7am Kathy Lette on the AI book scandal
Apr 2, 2026
Kathy Lette, Australian novelist and broadcaster known for comic fiction and sharp cultural commentary, discusses the AI book scandal and what it means for writers. She talks about spotting AI-written prose, risks of everyday AI tools, calls for copyright protection, and ways to safeguard Australian creativity and young authors from tech overreach.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
AI Novels Are A New Kind Of Fraud
- Kathy Lette sees a machine-written novel as a new level of fraud distinct from celebrity ghostwriting.
- She reacted with relief when Shy Girl was pulled, calling AI-authored books a deeper ethical breach than human ghostwriters.
Require Human Authorship Labels
- Use human-authorship certification labels to signal authenticity to readers.
- Kathy compares a human-written badge to food labelling and says readers should know if a book intellectually nourishes them.
AI Copies Not Creates
- Kathy argues AI can copycat but cannot truly create original, unique ideas.
- She insists AI firms must disclose which copyrighted works they used to train models because copyright is writers' lifeblood.
