Hachette Book Group has announced it will not publish the novel “Shy Girl” in the United States this spring due to concerns that artificial intelligence was used to generate the text. The publisher also stated it will discontinue the book in the United Kingdom, where it is already available.
Hachette claimed the decision followed a thorough review of the text. However, reviewers on GoodReads and YouTube had already been speculating that the book was likely AI-generated. The New York Times reported it had asked Hachette about these concerns the day before the announcement.
In an email to The New York Times, author Mia Ballard denied using AI to write her novel. She instead blamed an acquaintance she had hired to edit the original, self-published version of “Shy Girl.” Ballard said she is pursuing legal action and that the controversy has left her mental health at an all-time low, adding that her name is ruined for something she did not personally do.
Writer Lincoln Michel and other industry observers have noted that U.S. publishers rarely perform extensive editing when they acquire titles that have already been published in other forms.