"One came from Elena, with the tantalising subject line, When history flutters its wings and reveals a crime too beautiful to ignore. Then followed a long, florid message about how it was one of those rare true stories that makes you question everything you thought you knew about history, museums, and human obsession."
"But these emails seemed tailored to me and my work, despite their language and tone bearing the je-ne-sais-quoi-fakeness of a learning language model. Authors like me are being targeted by AI-powered accounts promising exposure and fake reviews."
"A reverse image search of Elena's profile picture revealed that this smiling woman dressed in white, raising a coffee cup to the camera, was in fact a widely circulated stock image."
A recently published author receives suspicious emails praising their book with eloquent, flattering language from accounts with fabricated identities. Profile pictures are revealed to be stock images, and the messaging patterns suggest AI generation despite appearing personalized. The emails employ sophisticated flattery about the author's prose and narrative style while occasionally including veiled criticisms about book sales performance. The author recognizes these communications as spam despite their tailored appearance, noting they differ from typical cold-call pitches by mimicking genuine reader engagement. This pattern reflects a broader trend of AI-powered accounts targeting authors with fake reviews and promises of exposure, exploiting the publishing industry's vulnerabilities.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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