Employees at some of the largest US book publishers are said to be using generative artificial intelligence in ordinary business tasks even as the industry continues to warn publicly about the technology’s dangers. According to WIRED, staff at HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette have described managers promoting tools such as Claude and ChatGPT for publicity copy, back-cover text, cover concepts, marketing material and routine emails, creating a sharp contrast between public caution and internal practice.

The accounts suggest that the push has often come from the top. WIRED reported that some workers were asked to help normalise AI use and to identify practical applications for it, with one HarperCollins employee saying senior leaders had bought Claude licences and then struggled to work out how best to use them. The publication added that staff were encouraged to attend repeated brainstorming sessions to find further uses across the business, while some younger employees felt the burden of proving the technology’s value was being placed on them.

That internal encouragement has reportedly met resistance. Employees told WIRED that concerns about legal, ethical and environmental risks were brushed aside in one discussion as simply "the cost of doing business". HarperCollins later updated its internal guidance to acknowledge that artificial intelligence has an environmental impact, although it said this represented only a small share of most people’s overall digital carbon footprint. The tension has been particularly acute in an industry where, according to WIRED’s citation of 2023 data, the average starting salary for publishing workers at the Big Five and Scholastic in New York City was $47,583.

The broader backdrop is an industry publicly fighting AI while quietly experimenting with it. WIRED reported that publishers have spent much of the year opposing generative AI through copyright disputes and by removing books suspected of relying on large language models, yet employees say those headline cases may capture only part of the picture. Some staff told the magazine that books were being withdrawn over AI concerns without public explanation, deepening unease about disclosure, author consent and the possibility that the drive for efficiency is outpacing the sector’s willingness to confront the creative and labour consequences.

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Source: Noah Wire Services