There have been plenty of amusing stories since OpenAI launched its ChatGPT AI technology - not least of some often hilarious conversations some have had with the chatbot on Microsoft's Bing. However, those pale into insignificance with the amount of related stories flooding the Amazon Kindle Store. It seems that many users with access are getting the tech to write books for them, which they are then offering for sale.

According to Reuters, there are now more than 200 e-books listed for sale or download on Amazon that were written using ChatGPT. And that's just the ones that list the AI as the author or co-author. Many others may well be on there too, but without similar transparency.

One new children's book author, Brett Schickler has spoken about his use of the software: "The idea of writing a book finally seemed possible," he said to Reuters.

His book, The Wise Little Squirrel: A Tale of Saving and Investing, was written using ChatGPT and is aimed at helping kids learn the basics of finance. He has only made $100 on the project so far, but plans to write more AI-aided books. "I could see people making a whole career out of this," he added.

The Wise Little Squirrel

The ChatGPT trend started at the end of 2022 when OpenAI started to allow public testing for free. The chatbot tech has also more recently been utliised by Microsoft to build a new way of searching the internet through its Bing service. It is only available on request and has a lengthy waiting list, but Bing search does seem to benefit - albeit with some odd results at times.

Google has also entered the fray with its Bard AI chatbot, which has also proved to be inaccurate at times. However, by their very nature, ChatGPT and Bard will undoubtedly get better all the time. It's a worry if people are using them to write novels though, especially if their use is uncredited. It's a fair way off Terminator and Skynet, but still something doesn't really sit right with that use case.