Employees of Simon & Schuster have been signing an open letter to ceo Greg Greeley and S&S leadership opposing the proposed implementation of AI-powered software that they fear could allow management to monitor staff productivity. On Tuesday, in a memo to staff addressing the issue, Greeley noted, “I would like to see more efficient solutions considered as part of the 2027 technology roadmap as we equip our teams with better tools and processes.” He explained, “One possible avenue being explored is whether software could help assess how this work is currently performed, including a product called Blueprint from Skan AI. […]
AI
Audible Launches “Bonus” Interactive Audio Experience in Audiobooks
Audible is rolling out three AI features in beta for US and UK users. Features will first be available for Audible Original titles, and the company plans to expand in the future. Later this fall, the company will release “interactive stories” that allow readers to have a “bonus experience” with a character outside of a book’s narrative, “brought to life through a unique combination of generative AI, conversational design, and rich sound production.” The first interactive story is adapted from Bram Stoker’s Dracula and follows the character of Renfield. “The character speaks first, assigning the listener a role, goal, and […]
Prize-Winning Novelist at the Center of AI Controversy Now Also Accused of Pre-AI Plagiarism
Thélyson Orélien, the debut writer of the Fnac-winning, Prix Goncourt-nominated novel It Was Either That or Die, who is at the center of the latest AI controversy, is now also accused of plagiarism in multiple works published before the advent of generative AI. The controversy began when an anonymous X account called Balance ton Claude accused Orélien of AI use, writing that “according to Pangram, this novel was written almost entirely by artificial intelligence.” Rights to the book have sold in 20 countries, including to Scribner in the US. Orélien and his publisher Éditions Grasset denied the the claims. Orélien, […]
Nearly Half of Scholars Are Using AI for Academic Books, Survey Finds
Many scholars are using AI in their book and journal submissions, but they are not being fully transparent about it, according to a new survey by Oxford University Press. Looking specifically at books rather than scholarly journals, about 46 percent of authors who published a book in the last year used AI in crafting their manuscripts. Eight percent of authors fully disclosed their AI use while 39 percent did not fully disclose it. The most common uses of AI in books were “editing and writing assistance, finding relevant sources and literature, references and citation management, and translation.” A quarter of […]
Trump Administration Files Statement in Support of OpenAI in Copyright Suits
The Department of Justice took the highly unusual step of filing a “statement of interest” in support of OpenAI and Microsoft in the copyright infringement lawsuit brought by the New York Times. (Though they also declare in a footnote, “The United States’ legal arguments apply similarly to all parties in this litigation and the related cases, including book authors and publishers.”) It’s a policy position presented in the language of a legal paper. Their official position, flowing from Dear Leader’s executive order on “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence,” is that the development of LLMs is super-duper transformative, […]
Google Launches Licensed Version of Applying AI to Individual eBooks
On Thursday Google launched a licensed platform called Expert Intelligence that makes participating books available for interrogation by an AI chatbot through the search giant’s Gemini Notebook. Based on the idea that “readers return to their favorite books repeatedly, and continue to apply the author’s lessons to their own life,” the feature “makes it simple for you to ask questions about the book and receive responses grounded directly in that book. You can also use Gemini Notebook to help you understand books in new ways, for example, by generating Infographics, Audio Overviews, Quizzes, or more from the book.” Users can […]