--- title: "Kevin Roose’s Buzzy New Book About the AI Industry Immediately Duplicated by Amazon Scammers Selling AI Lookalikes" description: "Kevin Roose's new book \"The AGI Chronicles\" has already been duplicated by AI scammers on Amazon and appears to be selling." date: "2026-10-08" modified: "2026-10-08" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore.md" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/kevin-roose-ai-industry-book-amazon-copycat" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" --- # Kevin Roose’s Buzzy New Book About the AI Industry Immediately Duplicated by Amazon Scammers Selling AI Lookalikes ![A fake lookalike of a buzzy book on Amazon.]() *Futurism* AI book scammers are still thriving on Amazon's marketplace. Just a day after a new book about the AI industry's [race to build a powerful artificial general intelligence]() hit the shelves, its author Kevin Roose discovered that a scammer was already trying to trick his readers — by using AI. On Amazon, an apparent machine-generated duplicate of the book, titled "The AGI Chronicles," is freely circulating on the platform and even showing up right beneath the real deal in the e-commerce giant's search results. It looks a lot like the real thing, but is listed for a bargain $24.69 compared to the original book's $30.00 — something that's clearly intended to fool unsuspecting customers who are looking to save a few bucks. "First result: real book. Second result: AI lookalike by 'K. Rose,'" Roose, a former *New York Times* tech columnist, fumed in a [tweet](), posting a screenshot of the scam. "Embarrassing!" https://twitter.com/kevinroose/status/2107849296510947482 Ironically, the cover of the [AI-generated dupe]() removed some of the mangled title text that was deliberately imitating AI hallucinations in the original. It seems like the scam might be working too. Though the copycat boasts no reviews, Amazon lists it as the "#1 New Release" in the category of "Human-Computer Interaction." The third best-selling book in this category, according to the website, is the Kindle Edition of Roose's book. These schemes have long plagued the platform, and despite [years of reporting]() on the issue, little has been done to stop it. Some AI fabrications [claim to be the biography]() of an author or other public figure — including, in a [notable recent example](), the *NYT* tech journalist Kashmir Hill. In an even more irony-laden case, Cory Doctorow's book on "Enshittification" was [instantly AI-duplicated]() on the day of its release. **More on AI:** [*Meta Is Refusing to Remove AI-Generated Facebook Videos of Graphic Child Abuse, Including a Baby Roasting in an Oven*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()