I wanted to share with you a letter I sent to legislators Jack McFarland, Jay Luneau, Mike Johnson, Bill Cassidy, and John Kennedy in reference to the issue of artificial intelligence. If you have any questions for me, please let me know.
Brad Dison
“I earned a master’s degree in history from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana. I am an author and make my living by historical research and writing. I write a column that is published in over a dozen traditional and online newspapers in Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, and Mississippi.
I write scripts for my history-based YouTube channel and have published history books. On May 23, 2025, I published a book entitled “The Trap: The Untold Story of Sheriff Henderson Jordan and the Final Pursuit of Bonnie and Clyde.” I spent about 10 years researching and writing this book. Since the ambush of Bonnie and Clyde on May 23, 1934, ninety-one years ago, no one had published a book about Sheriff Henderson Jordan’s role in this historical event.
On June 5, 2025, thirteen days later, the first AI-generated clone book appeared on Amazon, published through Amazon’s KDP platform. The book in its entirety was created by AI (title, subtitle, cover photo, description, body, etc.). This book is entitled “The Unsung Sheriff: Henderson Jordan and End of Bonnie and Clyde.” (AI forgot to put the word “the” between the words “and” and “End”)
The so-called author’s name is Austin K.starr, which I assume is a fictitious name. Authors who legitimately publish books have websites, social media pages, etc., to spread the word about their books. They’re proud of them and want people to know about them and their work. This author has none of that.
On June 23, 2025, exactly a month after I published my book, a second AI-generated clone book appeared, which was also published on Amazon through their KDP platform. This one is entitled “Buried in the Headlines: Sheriff Henderson Jordan and the Silenced Truth of Bonnie and Clyde’s Fall.” The “author” is listed as Andreas Hoover, which I assume is also a fake name.
Like the first one, every aspect of this book was created using A.I. Both of these authors have published numerous cloned books within a short span of time. One published six books within a month. He/she published two books in just three days. Another published even more books in the same timeframe.
I spoke with Amazon KDP customer support via telephone and got someone who, based on the accent, I presume was in India. This man said that they support “authors” who create content using AI even if that content was based on the work of others. He said that the “authors” had to notify them if any part of the work was created using AI. I asked if either of these authors had done that. He said it was against their policy to provide that information. I asked for the contact information for both “authors” so my attorney could send a cease and desist order. He said it was against their policy to provide that information. I asked if there was any way a customer could tell by looking at the Amazon product page if a book was created by AI, and he said “no.”
How can this be legal? If it is legal, we need to create or change laws to make it illegal. AI should be banned because this is fraud. It’s a scam. People who “write” books using AI are nothing more than con artists. Unless something is done to protect people who have a legitimate talent, who have spent lots of money to become educated, and who have spent decades honing their talent, it will harm millions of people. We complain about people from foreign countries coming into our country and taking our jobs, but AI has done far more damage in much less time.
How does AI work in my case? I spent almost 10 years researching and writing my book on someone whose contribution to a historical event had been overlooked or ignored for 91 years. Mine was the first book ever published on this man. Within a month, these “authors” used AI to determine which new books to target. These programs search for books which are climbing in sales rankings, which have good keywords, and are on popular topics. Then, they use AI to create the book itself. As a test, a relative of mine prompted an AI program to write an essay on the same topic as my book. Within 10 seconds, AI produced an essay consisting of several thousand words. I refused to read it to check for historical errors, which is an issue in itself.
AI is hurting much more than it’s helping. With AI, talent is unnecessary. Imagine a world without Van Gogh, Leonardo de Vinci, and Picasso. AI can create a picture in seconds. Imagine a world without Hemmingway, Twain, and Shakespeare. AI can write poetry, a novel, or any other manuscript in seconds. It’s not only a problem for the arts. Just about anyone who doesn’t work in manual labor is at risk of this fraud. What can we do about it?
P.S. I went to the doctor this morning. The nurse asked if she could record our conversation because they were now using AI. She did not specify how. My response was, “You mean to tell me that the doctor’s office is using AI? For my healthcare?” I had to give consent to continue.