Seems more like a recipe for catfish.
A “best seller” cookbook author on Amazon appears to be no more than a figment of artificial intelligence, news reports and readers say.
At a glance, the authenticity of “The Complete Crock Pot Cookbook for Beginners” looks to be a real crock.
Its author is Luisa Florence, and her flimsy bio claims she is a 60-year-old writer from Philadelphia who learned culinary arts in Tuscany and worked in restaurants since.
She (or more likely it) has also published books on air fryer recipes, canning and preserving, diet foods, and charcuteries, with ThriftBooks reviews rating them as “excellent.”
“Her dream is to dedicate herself completely to the kitchen,” Florence’s biography reads next to a suspicious-looking headshot for the crockpot book.
The closeup is missing a shoulder and shows neither of Florence’s earrings match — similar to fake bio photos that accompanied AI-written Sports Illustrated stories in that emerged scandal last year.
Voice of America journalist Matthew Kupfer first noticed major errors and “stilted” writing by Florence in March.
“People are pointing out typos, a chickpea and quinoa recipe that doesn’t list chickpeas and quinoa in the ingredients,” he wrote on X after revealing that the book was a “practical, thoughtful” wedding anniversary gift from his parents.
More recently, Philadelphia Magazine attempted to track down the purported hometown chef — to no avail.
It may not help that Luisa is also the name of a well-known fine goods store in the Italian city of Florence.
Going, going … gone
Philadelphia magazine also reported that the crockpot book included a meager 424 recipes, while 1,001 were advertised.
A page clunkily titled “What is Crock-pot?” only turned up the heat on fraud accusations.
That book and the rest of her collection — some of which have ranked at the top of various Amazon book categories, according to the magazine — are no longer available on the shopping site.
Sheehan also noted that one book was connected to a mysterious publisher named Zoe Publishing Ltd., which he said was created on July 21, 2020, and dissolved a little over three years later, on Dec. 19, 2023.
When the magazine reached out to Amazon, the company responded by outlining its established guidelines to combat AI fakery — without admitting she could be a phony.
“We have a robust set of methods that help us proactively detect content that violates our guidelines, whether AI-generated or not,” the company wrote.
“We also remove books that do not adhere to those guidelines, including content that creates a poor customer experience. When patterns of abuse warrant it, we suspend publisher accounts to prevent repeated abuse.”
Cooked books
As folks wonder where in the world is Luisa Florence, they may also want to check their shelves for authentic literature. Her folly is just one example of a growing problem in e-commerce.
Another seemingly fake author, Justin J. Robson, penned several Amazon-sold cookbook titles.
“Indulge in simplicity with a collection of over [insert number] recipes that redefine easy cooking,” reads the description for his “Tasty Slow Cooker Recipes for Busy Individuals and Families on the Go. Incl. Desserts, Snacks, and Appetizers,” Mashable reported.
Meanwhile, the bio photo used for cookbook writer Kathleen J. Taylor shows inconsistencies similar to Florence’s generic headshot, too, Mashable noted, adding that several other suspicious names and images have been flagged in recent months as well.
‘You aren’t doing a great job of sounding human’
These are just a few examples of a problem swarming the unsuspecting consumer — like Kupfer’s parents who unknowingly gifted him Florence’s book.
While both he and Sheehan did not reach a firm conclusion about Florence’s authenticity, Kupfer did leave room for the benefit of some doubt.
“Signora Florence, if you’re out there and not the hallucination of an LLM, I’m really sorry for suggesting you’re an AI, but you aren’t doing a great job of sounding human,” he wrote on X.
