In June 2025, a coalition of over 70 authors, including Dennis Lehane and Lauren Groff, issued an open letter through Lit Hub. The letter urged major publishing houses to commit to not releasing books created by artificial intelligence (AI).
The letter was addressed to the "big five" U.S. publishers and other American publishers. It garnered over 1,100 signatures within 24 hours, highlighting the widespread concern among authors about AI's impact.
The authors' primary requests include refraining from releasing books written using AI tools trained on copyrighted content without consent. They also want publishers to avoid replacing human employees with AI and to continue hiring human audiobook narrators.
This initiative follows similar actions by authors concerned about AI's impact on the literary world. The Authors Guild has also urged AI companies to obtain permission and fairly compensate authors for using their copyrighted works. Legal challenges are also underway, with authors filing lawsuits against AI companies for alleged copyright infringement.
Some publishers are responding to these concerns, with Simon & Schuster stating they are actively engaged in protecting authors' intellectual property rights. The debate over AI's role in publishing continues to evolve, with authors and publishers navigating the complex intersection of technology, creativity, and intellectual property rights.
Source: The Atlantic, Associated Press, Financial Times.