THIS WEEK
A number of the UK’s biggest publishing groups have issued guidance as to how staff should use AI, as the nascent technology’s impact on publishing increases
Sian Bayley @sleighbayley
P
ublishers are beginning to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their day- to-day operations, most commonly in marketing, copywriting and metadata. Many are still “experimenting” with how the tools can help speed up boring and repetitive tasks, and remain concerned about the impact the technology could have on copyright and human creativit. Just this week Amazon- owned Kindle Direct Publishing announced it has begun testing virtual voice-narrated audiobooks in the US. Hachete published its position on AI this week, creating a distinction between “operational” uses and “creative” uses, the later harnessing AI “to replace the creative work of a human author, designer, illustrator or translator”. Hachete has made it clear it encourages “responsible experimentation” for operational uses but is opposed to “machine creativit... in order to protect original creative content produced by humans”. Pan Macmillan has taken a similar line, “mindfully developing” its approach, collaborating with its sister companies, including CHAPTR, an AI start-up within the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, to “explore effective and secure use of AI” in its publish- ing operations. This includes AI tools devel- oped in-house which enable the publisher to work securely with its licensed content. “We are actively piloting these tools to help us with tasks such as copywriting and metadata,” Sara Lloyd, group communications director and chair of Pan Macmillan’s AI Steering Group, told The Bookseller. But she stressed: “On
04 3rd November 2023
FutureBook Conference Special The Lead Story
Publishers outline AI practices in attempt to balance efficiency and creativity
THE USE OF GENERATIVE AI HAS BEEN CONTENTIOUS IN CREATIVE SECTORS, INCLUDING AMONG ILLUSTRATORS AND DESIGNERS
the wider stage, the development of AI must continue to be subject to great scrutiny and it is imperative that the necessary guardrails remain”, such as ensuring responsible usage and copyright protection.
Bonnier Books UK said it was “conducting controlled experiments with AI tools across internal teams to see how the technology can best support our publishing and the day-to-day work of our talented teams”, noting “copyright and privacy concerns remain ever front of mind”. A spokesperson told The Bookseller: “We stand firmly against the unauthorised use of copyright material to train large language models [LLMs].”
A call for intervention
This week the Publishers Association issued a joint statement with the Societ of Authors (SoA), the Authors’ Licensing & Collecting Societ (ALCS) and Association of Authors’ Agents (AAA) to call on the government to put in place “tangible solutions” to protect the “human creativit” behind AI, as well as asking for “acknowledgement of and recom- pense for the copyright infringement that has
If the right balance of efficiency with human creativity can be achieved, generative AI may well become as integral to publising as the internet itself Spokesperson for Wiley
already happened”. The SoA has made clear authors should be asked for consent before their work is used to train AI. Independent Publishers Guild chief executive Bridget Shine said a recent survey of members showed 42% are using AI in some form, with ChatGPT the most common, especially in publicit material, blurbs and social media content. “If AI can cut time spent on repetitive tasks and publishing chores then it can free people up to focus on more creative and commercially valuable tasks,” she said, but stressed “we have to find ways to protect [Intellectual Propert] from infringement and ensure that new content remains authentic,
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