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Hachette Book Group said it will not be publishing a novel called \u201cShy Girl\u201d over concerns that artificial intelligence was used to generate the text.<\/p>\n
The novel was scheduled to be published in the United States this spring. Hachette said it will also discontinue the book in the United Kingdom, where it\u2019s already available.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although the publisher claimed the decision came after a thorough review of the text, reviewers on GoodReads<\/a> and YouTube<\/a> had been speculating that the book was likely AI-generated. And The New York Times said<\/a> it asked Hachette about the \u201cShy Girl\u201d concerns the day before the announcement.<\/p>\n In an email to the NYT, author Mia Ballard denied using AI to write her novel, instead blaming an acquaintance she\u2019d hired to edit the original, self-published version of \u201cShy Girl.\u201d Ballard said she\u2019s pursuing legal action, and that as a result of the controversy \u201cmy mental health is at an all time low and my name is ruined for something I didn\u2019t even personally do.\u201d<\/p>\n Writer Lincoln Michel and other industry observers have noted that U.S. publishers rarely do extensive editing<\/a> when they acquire titles that have already been published in other forms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n