VOA慢速英语：越来越多的人用ChatGPT写书

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来制作图书进行销售。尽管到目前为止销售缓慢，但人类作家担心ChatGPT创造的书籍可能会损害写作和出版业。

ChatGPT helps create a children’s book

ChatGPT帮助创建儿童书籍

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·希克勒从未想过自己会成为一名作家。但在了解了ChatGPT人工智能程序后，希克勒认为这是个很好的机会。

The idea of writing a book finally seemed possible, said Schickler, a salesman in Rochester, New York. "I thought 'I can do this.'"

“写书的想法终于有了可能，”纽约罗切斯特市的推销员希克勒说。“我想‘我能行。’”

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.

利用人工智能软件，希克勒在几个小时内就制作出了一本30页的儿童插图电子书。今年1月，他通过亚马逊的自助出版服务来出售这本书。

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》的电子书只卖了不到100美元。虽然听起来可能不多，但足以让他想用这个软件继续创作其他书籍。

I could see people making a whole career out of this, said Schickler.

希克勒说:“我可以预见到人们会以此为业。”

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，有超过200本电子书将ChatGPT列为作者或合著作者。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、以及许多作者并不承认使用过它，几乎不可能得到人工智能参与编写电子书的准确数字。

Effects

影响

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.”

玛丽·拉森伯格是作家协会的执行董事。她说:“这是我们真正需要担心的事情，这些书将充斥市场，许多作者将失业。”

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.

拉森伯格指出，这个行业有着悠久的代写传统，也就是付钱请人以另一个作者的名义写书或演讲稿。但她担心，用人工智能进行创作的能力，可能会把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.

她说:“作者和平台需要对这些书的创作过程保持透明，否则你最终会得到很多低质量的书。”

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.

对于是否计划改变或研究作者使用人工智能或其他自动写作工具的政策，亚马逊在接受路透社采访时暂未表态。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

快速出版

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.

亚马逊是目前最大的实体和电子书销售商。据估计，它占据了美国电子书市场的80%以上。

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，亚马逊推出了Kindle Direct Publishing，任何人都可以销售和推广书籍，不用花钱去找图书代理商或出版社。一般来说，亚马逊允许作者在没有任何监督的情况下出版书籍。公司会把赚到的钱分给作家。

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.

这项服务吸引了像卡米尔·班克这样的人工智能辅助作家加入亚马逊。他告诉妻子，他可以在不到一天的时间里写一本书。去年12月，班克利用人工智能图像生成器ChatGPT和“写一个关于粉色海豚的睡前故事，教孩子们如何诚实”等指示，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，班克又出版了两本人工智能生成的书，其中包括一本成人涂色书，还有更多的书正在制作中。“其实很简单，”他说。“我对它从概念到出版的速度感到惊讶。”

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.

并非所有人都对这款软件印象深刻。据报道，马克·道森通过Kindle Direct Publishing销售了数百万本自己写的书，他在给路透社的一封电子邮件中快速将ChatGPT辅助的小说定义为“无趣”。Dull意思是无趣。

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，好评——品质值得称赞——在图书行业很重要。“好评在向其他读者推荐书籍时起着一定作用。如果一本书因为写作枯燥而得到差评，那么它很快就会跌到谷底。”

I’m John Russell.

约翰·拉塞尔报道。