10th July 2026
Trade Interview
Thangam Debbonaire on AI: ‘You have to ask the bigger philosophical question’
Speaking to The Bookseller after delivering the keynote speech at the Publishers’ Licensing Services conference, the Labour peer makes the case for a nuanced approach to AI
W 30
hen I ask Baroness Thangam Debbonaire whether human knowledge continues to hold the same value in an AI economy, and what kind of
society is being built if the people who create that knowledge cannot earn a living, she laughs. “Just small questions,” she says. For Debbonaire, Labour peer, former shadow secretary for culture, media and sport, and chair of judges for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction, the fight over AI and copyright in publishing is an early version of a question that will reach far beyond the book trade. It is a question that was fresh in her mind when she spoke to The Bookseller shortly after delivering the keynote speech at the Publishers’ Licensing Services (PLS) conference, where she urged publishers and policymakers to move faster on AI licensing and transparency.
Debbonaire describes the creative industries’
debate as “the canary in the coal mine for wider issues about the role of the human”. At the heart of it is an industry built using what she calls “the building blocks” of human creativity, while AI companies still argue that paying for those works is “not cost-effective”, or would undermine their business model. “You’re effectively saying to creatives: ‘We’re using your work, but we’re not going to reward you,’” she says. “If your business model doesn’t work when you pay people properly, then your busi- ness isn’t going right.” She adds: “If you are a builder, you need
bricks, you need windows, you need carpen- ters, you need wood, you need bricklayers – if you just decide you’re not going to pay the brick supplier and you’re not going to pay the carpenter, but you’re going to pay everyone
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Trade Interview
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