Author and former New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose released a new book on Amazon only to discover an AI-made imitation is his biggest competition.
Here's what to know
In Amazon search results, Futurism found the dupe sitting immediately beneath Roose's actual release for $24.69, undercutting the real book's $30.00 price tag. With a title and author name so similar to the original in the exact same design, buyers could easily confuse the two.
Roose drew attention to the listing on X, posting a screenshot comparing the two books with the caption, "First result: real book. Second result: AI lookalike by 'K. Rose,'" before adding, "Embarrassing!"
Long after @kashhill and others flagged this problem, Amazon is still getting gamed by print-on-demand slop publishers. This is what the search results for The AGI Chronicles look like. First result: real book. Second result: AI lookalike by "K. Rose." Embarrassing! https://t.co/o2Il95yU7X
— Kevin Roose (@kevinroose) October 7, 2026
Even without any reviews, Amazon labeled the imitation the "No. 1 New Release" in "Human-Computer Interaction," while the Kindle version of Roose's real book ranked No. 3 in that category.
More background
Futurism reported that Amazon has grappled with these AI book scams for years, with little visible success in shutting them down. The problem persists with fabricated titles falsely tied to public figures and other working authors like Roose.
New York Times tech journalist Kashmir Hill's name appeared on a machine-written biography. Author Cory Doctorow's book, "Enshittification," was reportedly cloned by AI the day it came out.
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A lower price is engineered to steer shoppers to the wrong listing, causing legitimate authors to lose sales and control of their work. The scam is another example of AI misuse on top of spam and other counterfeit products.
What can be done?
Shoppers looking for Roose's book should make sure the title and author name fully match and be suspicious of price gaps. Cover details can also offer clues. Even search placement and badges can be misleading and do not guarantee that a listing is authentic.
Where can I learn more?
AI-generated content is spreading across publishing and major platforms. These articles cover fake news, offensive book-app summaries, Amazon's internal AI disputes, and the broader backlash over AI's social costs.
• At the Chicago Sun-Times, AI-generated fake news left the newsroom completely embarrassed.
• On Fable, AI-generated reader summaries produced offensive descriptions that alarmed book users.
• At Amazon, workers warned a more militarized surveillance state could grow from AI deals.
• Amazon workers reportedly built a rogue AI agent to burn tokens in protest.
• Across the economy, the backlash may get brutal as AI strains jobs and resources.
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