AI instead of human empathy?

Are you familiar with the book “Alice and Sparkle” by Ammaar Reshi? The author of the book, published in December 2022, wrote the following on X (formerly Twitter):
  “One weekend, I decided to try combining all the fantastic AI tools and publish a book. I used ChatGPT to write and edit it, and MidJourney to illustrate it. And 72 hours later, it was available on Amazon! The project was intended as a demonstration of the technology and as a gift for the firstborn children of my two best friends. It inadvertently sparked an incredibly important debate about the urgent need to protect artists in the face of these new AI tools.”¹ Reshi, who had tried his hand at writing books, grew up in Pakistan and studied computer science in London. Today, he heads the brand and product design teams of an American technology company that markets itself as “the AI with the best realistic language.”² Using ChatGPT and the AI design programme MidJourney³, he produced a story about a girl named Alice who wants to learn about the world of technology with the help of a robot named Sparkle. After his first attempt, he optimised his initially unsatisfactory result with various prompts to MidJourney. He decided that his Alice should be confident, curious and excited, wear a simple dress and have blue eyes. Then the time had come! After 72 hours, Reshi uploaded “Alice and Sparkle” to Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. What he had originally intended for his friends’ children now interested his friends themselves. They encouraged him to spread the word about his achievement. But not everyone liked it! Reshi was vehemently criticised for reducing human creativity to an automated technical process.

Amazon as a springboard

Nevertheless, Reshi had created a new market model that has since been copied by many others. The AI-generated books were created. Initially, they were openly labelled as such. Today, the manufacturing process behind the many (children’s) books produced using AI remains a mystery to customers. Amazon is the industry leader. This is no coincidence, as this publicly traded, globally active US online retailer allows books to be self-published. Once the book file has been uploaded to the relevant platform and supplemented with some necessary information and a price, Amazon takes care of sales and printing. For book titles created via the Kindle Digital Publishing distribution channel, Amazon requires publishers to declare the extent to which they are AI-generated. However, hardly anyone seems to be complying with this – or Amazon is not publishing the information – because you will search in vain for this information on the books. It can also be assumed that it is impossible for Amazon to carry out reliable checks on its 20 million items, which change on a daily basis.
  At first glance, these AI-generated books appear unremarkable, but upon closer inspection, many inconsistencies become apparent: the texts are poor, and the style, content and spelling are inadequate; the book covers appear uniformly sterile and meaningless. The illustrations lack the typical personal touch and professionalism of well-trained designers. The most glaring inconsistencies in image design – an extra finger, an impossible posture – have improved considerably in recent years. However, books still stand out for their schematic titles or amateurish illustrations. With the generative AI tools⁴ available today, this is no coincidence – it is simply technically generated uniformity.

Bestsellers – simply on Amazon

Nevertheless – astonishingly – such books appear high up on Amazon’s bestseller list. This is made possible by the online company’s special publication system: it classifies books into many special categories, each with its own bestseller list. The author decides where he wants his book to be listed.
  The chance of reaching the top spots increases when digital bookmakers offer their product in a correspondingly small, unusual category. Children’s books can thus be found in genres with which they actually have nothing to do, but alongside competitors whose sales are low. This is the springboard to becoming a bestseller on Amazon, an aggressively promotional sales portal.

AI picture books and parenting
guides as vehicles for ideology

One can only marvel at the many, many authors (including female authors!) who want to delight our children with their works today. This is made possible by AI tools that do not require their users to declare AI-generated books as such. One of the authors of such products is the journalist Nora Imlau, who has published a striking number of books with titles such as “Why do you rage so much, little panda bear?”: An encouraging book for all spirited children, which was published by Carlsen Verlag in September 2025. On Amazon, Imlau made it to number 1 on the bestseller list for children’s books about babysitting. In 2021, she published “Because You Are a Great Boy: Inspiring Stories About Courage, Inner Strength and Self-Confidence”. It topped Amazon’s bestseller list for children’s books about personal hygiene. While Nora Imlau is known to be a prominent advocate of “needs-oriented parenting” – a current parenting ideology – other authors have inconspicuous names, such as Rita Stahl, Nina Blume and Leah Engels. It remains unclear whether they actually exist.

High Demand

I found it fascinating, but also disturbing, to delve into this topic. To learn more, I took a closer look in the children’s book section of a large bookstore and got into a conversation with the bookseller. She hesitated a bit when I asked her about AI-generated books, but then showed me one by Sabine Jahn titled “Because You Are a Wonderful Boy.” Hadn’t Nora Imlau chosen an almost identical title? Next to it was “Because You Are a Wonderful Girl”, also by Sabine Jahn. Ouch, had something gone wrong? When I compared the two books, I discovered that they were completely identical in content. Only the names had changed – a simple matter with a corresponding input prompt to the computer program. I really hadn’t expected such impudence. There was no information to be found about Sabine Jahn, the listed author, either in the book or online. She has neither a website nor a presence on social media platforms, that is very unusual for authors. Clearly, Sabine Jahn is an avatar, that is, an artificial persona from the realm of “artificial” intelligence. I understood the bookseller who confessed to me that she had read one of these AI books. It hadn’t met her quality standards in any way, and so she had initially returned all of them. But then she had to change her mind: the demand was so high that she reluctantly expanded her selection. A consequence of intrusive and aggressive advertising campaigns? Parents who satisfy their children’s every wish without question? Parents who themselves have lost touch with pedagogically valuable children’s books?

