of my own input is needed?

I took a chapter from the book and rearranged it, here’s my version of the text which I got from said book which according to the copyright office, is legal.

[This is for educational purposes only]

The pallid light of an October morning spilt into the Wakefield kitchen, accompanied by the gentle rustling of leaves. Lily, ever observant, set her backpack down by the breakfast bar and looked closely at her mother. "Mom," she began, concerned, "you should sit down for a bit. You look tired."

Brenna forced a smile, appreciating her daughter's concern. The pressing nature of the situation bore down on her. "You know we have plans," Lily called out, her voice irritated and affectionate.

Brenna hesitated for a few seconds, yesterday’s meeting still fresh in her mind. "Thank you, sweetie. I'll be okay. Just one of those days, you know?" Brenna leaned down, despite her pain, “Tell me about that darkness.”

“Alright,” she conceded with a smile. "Let's just say I have my ways considering how many Confederate prisoners died,” Lily's expression brightened.

Brenna snapped, “This is me trying to make things right and,” Brenna's eyes widened. “Is that what I think it is?”

“A forward-looking infrared (FLIR) camera. Top of the line. It can detect the slightest temperature variations.”

“How did you manage to get this?" Brenna took the camera, sensing its heft in her hand. The reality of what they might discover tonight suddenly felt more tangible. "Thank you," she whispered back.

***

I would like to point out I didn’t add any of my own words, I merely rearranged Elisa's to create a new story which is different from hers. Under normal copyright laws I would consider this stealing because I literally stole Elisa’s words, rearranged them, and added none of my own input and if you agree with what I did is considered stealing, congratulations, that’s how AI text is made.

If the copyright office allows these kinds of stories to be copyrighted then we’re gonna see more and more text which are stolen from authors used in stories under the AI machine. Again, I ask, how much-stolen work will the copyright office allow to be used if we could go with the excuse “A machine made it but I changed it.”

[This is for educational purposes only]

Me - Give me two paragraphs which use text from Warriors Into The Wild, Lord of the Rings, and Wings of Fire

AI - Here's a mashup of two paragraphs using text from "Warriors: Into the Wild," "Lord of the Rings," and "Wings of Fire":

In the heart of the forest, Firepaw watched as the shadows lengthened, casting a darkening cloak over the land. The whispering wind carried tales of ancient battles and forgotten realms, stirring memories of a time when the world was young and filled with magic. As he gazed into the depths of the woods, Firepaw felt a sense of foreboding, as if unseen eyes were watching his every move, waiting for the moment to strike. He knew that danger lurked in the shadows, but he also knew that he was not alone. With the courage of a warrior, he pressed forward, determined to face whatever challenges lay ahead, for he was destined for greatness

***

AI steals from authors, I didn’t create any of the text you just read, but thanks to Elisa and the copyright office, all I’ll have to do is most likely change Firepaw’s name and I’ll be golden, despite telling AI to use stolen text.

Let me be very clear, AI doesn’t create anything new, it’s a machine which was created using stolen works and if for some reason you don’t believe me, take it from Open AI themselves. “OpenAI said it could not train large language models such as its GPT-4 model – the technology behind ChatGPT – without access to copyrighted work.” - The Guardian, 2024 https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/jan/08/ai-tools-chatgpt-copyrighted-material-openai

If you use AI to create a story, it shouldn’t be copyrighted because the “words” you use to create a story didn't come from you. I understand creating a story is hard, and for those who suffer from a disability where it’s difficult to create a story the normal way, I can see the appeal of using AI. However, please don't use it until AI can be made where it’ll NEVER steal from others.

“I fired a nuke at the US Copyright Office this morning,” - Elisa Shupe (2024)

I can’t deny that, because I can only see this snowballing into more AI-written books trying to get copyrighted and while Elisa admitted to using AI text, not everyone will. Here’s another article by Kate where she goes into detail about how Amazon has an AI book problem so the problem is already here and it’s getting worse thanks to Elisa’s book making it through the copyright office: https://www.wired.com/story/scammy-ai-generated-books-flooding-amazon/

It’s nearly impossible to figure out who’s using AI text unless they tell us. But if someone gets caught using AI text, they can simply claim they changed enough of the AI version to justify putting their own “spin” on things.

“You don't just hit ‘generate’ and get something worthy of publishing. That may come in the future, but we're still far from it,” she says, noting that she spent upwards of 14 hours a day working on her draft … On a sentence level, she adjusted almost every line in some way, from changes in word choice to structure. One example describing a character in the novel: “Mark eyed her, a complex mix of concern and annoyance evident in his gaze” becomes “Mark studied her, his gaze reflecting both worry and irritation.” - Elisa & Kate (2024)

Anyone can claim this. Anyone who uses AI text can say they spend 14 hours a day, going over AI written text and changing it, but it still doesn’t eliminate the fact that Elisa used stolen text to help create a story. It doesn’t change the story she "created" is now copyrighted and being sold to others with protection.

I honestly don’t know why Elisa used AI text because in her own words, “firing a nuke at the US Copyright Office” is so good, I wouldn’t change a thing about it. Those words came from a person, they were created by thought, and it describe this situation so perfectly, that I have to give credit to the person who created it, Elisa Shupe.

I guess only time will tell how the United States Copyright Office will handle AI-created stuff but if they agree with one person using it, others will follow. If your argument is that you need AI to help write because of your disability, then please speak with disabled writers. I give out free writing advice all the time because I enjoy writing and I want others to enjoy it as well.

What makes writing beautiful is that it comes from a human. Humans with their own thoughts, ideas, and personalities. I could end this article by saying something profound that’ll reflect on the themes of what you just read, or...I could say something stupid but regardless of how this article ends, it ended as it began, with a human thought...pickles.

The AI of Billy Coull

Time to put another AI author on blast, this time it’s the person who made the AI Willy Wonka "Experience". If you’re unsure what I just said, a guy named Billy Coull created a Willy Wonka “Experience” and created the entire event using AI. It sounds weird and it looked bad. Here are some links to a few articles about him and the whole experience if you want a more in-depth look into this guy. I’m just the cliff notes.

Daily Mail "The face behind Willy Wonka 'scam': How Billy Coull 'conned' kids by using AI generated images to sell 'immersive' experience, sold Chat-GPT authored novels on Amazon, and faced backlash for cancelling Santa grotto"

The National "Willy Wonka Glasgow: Video shows moment furious parents confront boss Billy Coull"

Sportskeeda "Who is Billy Coull? Man behind the 'Willy Wonka Experience' trolled online after photographs from the scam event go viral"

There's not much I need to say about this guy which those articles haven't already covered. The dude loves AI, and everything he touches has AI in it. Here's one of his websites, I'm not sure what the website is about.

If you go on Amazon, you'll find his "books" several of which are no longer available but keep in mind if you do see them give them a skip.