Indian Court Orders Probe Into Tamil Nadu Library Over Books Suspected of Being AI-Generated

In October, the novelist Perumal Murugan walked through a newly opened public library in Coimbatore, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and came away troubled by what he found on the Tamil-language shelves. Weeks later, the Madras High Court has ordered the state's anti-corruption agency to investigate how those books got there.

The library is the Periyar Arivulagam, built at a cost of about 3bn rupees ($34m; £26m) and named after the social reformer Periyar EV Ramasamy. Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay inaugurated it on 16 October. Murugan, whose novels Pyre and One Part Woman have won international recognition, wrote in an online magazine that nearly 1,800 books in the Tamil section had been supplied by a little-known publisher, Agal Vilakku Pathippagam. Many carried unfamiliar author names, unusually high prices and questionable International Standard Book Numbers.

One title he cited, Naladiyar Vaazhvin Vazhikatti (A Guide to Life through Naladiyar), was reportedly priced at 1,445 rupees for 300 pages. It describes Naladiyar as a Tamil poet and philosopher, though Naladiyar is in fact a classical Tamil work of 400 four-line verses on morality and ethics. Another book reportedly credits the ancient poem Madurai Kanchi to the wrong author. Whether AI was used to produce any of the disputed books remains unclear.

A similar question has arisen at a public library in Madurai, which holds a book titled Democracy and People's Rights in the Contemporary World, published by Phoenix Publishing House and naming the economist Jean Drèze as author. Drèze did not respond to BBC Tamil's request for comment, but told The Hindu earlier this week that he had not written it, raising the possibility that his name was used without permission.

The court's order directs the anti-corruption agency to investigate the purchases and to freeze bank accounts linked to the publisher accused of supplying the books. BBC Tamil visited a Chennai address listed for Agal Vilakku and for Phoenix Publishing House and found no signage for either business. A woman there confirmed that Agal Vilakku operated from the address. Its proprietor, Mohan, declined to comment, saying the matter was before the courts.

The state government has ordered an internal audit of library collections. School Education Minister A Rajmohan has called the affair potentially "India's first AI scam" and said the investigation would extend to purchases at other public libraries. He said 523 books had already been removed from the historic Connemara Public Library in Chennai after preliminary checks raised concerns about their authenticity and quality, and that disputed books have also been pulled from Periyar Arivulagam while anti-corruption officials examine procurement records and inspect other libraries.

The row has turned political. Rajmohan accused the previous government, led by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), of ordering the books, and said the state would try to recover public money if wrongdoing is found. The DMK rejects the allegations as politically motivated and has itself called for an investigation into the purchases.

More than 160 writers, researchers, artists and publishers have signed a joint statement demanding an independent inquiry, release of procurement records, and an audit of collections statewide. They also want public money recovered if funds were misused, and they question how the books could have cleared a selection process involving expert committees, price negotiations and several levels of review.

The case sits within a wider concern about AI in publishing, where tools can produce whole books quickly and cheaply, along with false information and invented references, and where libraries and publishers struggle to verify authenticity. What to watch now: the anti-corruption agency's findings, the procurement records, and whether any money is recovered as the statewide audit proceeds.