We opened presents and discovered Mum had fallen for a Christmas scam
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As my brother opened his Christmas present from our mum, a growing awkwardness spread across the room. He should have been unwrapping a copy of The Siege, Ben Macintyre’s acclaimed account of a gripping 1980 SAS operation. But what he actually had was an extended, repurposed Wikipedia entry about the event churned out by AI.
![[NO CREDIT]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233771369-0dcd.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
‘I understand you’re looking for a 3000-word foreword about the Iranian Embassy siege,’ read the opening sentence. Mum was equal parts furious and mortified. I couldn’t blame her. Sadly, books generated by AI are proliferating, and as I found out, it’s the future of literary scamming.
![[(Picture: Marc Burrows)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233771477-8c4e-e1734950018177.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
And if we’re not careful, it’s going to ruin thousands of Christmas mornings. Getting my whole family together in December has become something of a logistical and political nightmare in recent years, akin to organising the G7 or the Oasis reunion.
![[NO CREDIT]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233771368-d706.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
So traditionally we’ve opted to do a family Christmas early, freeing us up to spend actual Christmas in the various units we’ve acquired as grown ups. This year, we all got together on the last Saturday of November, and for the most part the day ran as expected. The oven broke, we bickered over seating arrangements, people put a tactful hand over other people’s glasses — the usual.
![[(Picture: Marc Burrows)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233771376-92ba-e1734950166909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
And then my brother unwrapped that book. At first glance, The Siege That Shocked Britain — London’s Iranian Embassy, 1980 appeared legitimate enough, though not the actual book he’d asked for. But it was only as we started looking closer that something appeared off.
