India’s “First AI Scam”? What the Periyar Arivulagam Library Row Tells Us About AI-Generated Books
A new library, about 1,800 suspect books and a political storm. Plus an honest look at what AI can and can’t do when it comes to making books, and a demonstration of an AI-made coloring book you can download.
The news: a brand-new library, shelves of suspect books
On 16 October 2026, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay opened Periyar Arivulagam, a seven-storey public library and knowledge centre in Coimbatore. Within three weeks it was at the centre of what the state’s School Education Minister has called “India’s first AI scam.”
It started with a writer, not an auditor. Well-known Tamil author Perumal Murugan visited the library, looked through the Tamil collection on the fourth floor and found about 1,800 books from a single publisher, Agal Vilakku Pathippagam, along with more than a hundred titles from a second publisher, Phoenix Pathippagam. In an article published on the Tamil portal Sindhai on 6 November, titled Periyar Arivulagathil Periya Oozhal (“A Major Scam at Periyar Arivulagam”), he described what he saw:
- Fictitious authors. Names nobody in Tamil literary circles recognised, including one credited to a “Trisha Vijay.” The minister later said other books listed names like “Pavithra Karunanidhi” and “Stalin” as authors.
- ISBNs that didn’t check out. The International Standard Book Numbers printed in the books could not be traced online, and the publishers’ addresses appeared to be fake.
- Made-up history and mismatched photos. Some books contained invented historical details and incorrect references, with photographs that had little to do with the subjects described.
- Inflated prices. Many titles were priced far above what books of that quality and length would normally cost.
- Signs of AI-generated content. Murugan raised the possibility that the books were simply AI-generated text from publishing houses set up just to supply the library.
Minister A. Rajmohan questioned whether Agal Vilakku Pathippagam existed at all, joking that a publisher by that name couldn’t be found “even on Mars.” The School Education Department filed a complaint with the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), and the government removed the suspect books from the shelves.
It wasn’t just one library
The story quickly grew beyond Coimbatore. Speaking at the Anna Centenary Library in Chennai on 7 November, Minister Rajmohan said the same kind of books had been bought by other institutions too:
- Connemara Public Library, Chennai. One of India’s four National Depository Libraries.
- Kalaignar Centenary Library, Madurai.
- District libraries in Cuddalore, Tirunelveli and Tiruchirappalli (Trichy).
- Reports also mentioned Salem and other government libraries in Chennai.
According to the minister, ₹50 crore had been earmarked for each of the new flagship libraries, with another ₹5 crore planned for e-books. He announced a special committee to inspect government libraries across the state and said the government would review purchases from more than 20 publishers.
Not the First AI Book Scam
Tamil Nadu isn’t the first place this has happened, and it won’t be the last. Here’s the pattern from around the world:
- South Korea: Reporters found at least 150 “click-and-publish” AI-generated books in public library collections. Most came in through citizen book-request systems, because libraries had no rules for excluding AI-generated books.
- United States: The library e-book platform Hoopla had to remove AI-generated titles after reports that its catalogue was full of them. That means taxpayer-funded library subscriptions were paying for them.
- Amazon: After a wave of AI “scam books,” including fake biographies and summaries of real authors’ work, Amazon began requiring Kindle publishers to disclose AI-generated content and capped how many titles one account can publish per day.
- Iraq: A Baghdad publisher was accused of selling “fake books” at the Iraq International Book Fair, which started a public debate about AI and publishing standards.
The Tamil Nadu case adds a new twist. In most of these examples, the AI books got in through open platforms (self-publishing, e-book marketplaces) or through gaps in request systems. At Periyar Arivulagam, the books allegedly came through a government purchasing process that had a recommendation committee, a ₹50 crore budget and purchase orders. Here’s why that’s worrying:
- AI has made book-shaped products almost free to produce. A 200-page “history” with illustrations used to need an author, an editor and months of work. Now it takes an afternoon, so the profit from overpricing is almost all margin.
- Purchasing checks look at paperwork, not content. An ISBN, an invoice and a delivery note are easy to fake. Checking whether the facts inside a book are true takes a human who actually reads it.
- Scale is the cover. No committee reads 1,800 books, and AI makes it easy to produce books in bulk.
- Regional-language publishing is especially exposed. There are fewer reviewers, fewer online records and less public scrutiny, so fake titles in Tamil, Kannada or Telugu can go unnoticed longer than English ones.
What AI can (and can’t) do when it comes to making books
It’s worth separating the technology from the fraud. AI tools in 2026 really are capable, and that’s exactly why they’re easy to misuse.
