I became
intrigued by this topic when as an author with two dozen e-books on Smashwords I read founder Mark Coker's «2013 Book Publishing Industry Predictions — Indie Ebook Authors Take Charge,» Among other things, Coker noted that «If Amazon could invent a
system to replace the author from the equation, they'd do that,» and went on to describe how one innovative publisher, ICON Group International has already patented a
system that automatically generates non-fiction books, and he worries that as the field of
artificial intelligence increases, «how long until novelists are disinter - mediated by machines.»