AI-generated books on Charlie Kirk's assassination seemingly flood Amazon before being taken down

Less than two days after political activist and Trump ally Charlie Kirk was assassinated at a college event, seemingly AI-generated books have flooded online shopping platforms like Amazon.

Kirk was shot dead on September 10, at 31, while he was hosting a college event for Turning Point USA. Following his death, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to announce his death and said,

"The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie."

Kirk's Utah Valley University event was the first stop on his planned 15-day event of his America Comeback Tour at college campuses across the USA.

Apparent AI-generated books centered around Charlie Kirk's death flood Amazon

Hours after Charlie Kirk was assassinated, apparent AI-generated books surrounding his death popped up on Amazon. As per SAN, Amazon removed the books on the evening of September 11, after responding to inquiries from Straight Arrow News. An Amazon spokesperson told SAN that the book seemed to have been published earlier due to a technical issue on the website, which was the day before the shooting.

“Due to a technical issue, the date of publication that had been displayed for this title, while it was briefly listed, was incorrect, and we apologize for any confusion this may have caused,” the spokesperson said. “The title was published late in the afternoon on September 10th.”

A few of the books that were made available were titled as The Charlie Kirk Shooting: A Nation on Edge and THE LEGACY OF CHARLIE KIRK: A Biography on His Rise, His Movement, and His Tragic Death.

The first book was being sold for $7.99 and its description claimed that the book gave "readers the full story" on not only the assassination but also "the quick arrest of the Charlie Kirk shooter."

"If you've been asking yourself did Charlie Kirk get shot, is Charlie Kirk dead, or following every Charlie Kirk update on Fox News, CNN, and social media, this book is for you. It delivers clear answers, deep reflection, and a hopefull call to action for a safer and more respectful public space."

The second book was more about Kirk's life than his death, and the description read,

"Kirk's death stunned the nation and raised urgent questions about political discource, violence, and the risks faced by public figures in a deeply polarized America."

These books are not the only AI-generated content that has popped up about Charlie's death. As per NewsGuard, X account of AI chatbot Perplexity falsely stated that the activist was never shot and is "still alive."

More posts that contained a seemingly real-like video of Kirk being shot spread online, and the X account of Grok, Elon Musk's chatbot, stated that the video is a "meme edit." Grok also falsely stated that a Utah-based registered Democrat named Michael Mallinson has been identified as the shooter.

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