What AI does well
- Fluent text at speed. Large language models can write a full-length manuscript in any major language, including Tamil, Hindi and Kannada, in a few hours.
- Illustration and cover art. Image models can produce consistent styles, clean line art, cover designs and decorative elements on demand.
- Layout and production. AI-assisted tools can typeset, paginate, design covers and export print-ready PDFs.
- Translation and adaptation. A book can be turned into several languages and reading levels almost instantly.
Where AI fails (and what to look out for)
- Hallucinated facts. Without a human checking sources, AI confidently invents dates, events, quotes and references. This is the “fabricated history” Murugan described.
- Generic, repetitive prose. AI-written text tends to be smooth but empty: the same sentence patterns over and over, with lots of summary and little real substance.
- Image–text mismatch. AI images are often added for decoration, not because they relate to the text. That’s why photos in some books didn’t match their subjects.
- No accountability trail. No real author, no verifiable publisher, no ISBN record. The technology doesn’t cause this, but it makes faceless publishing easy.
A quick checklist for librarians and buyers
| Check | What a real book has | Red flag |
| Author | A traceable person with previous work, interviews or a profile | Unknown name, celebrity-like name, no other trace |
| ISBN | Shows up in the ISBN agency or library databases | Untraceable or reused |
| Publisher | Real address, catalogue, history | No address, set up recently, single client |
| Content | Specific facts, citations, a consistent voice | Generic text, invented references, repetition |
| Images | Credited, relevant to the text | Uncredited, generic or unrelated |
| Price | In line with the market for similar page counts | Far above comparable titles |
| Volume | A normal number of titles per year | Hundreds of titles appearing together |
The issue isn’t AI. It’s AI with no disclosure, no human checking and no one accountable. Used openly, AI can help make good books faster and cheaper. Used secretly, it fills shelves with fake ones.
What honest AI publishing looks like: a free coloring book sample
We wanted to show the other side of this. Here is a book made entirely with AI, and we’re saying so clearly on the label.
Lepakshi & Jatayu: a Ramayana coloring book for children
The story comes from the Ramayana. The brave bird king Jatayu fights Ravana to stop him from carrying Sita away, and falls, badly wounded. According to local legend, the place where he fell is Lepakshi, not far from Bengaluru. Rama finds him there and says “Le, pakshi” (“Rise, O bird”), which is how the village got its name.
Our coloring book tells this story in simple scenes for children to color. The line art, the layout and the page design were all generated with AI, then selected, arranged and checked by a person before release.
Why a coloring book is a good fit for AI:
- There’s no risk of fake facts. A coloring page is a drawing, not a history lesson. The story is a well-known legend and is presented as one.
- AI is great at line art. Clean, bold outlines with space to color are exactly what image models do well.
- A human still decides what’s good. AI produced lots of options; a person chose the ones that tell the story clearly and are suitable for children.
- It’s clearly labelled. It doesn’t pretend to have a human illustrator, and it isn’t sold at an inflated price.
👉 Buy it here: print it, hand over some crayons, and see for yourself what AI-made books can look like when they’re made honestly.
The takeaway
The Periyar Arivulagam case will play out in investigations and in politics. Whichever side ends up responsible, the lesson for everyone else is the same:
- Public buyers need to check the content of books, not just the paperwork: look up ISBNs, verify authors and read samples before paying.
- Publishers and creators using AI should say so. Being open about it is what separates a useful tool from a scam.
- Readers, and especially parents and teachers, should get to know the warning signs. A book that sounds smooth but says nothing, cites sources that don’t exist or has pictures that don’t match the story deserves a closer look.
AI can now make a book in an afternoon. Making sure that book is honest is still up to people.
Sources
- Books ‘scam’ rocks Periyar Arivulagam, DT Next
- AI book scam unfolds in more libraries, DT Next
- Fake histories, dubious authorship: Perumal Murugan questions Periyar Arivulagam book procurements, The News Minute
- Fake books and inflated prices: Decoding the Periyar Arivulagam procurement row, The Week
- Book scam: TVK, DMK level corruption allegations against each other, Deccan Herald
- Battle over ‘dubious’ books: TVK, DMK pass the buck, The South First
- ‘Books by Trisha Vijay, AI misuse’, ETV Bharat
- AI mass-produced books in Korean public libraries, BizHankook
- Authors push back on the growing number of AI ‘scam’ books on Amazon, NPR via WLRN
- ‘Fake Books’ scandal in Iraq, Al-Fanar Media
- AI Slop vs. Your Library (on Hoopla)
