A growing number of people are using ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence program, to create books for sale. Although sales have so far been slow, human writers are worried that ChatGPT-created books might hurt the writing and publishing industry.
越来越多的人正在使用人工智能程序 ChatGPT 来制作待售书籍。尽管迄今为止销售缓慢，但人类作家担心 ChatGPT 创作的书籍可能会伤害写作和出版业。
 
ChatGPT helps create a children's book
ChatGPT 帮助创建一本儿童读物
 
Until recently, Brett Schickler never imagined he could be a published author. But after learning about the ChatGPT artificial intelligence program, Schickler decided that he had a good chance.
直到最近，布雷特·席克勒 (Brett Schickler) 从未想过自己会成为一名出版作家。但在了解了 ChatGPT 人工智能程序后，Schickler 认为他有一个很好的机会。
 
"The idea of writing a book finally seemed possible," said Schickler, a salesman in Rochester, New York. "I thought 'I can do this.'"
“写一本书的想法终于成为可能，”纽约州罗彻斯特的一名推销员席克勒说。 “我想‘我能做到。’”
 
Using the AI software, Schickler created a 30-page illustrated children's e-book in a few hours. He offered it for sale in January through Amazon's self-publishing section.
使用 AI 软件，席克勒在几个小时内制作了一本 30 页的插图儿童电子书。他在 1 月份通过亚马逊的自助出版部分出售了这本书。
 
The e-book, which is named The Wise Little Squirrel: A Tale of Saving and Investing, has made Schickler less than $100, he said. While that may not sound like much, it is enough to make him want to create other books using the software.
他说，这本名为《聪明的小松鼠：储蓄和投资的故事》的电子书让希克勒赚了不到 100 美元。虽然这听起来可能不多，但这足以让他想要使用该软件创作其他书籍。
 
"I could see people making a whole career out of this," said Schickler.
“我可以看到人们以此为职业生涯，”希克勒说。
 
There were over 200 e-books in Amazon's Kindle store as of mid-February that say ChatGPT is a writer or co-writer. And the number is rising daily.
截至 2 月中旬，亚马逊 Kindle 商店中有 200 多本电子书称 ChatGPT 是作者或合著者。而且这个数字每天都在上升。
 
But due to the nature of ChatGPT and many writers' failure to admit that they have used it, it is nearly impossible to get a full count of how many e-books may be written by AI.
但由于 ChatGPT 的性质以及许多作者不承认他们使用过它，几乎不可能全面统计 AI 可能编写了多少电子书。
 
Effects
效果
 
Some professional writers are becoming worried about the effects that ChatGPT could have on the book publishing industry.
一些专业作家开始担心 ChatGPT 可能对图书出版业产生的影响。
 
Mary Rasenberger is the executive director of the Authors Guild, a writer's group. She said, "This is something we really need to be worried about, these books will flood the market and a lot of authors are going to be out of work."
Mary Rasenberger 是作家协会 Authors Guild 的执行董事。她说，“这是我们真正需要担心的事情，这些书会涌入市场，很多作者会失业。”
 
Rasenberger noted that the industry has a long tradition of ghostwriting - an accepted practice of paying someone to write books or speeches under another author's name. But she is worried that the ability to create with AI could turn book writing from an art into a commodity – a kind of simple raw material that is bought and sold.
Rasenberger 指出，该行业有代笔的悠久传统——一种公认的做法，即花钱请人以另一位作者的名义写书或发表演讲。但她担心人工智能的创作能力会将写书从一门艺术变成一种商品——一种可以买卖的简单原材料。
 
"There needs to be transparency from the authors and the platforms about how these books are created or you're going to end up with a lot of low-quality books," she said.
“作者和平台需要对这些书籍的创作方式保持透明，否则你最终会得到很多低质量的书籍，”她说。
 
When asked for comment by Reuters, Amazon did not say whether it has plans to change or look at policies around authors' use of AI or other automated writing tools. Amazon spokeswoman Lindsay Hamilton said via email that books in the store must meet its guidelines regarding "intellectual property rights" and other laws.
当路透社要求置评时，亚马逊没有说明是否计划改变或研究有关作者使用人工智能或其他自动写作工具的政策。亚马逊女发言人林赛汉密尔顿通过电子邮件表示，店内的书籍必须符合其关于“知识产权”和其他法律的指导方针。
 
Fast publication
快速发表
 
Amazon is by far the largest seller of both physical and e-books. It has well over half of the sales in the United States and, by some estimates, over 80 percent of the e-book market.
亚马逊是迄今为止最大的实体书和电子书销售商。它占据了美国一半以上的销量，据估计，它占据了电子书市场 80% 以上的份额。
 
In 2007, Amazon created Kindle Direct Publishing to enable anyone to sell and market a book without the expense of seeking out book agents or publishing houses. Generally, Amazon lets authors publish without any oversight. The company then splits whatever money is made with the writer.
2007 年，亚马逊创建了 Kindle Direct Publishing，使任何人都可以销售和营销书籍，而无需花费寻找图书代理商或出版社的费用。一般来说，亚马逊允许作者在没有任何监督的情况下发表文章。然后，公司会平分与作者赚到的钱。
 
This service has drawn new AI-assisted writers like Kamil Banc to Amazon. He told his wife that he could make a book in less than one day. Using ChatGPT, an AI image creator and instructions like "write a bedtime story about a pink dolphin that teaches children how to be honest," Banc published an illustrated 27-page book in December.
这项服务吸引了像 Kamil Banc 这样的新的人工智能辅助作家来到亚马逊。他告诉他的妻子，他可以在不到一天的时间内完成一本书。 Banc 在 12 月使用人工智能图像创建者 ChatGPT 和“写一个关于粉红海豚的睡前故事，教孩子们如何诚实”这样的指令，出版了一本 27 页的插图书。
 
Banc has since published two more AI-generated books, including an adult coloring book, with more in the works. "It actually is really simple," he said. "I was surprised at how fast it went from concept to publishing."
此后，Banc 又出版了两本 AI 生成的书籍，其中包括一本成人着色书，还有更多作品正在制作中。 “这实际上非常简单，”他说。 “我很惊讶它从概念到出版的速度有多快。”
 
Not everyone is impressed by the software. Mark Dawson, who has reportedly sold millions of copies of books he wrote himself through Kindle Direct Publishing, was quick to call ChatGPT-assisted novels "dull" in an email to Reuters. Dull means not interesting.
并不是每个人都对这个软件印象深刻。据报道，马克·道森 (Mark Dawson) 通过 Kindle Direct Publishing 售出了数百万本他自己写的书，他很快在给路透社的一封电子邮件中称 ChatGPT 辅助的小说“乏味”。沉闷意味着不有趣。
 
Dawson said that merit – a good quality that deserves to be praised - is important in the book business. "Merit plays a part in how books are recommended to other readers. If a book gets bad reviews because the writing is dull then it's quickly going to sink to the bottom."
道森说，优点——值得称赞的良好品质——在图书行业很重要。 “优点在如何向其他读者推荐书籍方面起着重要作用。如果一本书因为写作乏味而得到差评，那么它很快就会沉入谷底。”