Amazon withdraws ‘error-strewn' biographies of SNP politicians
The books, which appeared to have been created using AI, included two on First Minister John Swinney and his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon that were taken down from the site after The Times newspaper reported they contained several false claims.
Four more unofficial biographies of Ms Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf, another former first minister, were listed as unavailable on Monday after the BBC asked Amazon about the titles.
The firm said it removed books that violated its content guidelines.
The Times reported that a book about Mr Swinney – called John Swinney Biography: John Swinney: Scotland's Education Architect – falsely claimed the first minister was born in the US to a Polish mother.
The newspaper also highlighted several inaccuracies in other books about Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf's families.
The books about Mr Yousaf, who was privately educated, repeatedly suggested he had grown up in poverty.
One claimed to be an 'exposé' of a police investigation into SNP finances.
According to the book description on Amazon, it was written by 'renowned author' Brian B. Porter, who was said to have told the story of Ms Sturgeon and the SNP with 'expert storytelling and meticulous research'.
It was the only book of the four to have been reviewed. It had an average rating of 1.3 out of five stars, with disappointed readers describing it as 'terrible' and lacking 'any detail or substance'.
Brian B. Porter is named as the author on several other books listed on Amazon – including titles on Silvio Berlusconi, the late Italian former prime minister, the late songwriter Burt Bacharach and Bobby Hull, a Canadian ice-hockey player.
An Amazon spokesman said: 'We have content guidelines governing which books can be listed for sale, and we have proactive and reactive methods that help us detect content that violates our guidelines, whether AI -generated or not.
'We invest significant time and resources to ensure our guidelines are followed, and remove books that do not adhere to those guidelines.'
Both the Scottish and UK governments have spoken of the positive impact AI technology could have on efforts to improve public services
However, writers and publishers have expressed fears about the impact of generative AI programmes, such as ChatGPT, on the creation of new literature and books.
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