Buckingham Palace hits out over claims AI is being used to write books about Charles’ cancer

Buckingham Palace has hit out at ‘intrusive and insensitive’ books about the King’s cancer, claimed to have been written by artificial intelligence.

The palace said its legal team was investigating a report that a number of books are being sold on Amazon with false claims about Charles’ illness.

It comes as the King, who has not revealed the type of cancer he has been diagnosed with, issued his first public statement on Saturday evening, thanking the public for its support.

“Any such titles speculating about His Majesty’s diagnosis and treatment are intrusive, insensitive and filled with inaccuracies,” a spokesperson for Buckingham Palace told the Mail on Sunday. “Our legal team will be looking at the issue closely. We call on any individuals or organisations facilitating their sale to withdraw them immediately.”

The newspaper reported seven biographies making false claims about Charles’ health in the wake of his cancer diagnosis are on sale on Amazon. The online giant has since deleted several of the books, which were allegedly written by AI algorithms and appear alongside best-selling legitimate royal biographies on the site.

The monarch announced on Monday that he has been diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer and is currently being treated for the disease, having only acceded to the throne 17 months ago.

In his first public comment on his diagnosis, Charles expressed his “most heartfelt thanks” to the nation for their “many messages of support and good wishes”. In the statement to the public issued by Buckingham Palace on Saturday, the monarch also said it was “equally heartening” to hear how sharing his diagnosis has helped to promote public understanding of cancer.

An Amazon spokesman told the Mail that the company put in “significant time and resources” to ensure books being sold on its website followed its “content guidelines”.

They added: “We don’t allow AI-generated content that violates our content guidelines, including content that creates a disappointing customer experience. We have removed the titles we found that violated our guidelines.”

The Independent has approached Buckingham Palace and Amazon for further comment.