Self-published author uses AI illustrations and sparks a row

Self-published author of aphorisms draws fury over AI use

A self-published book of aphorisms and reflections on the meaninglessness of life, available on Kindle Unlimited, has unleashed a storm on a forum. The author, who holds a degree in Art History, insists the text is one hundred percent his own, drawn from his personal diaries, and that he only used artificial intelligence to generate the illustrations. The work, which he places within "dark philosophy", explores emptiness, consciousness and death through quotes from Nietzsche, Cioran and Pessoa. The controversy soon erupted: several participants accused him of having produced a "pile of junk" with AI in two afternoons and of disrespecting the profession. The author defends himself: "The text is 100% mine, zero AI. I only used it to generate the illustrations".

The accusation: "You've made a pile of junk with AI in two afternoons"

The discussion escalated when a writer reproached him for using AI-generated images instead of hiring a human illustrator, despite holding a degree in Art History. "When the author uses shit images (AI), the book loses appeal for a large part of humans. I won't read it," he wrote. The author replied that he has neither "the means nor the ability to commission an illustrator" and that, if he does in the future, he will do it "properly". The response did not calm tempers: another participant accused him of being "insincere" and of "selling smoke". The atmosphere turned ugly until direct insults appeared, with accusations of having created the book "with AI in two afternoons" and of presenting it as "dark philosophy" without having "the faintest idea of what a book is". The author retorted that disrespect "says more about the person who shows it than the one who receives it" and that this kind of behaviour is precisely what he portrays in his work.

What is the 'dark philosophy' the author champions?

The author defines his proposal as a "living and unvarnished" philosophy, far removed from academia, which he considers "far too boring". "It is a philosophy of ordinary people," he maintains, focused on depression, meaninglessness and honest reflection on what does not work in the world. The work draws on references such as Nietzsche, Cioran, Eugene Thacker, Ligotti and Pessoa, and in the final part reflects on quotes from these thinkers. The author cited Pessoa himself in his defence: "To know that the work that is never to be done will be bad. Worse, however, will always be the one that is never done". The quote failed to convince his critics, who reproached him for comparing himself to the Portuguese poet.

The underlying issue: the war between the human and the machine

Beyond the specific book, the episode reflects a growing tension in the creative sector. One writer summed it up clearly: "I am a humanist, and I will defend the HUMAN to the death". The author, for his part, insisted that AI was only a tool and that the art direction of the illustrations was entirely his own. "As a graduate in Art History, I haven't used just anything the AI produced; the result was deliberately sought and was not easy to achieve," he stated. The discussion also drifted into personal territory, with questions about whether the author is "pessimistic" or "prone to depression", to which he replied: "I suppose both".

The author closed his intervention by ironically thanking his fiercest critic for the time spent searching for his book on Amazon and checking his sales statistics. "Thank you for being my most obsessed reader," he wrote. The book, meanwhile, remains available on Kindle Unlimited, and the controversy over the use of AI in literary creation shows no sign of being resolved.