Short answer: No.

And I’m tempted to say that the long answer is F no. But you’re probably looking for reasons, or even pros and cons, so here’s the scoop.

AI platforms were trained on stolen books. You are welcome to look online for information about the lawsuit against Anthropic, the creator of Claude, where it was found that they used books on a pirate book site (books that were stolen from authors and placed on that site) to train their AI platform. There have been any number of other news stories out there about similar instances, from digital book pirating to physical books being scanned by machines to feed the engine. Why is this important? As a creator, an artist, an author–whatever you want to call yourself–you don’t want to be part of the problem. It’s absolutely a moral and/or ethical issue to use stolen work to create something that you are going to put your name on.

I’ll go a step further here. It’s not legal to copyright a work under your name that you didn’t write. A robot can’t claim copyright, so you also can’t copyright it for your AI platform, even if you have a cute name for the one you are using. Some will argue that this is the same as working with a ghostwriter, but it’s not. You would have an agreement with a ghostwriter that states that the work is done for hire and that you have sole ownership and copyright claim to the finished work. You can’t have that agreement with an AI platform.

Someone suggested this argument too: AI platforms include in their terms of use that you can do whatever you want with anything they create for you, including making copyrightable material. However, terms of use change constantly, and we usually skim and accept. This is something to watch out for.

So even if you’re willing to overlook the harm to the environment and the complaints of people near data centers that they are loud and are ruining their property value, you have to decide for yourself if it’s worth it to risk 1) lying to the federal government about who created the work and 2) going against your morals (I hope it’s against your morals) to use stolen work to create something you will then claim as your own.

Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide, but here’s something else you should know: There is a lot of pushback from readers, bookstores, and event organizers. Readers don’t want AI-written books. They want authenticity. You can find any number of forums and conversations online about this. As for bookstores and events, most of those I have applied for/with this year have flat out said that you are not welcome if you use AI in any part of your book creation and marketing. I’m assuming this is because they seek to only support authentic creators. And I greatly appreciate this!

Writing a book isn’t easy. I’ve written 14 at this point, so I know. But here’s the thing: communicating your truth is beautiful and rewarding. And if you need help with that, you can speak with a coach and hire an editor. You can join a writing group. You can trade with a friend. Art should be human made, and that includes fiction and nonfiction. Art is what makes us human. It’s our own expression. And opting out of that isn’t going to serve you well. If you need help with creating your book, let’s talk. I’m always open for a conversation. And I believe that you really can write your book without a robot’s help.