Authors Urge Publishers To Ban AI-Written Books

Multiple authors have written an influential open correspondence to major U.S. publishers, which demands their public opposition to AI in book creation.

The letter addresses Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and other major publishers to warn about a future where books will be produced by AI instead of humans.

“At its simplest level, our job as artists is to respond to the human experience,” the authors write. But they fear that experience is being replaced by AI-generated content that mimics human creativity without truly understanding it.

“To bleed, or starve, or love […] only a human being can speak to and understand another human being,” the letter noted.

The authors also accuse AI companies of using their work without permission to train AI models. “Taken without our consent, without payment, without even the courtesy of acknowledgment,” they write.

The concern extends beyond writers to editors, copy editors, and narrators. whose jobs are also under threat as publishers explore AI replacements.

The writers acknowledge AI has practical applications, yet reject its use for replacing creative professionals. “The writing that AI produces feels cheap because it is cheap. It feels simple because it is simple to produce.”

The letter ends with a direct appeal to publishers: “We want our publishers to stand with us. To make a pledge that they will never release books that were created by machines.”

The writers demand specific promises from publishers to avoid AI-generated book publications, to refrain from using AI to replace staff members, and to maintain human voices in audiobooks. They also stress the need to safeguard the writing profession for upcoming generations. “We await your response,” the authors conclude.