The Madras High Court has ordered a criminal case over library books in Tamil Nadu suspected of being generated with AI.

The court told the state anti-corruption agency to register an FIR at once and freeze bank accounts linked to the publisher.

"Crores of rupees has gone out of the public exchequer," said the bench of Justices GR Swaminathan and MD Sumathi.

The judges also directed action, including suspension, against the officials behind the purchases.

The row started at Periyar Arivulagam, a new library in Coimbatore built for about 3 billion rupees.

Novelist Perumal Murugan found nearly 1,800 books in its Tamil section came from one little-known publisher, Agal Vilakku Pathippagam.

One book listed economist Jean Dreze as its author. Dreze told The Hindu that he had not written it.

Works falsely credited to the Tamil poet Subramania Bharati were also found on the shelves.

It has not been established whether AI actually produced the disputed books. That question is now part of the investigation.

Officials removed 523 books from the Connemara Public Library in Chennai and about 2,000 Agal Vilakku books from Periyar Arivulagam.

More than 160 writers, researchers, artists and publishers have asked for an independent inquiry and the release of procurement data.

Read the full story on the Tamil Nadu library books probe on Trends News Stories.

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