Did AI write ‘Shy Girl’? A messy detection controversy rocks the world of book publishing

A new drama has taken the book publishing world by storm: The upcoming U.S. release of the horror book Shy Girl was canceled by Hachette Book Group just weeks ahead of its launch date due to suspicion of AI use in its making.

Authored by American poet and fiction writer Mia Ballard, Shy Girl is a novel described as focusing on the life of a girl with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) who agrees to be held captive as an affluent man’s pet in order to rid herself of financial woes.