Copyright? What’s that?

It’s obvious that dedicated and honest children’s book authors and illustrators are being put under pressure by this development. They are competing with self-proclaimed illustrators who use AI tools fed with billions of images from the global internet. So-called web crawlers fish a gigantic number of images from the internet, which then become the basis for training datasets.
  The internet is also the source of the texts used by AI, including pirated copies of hundreds of thousands of books. Their authors are completely unaware! For AI companies, it’s a lucrative business, as they pocket the profits instead of passing them on as royalties to the copyright holders. The fact that the European Parliament adopted the world’s first AI law by a large majority – recognizing the significant dependence on technology companies that needs to be overcome – can perhaps be seen as a first step against these illegal practices.⁵

We’re not playing along

Not all publishers are jumping on the bandwagon. Some are critically observing the use of AI in book production, because high-quality children’s books – especially on Amazon – are increasingly being overshadowed by the prominently and aggressively advertised AI-generated books, thus jeopardizing the existence of reputable publishers. Their statements express their appreciation for the considerable work of authors and illustrators. For them, children’s and young adult’s books are not carelessly and cheaply produced commodities that can be used to quickly and easily make money and promote specific worldviews and ideologies.⁶ Fortunately!

Children deserve something different

Anyone wishing to treat their children, grandchildren, or students to a children’s or young adult’s book should take the time to browse in one of the many small bookstores that carefully select their books and can recommend something suitable. For our growing generation, it is important to read books created with thoughtfulness, expertise, and the heart of their authors. Especially in this field, creative work is based on active reflection, which is reflected in authenticity, originality, and meticulously planned illustrations. It is no coincidence that many good children’s book authors (including female authors) also have pedagogical training and a special empathy. They engage in an inner dialogue with their readers. This means they craft their works in such a way that children can see themselves reflected in the protagonists and the content of the books. This makes stories and books milestones for them on their path to becoming responsible, socially competent, and independently thinking individuals who are attentive to others and willing to contribute to community life. •

¹ @ammaar can be found at https://ammaar.me/
² https://elevenlabs.io/
³ Midjourney is an AI programme that generates images using prompts. To clarify the terminology: artificial intelligence (AI) simulates human learning, but is merely the technical processing of large amounts of data, which it uses despite copyright protection. Its selection reflects overarching social structures and the pursuit of political dominance.
⁴ “Generative artificial intelligence refers to AI-based systems that can be used to produce all kinds of results in a seemingly professional and creative manner, such as images, video, audio, text, code, 3D models and simulations.” https://wirtschaftslexikon.gabler.de/definition/generative-ki-124952
⁵ European Parliament. Artificial intelligence act. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2021/698792/EPRS_BRI(2021)698792_EN.pdf
⁶ see also:
Deutsche Illustratoren-Organisation. Generative künstliche Intelligenz. (German illustrators’ organisation. Generative AI.) https://illustratoren-organisation.de/kuenstliche-intelligenz/#1707313621990-493421ed-cbbd
Dornis, Tim W.; Stober, Sebastian. Copyright Law and Generative AI Training – Technological and Legal Foundations. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4946214
Nein zu künstlicher Intelligenz im Kindermann-Verlag. (No to artificial intelligence in the Kindermann Publishing  House) https://www.kindermannverlag.de/nein-zu-kuenstlicher-intelligenz-ki-im-bilderbuch/
Artificial Intelligence in Children’s books: https://ifak-kindermedien.de/theorie-und-praxis/wissensvermittlung/kuenstliche-intelligenz-in-kinderbuechern/
Luckhaus, Iris; Fischer, Eliane. Statement zum Vorlesetag/Mach mit gegen generative KI (Statement on National Reading Day/Join us against generative AI). https://www.irisluckhaus.de/2024/mach-mit-gegen-ki/
Offener Brief der Illustratoren-Organisation an den Carlsen-Verlag (Open letter from the illustrators’ organization to Carlsen Publishing House). https://illustratoren-organisation.de/2019/08/01/offener-brief-an-den-carlsen-verlag/
Vorherr, Caroline. Illustration: Oetinger schliesst Nutzung generativer KI-Tools aus (Oetinger rules out the use of generative AI tools); https://www.boersenblatt.net/news/verlage-news/illustration-oetinger-schliesst-nutzung-generativer-ki-tools-aus-350863