Sharjah – A new threat is emerging in the world of publishing: fake books.
Not pirated copies but fabricated versions created long before a real title even hits the shelf.
Imagine your favourite personality releases a memoir, you rush to order it online, and when it arrives, the title matches, but the contents are nothing like what you expected.
That’s the new reality for unsuspecting readers.
This emerged during the panel discussion of Making It Big: Lessons From A Life In Business by Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola at the Sharjah International Book Fair this past weekend.
Publisher Dr. Eghosa Imasuen highlighted the fragile nature of creativity in the age of artificial intelligence.
“As soon as we announced on the 21st of July (2025) that Femi Otedola is releasing his memoir Making It Big, someone was already selling it on Amazon for $30. Within one week, there were 87 fake versions online,” he said.
At the time, no cover had been revealed, no excerpt published, and the manuscript remained strictly confidential. Yet dozens of knockoffs surfaced online.
“So, people went onto the AI, searched for any information about Femi Otedola, and put together a book with the same title…different authors,” he explained.
There is also a French version of the memoir, despite the official book being available only in English.
Imasuen said they reached out to Amazon but were told that nothing could be done.
Even after the official launch, the team ordered several counterfeit copies to see whether any of them replicated the real book, only to find that the content was entirely AI-generated.
One version, he noted, contained just 26 pages.
From a legal perspective, UK-based lawyer John Akpeki joined the conversation to unpack the legal and practical challenges involved in protecting a highly anticipated memoir.
“There were no more than five people who had access to this book,” Akpeki said, describing how tightly the manuscript was held.
The small circle protected the integrity of the story, especially because Otedola wanted the narrative to come directly from him.
“To reduce the risk of leaking, we got the book printed in India,” revealed Akpeki.
The rise of AI-generated fake books prompted questions about what African governments can do to protect intellectual property in an era where copying no longer requires accessing a physical manuscript.
Akpeki noted that while laws exist, enforcement remains weak.
“What is protected, however, is the content, so plagiarised material can be litigated. But in the case of the fake Otedola books, the counterfeiters used AI rather than copying text from the unpublished manuscript.
He further explained that titles themselves cannot be copyrighted unless part of a series.
“Anybody can use this title. You could write a book, Making It Big. The only time you protect it is when that becomes part of a series.”
During the festival, we also chatted to bestselling author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie about the rise of AI-generated fake books.
“I think this ridiculous and overblown excitement about AI is very dangerous,” she said.
“We haven’t, as a global society, come together to decide what AI is supposed to be for.
“I think this is the result of many men who are not necessarily emotionally intelligent, chasing the next big shiny thing, and right now, that shiny thing is AI.”
Chimamanda expressed that, as a creative, she viewed AI as a growing threat to human creativity.
“As a person who creates and feels strongly about the arts, I believe that we run the risk of AI disrupting something fundamentally human, and therefore dangerous for us.
“AI for medicine is wonderful… but AI for the arts is unnecessary.”
She noted that writers and artists require support such as time, space, and financial resources, instead of developing machines that imitate creativity.
In her view, AI presents a genuine threat to human creativity, a concern that remains largely overlooked.
No matter how advanced technology becomes, she maintained, it can never replicate the human spirit that breathes life into art.
One of the world’s largest book festivals, the 44th Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF), concluded its 12-day programme on Sunday, November 16, further establishing Sharjah as a global hub for culture, literature, and industry exchange.
Themed “Between You and a Book,” this edition stood out for its international diversity, featuring 2 350 publishers and exhibitors from 118 countries.
For more information, visit www.sibf.com.
