VOA新闻杂志2023 越来越多的人靠ChatGPT出书赚稿酬了

（单词翻译）

A growing number of people are using ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence program, to create books for sale.

越来越多的人正在使用人工智能程序ChatGPT来生成待售图书。

Although sales have so far been slow, human writers are worried that ChatGPT-created books might hurt the writing and publishing industry.

尽管到目前为止销售进程缓慢，但人类作家担心ChatGPT生成的书籍可能会对写作和出版业造成损害。

Until recently, Brett Schickler never imagined he could be a published author.

直到最近，布雷特·希克勒从未想过自己会成为一名出版图书的作者。

But after learning about the ChatGPT artificial intelligence program, Schickler decided¹ that he had a good chance.

但在了解了人工智能程序ChatGPT后，希克勒认为自己有很好的机会。

"The idea of writing a book finally seemed possible," said Schickler, a salesman in Rochester, New York. "I thought 'I can do this.'"

纽约州罗切斯特市的一名推销员希克勒说：“写书的想法似乎终于成真了。我想‘我能做到’。”

Using the AI software, Schickler created a 30-page illustrated² children's e-book in a few hours.

希克勒使用该人工智能软件在几个小时内就创作了一本30页的儿童插图电子书。

He offered it for sale in January through Amazon's self-publishing section.

今年1月，他通过亚马逊的自助出版部门出售了这本书。

The e-book, which is named The Wise Little Squirrel: A Tale of Saving and Investing, has made Schickler less than $100, he said.

希克勒说，这本名为《聪明的小松鼠：储蓄和投资的故事》的电子书让他赚了不到100美元。

While that may not sound like much, it is enough to make him want to create other books using the software.

虽然这听起来可能不是很多，但这足以让他想要使用该软件去创作其他书籍。

"I could see people making a whole career out of this," said Schickler.

希克勒说：“我可以预见，人们会以此为业。”

There were over 200 e-books in Amazon's Kindle³ store as of mid-February that say ChatGPT is a writer or co-writer.

截至2月中旬，亚马逊Kindle商店里有200多本电子书的上面都标明ChatGPT是作家或合著者。

And the number is rising daily.

而且这个数字每天都在上升。

But due to the nature of ChatGPT and many writers' failure to admit that they have used it, it is nearly impossible to get a full count of how many e-books may be written by AI.

但由于ChatGPT的性质，以及许多作者不承认自己使用过它，所以完全统计由人工智能生成的电子书的数量可能是几乎不可能的。

Some professional writers are becoming worried about the effects that ChatGPT could have on the book publishing industry.

一些职业作家开始担心ChatGPT可能会对图书出版业产生的影响。

Mary Rasenberger is the executive director of the Authors Guild⁴, a writer's group.

玛丽·拉森伯格是作家协会的执行董事。

She said, "This is something we really need to be worried about, these books will flood the market and a lot of authors are going to be out of work."

她说：“这是我们真正需要担心的事情，这些书将涌入市场，许多作家将会失业。”

Rasenberger noted⁵ that the industry has a long tradition of ghostwriting - an accepted practice of paying someone to write books or speeches under another author's name.

拉森伯格指出，这个行业有着悠久的代写传统——一种公认的做法，即付钱让别人用另一位作者的名字写书或词。

But she is worried that the ability to create with AI could turn book writing from an art into a commodity – a kind of simple raw material that is bought and sold.

但她担心，使用人工智能进行创作的能力可能会把写书从一门艺术变成一种商品——一种可以买卖的简单的原材料。

"There needs to be transparency from the authors and the platforms about how these books are created or you're going to end up with a lot of low-quality books," she said.

她说：“作者和平台需要对这些书的创作方式保持透明，否则你最终会得到很多低质量的书。”

When asked for comment by Reuters, Amazon did not say whether it has plans to change or look at policies around authors' use of AI or other automated⁶ writing tools.

当路透社要求亚马逊对此发表评论时，亚马逊没有表示其是否计划改变或研究规范作者使用人工智能或其他自动化写作工具的政策。

Amazon spokeswoman Lindsay Hamilton said via email that books in the store must meet its guidelines regarding "intellectual property rights" and other laws.

亚马逊发言人林赛·汉密尔顿通过电子邮件表示，店内的图书必须符合其关于“知识产权”和其他法律的指导方针。

Amazon is by far the largest seller of both physical and e-books.

亚马逊目前是纸质书和电子书的最大销售商。

It has well over half of the sales in the United States and, by some estimates, over 80 percent of the e-book market.

它占据了美国一半以上的销量，据估计，它占据了电子书市场80%以上的份额。

In 2007, Amazon created Kindle Direct Publishing to enable anyone to sell and market a book without the expense of seeking out book agents or publishing houses.

2007年，亚马逊创建了Kindle Direct Publishing，使得任何人都可以在不用花钱找图书代理商或出版社的情况下销售书。

Generally, Amazon lets authors publish without any oversight⁷.

一般来说，亚马逊允许作者在没有任何监督的情况下出版图书。

The company then splits whatever money is made with the writer.

然后，公司将从作者赚到的钱里分得一部分钱。

This service has drawn⁸ new AI-assisted writers like Kamil Banc to Amazon.

这项服务吸引了诸如卡米尔·邦克这样的新的人工智能辅助作家来到亚马逊。

He told his wife that he could make a book in less than one day.

他告诉妻子，他可以在不到一天的时间里写一本书。

Using ChatGPT, an AI image creator and instructions like "write a bedtime story about a pink dolphin that teaches children how to be honest," Banc published an illustrated 27-page book in December.

去年12月，邦克利用人工智能图像生成软件ChatGPT在输入“写一个关于一只粉色海豚的睡前故事，该故事教孩子们如何诚实”的指令后，出版了一本27页的插图书。

Banc has since published two more AI-generated books, including an adult coloring book, with more in the works.

自那以后，邦克又出版了两本人工智能生成的书，其中包括一本成人涂色书，还有更多书正在编写中。

"It actually is really simple," he said. "I was surprised at how fast it went from concept to publishing."

“其实很简单，”他说。“我对它从概念到出版的速度之快感到惊讶。”

Not everyone is impressed by the software.

并不是每个人都对这款软件感兴趣。

Mark Dawson, who has reportedly sold millions of copies of books he wrote himself through Kindle Direct Publishing, was quick to call ChatGPT-assisted novels "dull" in an email to Reuters.

据报道，马克·道森通过Kindle Direct Publishing销售了数百万册自己写的书，他在给路透社的一封电子邮件中称，ChatGPT辅助生成的小说很“枯燥”。

Dull means not interesting.

Dull的意思是无趣。

Dawson said that merit – a good quality that deserves to be praised - is important in the book business.

道森说，价值——一种值得称赞的良好品质——在图书行业很重要。

"Merit plays a part in how books are recommended to other readers. If a book gets bad reviews because the writing is dull then it's quickly going to sink to the bottom."

“价值在向其他读者推荐书籍的方式中起到了一定的作用。如果一本书因为内容枯燥而获得差评，那么它很快就会跌入谷底。”

I'm John Russell.

约翰·拉塞尔为您播报。