--- title: "John Scalzi Discovers That One of His Book Covers Was Created Using AI" description: "John Scalzi had sworn off AI-generated art. Then some of it found its way onto the cover of one of his books." date: "2024-06-24" modified: "2024-06-24" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/john-scalzi-book-cover-ai" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "books" - "john scalzi" - "publishing" - "the digest" --- # John Scalzi Discovers That One of His Book Covers Was Created Using AI ![]() *\Image: Adobe\* ## Book by Its Cover Acclaimed sci-fi author John Scalzi, perhaps best known for his 2005 novel "Old Man's War," hasn't shied away from the debate around AI, art, and creative industries. Back in December 2022, after some public experimentation with AI, he [wrote on his blog]() that going forward he would be insisting to publishers he works with that his book covers feature "art that is 100 percent human-derived, even if stock art elements are used." "I think there is probably a way to responsibly use and generate art with AI, which probably includes ways to make sure 'training' is opt-in and compensated for, but we’re not there yet, and I’m okay waiting for some additional clarity before I start playing with it again in public," he wrote. But in a perfect illustration of the growing ubiquity of algorithmic illustrations, Scalzi has now taken to his blog again [with a striking admission](): some AI slipped by that edict and ended up on the cover of one of his books. "Well, Goddamnit, it looks like some 'AI'-generated art got onto one of my covers, specifically, the cover to the Italian edition of 'Starter Villain,'" he wrote. "Some (actual human) artists tracked down the cover art, and (on Adobe’s stock art site, at least), it’s marked as 'generated with AI.'" ![]() ## Little Italy It sounds like the mixup came down to a communication failure. "It’s my policy not to accept AI-generated art for final cover art, and I thought I and my team had communicated that widely," Scalzi wrote. "When this art was presented to me for approval, I made the assumption that it was done by a human, and approved it. So, this is on me." "The choice of this art was made several months ago, and not every stock art site (and this stock art is on more than one site) then or now labels their available stock art as 'AI-generated,'" he continued. "It’s possible that this was chosen in the belief it was created by an actual person. Likewise, it’s possible that my 'no AI' policy fell through a crack somewhere between here and Italy. Basically, there are a lot of places where something could have fallen down without assuming bad faith on anyone’s part. These are explanations, mind you, not excuses. If you’re going to blame someone for this, it’s me you need to blame. My name is on that cover." Regardless, Scalzi's handling of the discovery seems like a model for anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation — which, given the Wild West of still-forming norms and practices around AI art, wouldn't be surprising for anyone in a creative industry. **More on John Scalzi:** [*Top Scientists Call on NASA to Probe Uranus*]() ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()