A debut thriller won by Minotaur in a seven-figure, two-book deal after a reported 14-way auction was withdrawn by its agents this week for suspected use of AI. The novel, whose title and author PL is withholding for the author’s privacy, sold for an alleged $2.5 million or thereabouts. But rumors surfaced quickly from people who had read the manuscript that the book contained many of the hallmarks of AI, including negative parallelism, off-kilter metaphors, and a flat prose style. On Wednesday, the author’s co-agents Marc Gerald and Ashley Coleman at Europa Content withdrew the book, after questioning the author […]
AI
ElevenLabs Releases Showpiece ‘Odyssey’ Audio
AI voice company ElevenLabs has released an audiobook of the Odyssey, narrated by an AI version of actor Michael Caine. The audiobook is created with a cloned version of Caine’s voice, which he licensed to the company, as well as 20 other AI voices, plus sound effects and music, the NYT reports. Even with an artificial cast, it took four human producers six weeks to create the 13-hour audiobook. ElevenLabs created the audiobook to “showcase the creative potential of voice clones and A.I. narration,” and timed it to coincide with media coverage of the upcoming film adaptation. “The idea was, […]
Dutch Publishers Launch Opt-In AI Licensing Platform
Some of the largest publishing companies in the Netherlands have joined to create a platform that gives publishers control over licensing their books to AI companies. Publishers VBK, WPG, Lannoo, and Maven and distributor CB have launched Bookpact.ai in an effort to keep rightsholders in control of how their books are used by tech companies. With authors’ consent, publishers can specify on Bookpact which titles may be used, and for what licensed usage (training, translation, summarization, etc.). “AI companies then submit offers for targeted licenses on a per-title basis,” they explain in a release, and publishers can choose to accept […]
Granta Ends Prize Partnerships After AI Fiasco
Granta magazine has ended its “external publishing partnerships,” including one with the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, after accusations that prize-winning stories were written with AI. As part of their partnership, Granta published five winning stories online, though magazine editors didn’t have anything to do with their selection. “Granta editors were not involved with these stories or their selection beyond copy-editing them upon receipt,” a spokesperson for the magazine said at the time. In a release, Granta stated, “For the sake of our own editorial integrity, the Granta Trust board has now taken the decision that we will no longer engage […]
Wiley Expects AI Sales to Multiply
On a call with investors this week, Wiley gave additional information about their partnerships for AI development. As reported, the company made $49 million through AI licenses in the 2026 fiscal year, up from about $40 million in 2025 and $23 million in 2024, and they expect to grow to more than $50 million next year. Recurring revenue was $1 million in the year ending in 2025, $8 million in 2026, and is expected to double or triple next year. “We expect a strong growth trajectory from there as we uncover more data set opportunities in our portfolio, rollout intelligence […]
Google Play Books Launches AI Insights Feature–With A Little Time to Opt Out
Google Play Books will launch a generative AI Book Insights feature — their version of an in-book chatbot — which they call a “reading companion.” It will allow readers to get a recap or ask a chatbot questions about the text. Starting July 6, it will be automatically enabled for most English-language books and will be available for books in other languages in the future. Unlike Amazon’s similar “Ask this Book” feature, launched late last year without advance notice or permission, and imposed by fiat with no escape, Google’s feature is opt out. Though it’s not a lot of advance […]