370 BOOKS IN 20 MONTHS: S’AFRICAN AUTHOR DEFENDS HER USE OF AI

South African author Coral Hart has defended using artificial intelligence to publish more than 370 books in about 20 months, despite criticism of her methods.

Hart, who uses a pen name to protect her identity, told AFP that she had received thousands of abusive messages and several death threats.

She said she worked in publishing for 14 years and wrote dozens of books before introducing AI into her process.

According to Hart, she develops the story ideas, characters, writing style and chapter outlines before using AI to generate drafts. The text then undergoes further editing, followed by human proofreading and rewriting.

She argued that producing a readable book requires detailed direction rather than simply asking a chatbot to write one.

Many of her titles are romance novels aimed at specific readerships. Hart estimates that she has sold more than one million copies across digital, print and audio formats; those figures are her own claims.

She also acknowledged that she discloses AI use only when a sales platform requires it.

Her approach raises questions about creative ownership, transparency and quality. Hart maintains that readers’ willingness to buy her books supports her methods.