Understanding and Minimizing the Use of AI in Publishing
In today’s modern age, we are confronted with artificial intelligence (AI) seemingly everywhere. It has become nearly impossible to scroll on any social media without consuming “AI slop,” or low-quality AI content. AI goes back decades to early computer software, but recent developments have caused its rapid and immense expansion.
This sudden shift in technological dynamics can seem useful on its surface, but the truth is murkier than that. Creative circles have been particularly affected by the uptick in AI usage. In the publishing industry, for example, AI software is “writing” and “illustrating” entire books. This displaces human creativity and can cause a massive ripple effect across the industry.
This article will briefly discuss the potential pitfalls of AI use in the modern publishing and writing industries.
AI Comes in Different Forms
Not all AI is the same. There are two broad groups that most AI falls within: generative and non-generative. These categories have some overlap, but their functions, purposes, and outputs tend to be vastly different. Neither is perfect, and both should be carefully monitored and reviewed in the publishing industry.
Generative AI is that which produces concrete output based on a user’s prompt. This is commonly text, images, videos, or chat responses. Rudimentary generative AI was noticeably low quality, often to a comedic extent. In recent years, however, generative AI technology has advanced to startling levels.
There are larger implications of everyone having the ability to produce false content, including in writing. Primarily, using AI to write takes away much of the creative control from the “author.” Further, just because an AI software produces content, that content does not have to be accurate. AI is trained from human behavior, and this can be manipulated or altered.
Non-generative AI is more focused on processing pre-existing information, often to make it more digestible for the user. This type of AI can quickly take complex data and run analyses or tests. This is also not completely perfect, but many people use it to ease overbearing workload. However, this should never be left unchecked. This is the more traditional type of AI that traces its roots back decades.
There Is no Replacement for the Human Mind
Using generative AI takes creativity out of art. Entering a prompt into AI software is not the same as writing a book or painting a picture. Throughout history, the human mind has created impossibly beautiful art across all mediums; computers have not. Since AI models have to be trained on pre-existing material, there is no room to meaningfully expand its creative world.
Computer programs can never replace human creativity, even when humans produce flawed work. Creativity goes deeper than just thinking of ideas. People’s creative muscles are flexed when they practice their craft; writers grow when they write. The story you are telling can also change throughout the writing process, but AI does not naturally evolve or adapt.
Even though AI is less detectable now than in the past, it is still often noticeable. Consumers who recognize AI generated content can be turned off from the entire brand. Without human creativity at its core, art is hollow. People should always be the driving force behind art.
Publishing Without AI
Publishers are responsible for mitigating the impact of AI in the publishing industry. When publishers let AI go unchecked, the entire industry suffers. It is a privilege to publish a book, and they should only be published when they are human made. Letting AI books freely into the market can overwhelm consumers with subpar content.
It is up to publisher discretion for what, if any, AI use is allowed in their process. While generative AI raises the most serious concerns, non-generative AI should also be monitored. People use this form of AI to ease an overbearing workload, but it should never be a shortcut.
In the audiobook world, generative AI should never be used for narration. The text of a book may be finished, but some may want to use AI to quickly create audio. This is an extremely slippery slope. While AI voices can sound mostly human-like, it is rarely perfect. Further, it takes jobs from the voice actors who traditionally narrate books. These actors add a human touch to the process to create a stronger product.
Here at Cloverly Audiobook, we never use AI in the process of creating your audiobook. We work with a team of narrators to select the right one for your book. Your audiobook will be the highest possible quality and worked on by real humans every step of the way. Your input is always the most important, and nothing is finalized without your final approval.
