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Did a human write the last book you read? <\/p>\n
It’s a question you might be asking more often as authors increasingly incorporate artificial intelligence into their work.<\/p>\n
But as AI continues to creep into the book world, a Halifax-based publisher is fighting back.<\/p>\n
Whitney Moran is the managing editor at Nimbus Publishing and Vagrant Press. She says the company, which publishes around 50 Atlantic Canadian titles a year, is taking a hard stance against the technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as you start engaging with generative AI to help you even do an outline, I don’t feel like the work is yours anymore,\u201d said Moran.<\/p>\n
Moran said using AI to write runs counter to Nimbus\u2019s mission to share human stories. <\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781262730_436_default.jpg\")
Whitney Moran, managing editor of Nimbus Publishing and Vagrant Press, sits at her desk. (Grey Butler\/CBC)<\/p>\n
She also said publishers are responsible not only for selling and distributing authors\u2019 words but for protecting their intellectual property too.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s so disrespectful to other writers to just kind of mine the information that’s out there. If that’s the way you’re going to go, then we’re not the publisher for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
No industry standards<\/p>\n
Moran said it\u2019s been tricky to navigate the transforming industry, especially without any industrywide standards in place. Nimbus has developed its own AI policy as it waits for more widespread regulation.<\/p>\n
The policy says Nimbus “does not condone the use of generative\u00a0AI\u00a0in creating text, artwork, editorial or publicity materials.”<\/p>\n
As the company holds fast in its commitment to humans, some experts are leaning in.<\/p>\n
I think it will be bad for the industry.- Olivier Blais<\/p>\n
Olivier Blais is the co-founder and chief technology officer at Moov AI, a Quebec-based AI consulting company. He also co-chairs the federal government\u2019s advisory council on artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
Blais says artificial intelligence is an incredible tool that can make the writing process smoother for people such as himself with little experience.<\/p>\n
Blais is writing a book about how companies can implement AI into their operations.<\/p>\n
A francophone, he said writing the book in English is proving difficult and he’s combining his thoughts with AI\u2019s writing capabilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve written pages and pages and pages of bullet points and the way I’d like it to be structured,\u201d Blais said of his process. “But then I have used generative AI as a way to help write in a language that’s a little bit closer to what’s in a book.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, he recognizes the long-term impact AI could have on the world of books.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it will be bad for the industry because it will reduce the overall quality of what’s being written and published.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s exactly what Paul MacKay is worried about. MacKay manages the King\u2019s Co-op Bookstore in Halifax and stocks the new books section at Trident Booksellers & Cafe, which primarily sells used books.<\/p>\n
MacKay thinks readers are already getting tired of seeing AI on the shelf.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just seems like we’re kind of hitting an inflection point where people have kind of had enough of AI art and AI writing in general.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neither store will knowingly sell a book that AI was used to create, said MacKay.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781262730_257_default.jpg\")
The King’s Co-op Bookstore in Halifax shared a Facebook post in May 2026 indicating it doesn’t support AI. (Facebook)<\/p>\n
He said it\u2019s not simply about whether AI was used to write the words, or the quality of its work. The technology, he says, also takes jobs away from the many people who work on a book, from editors to fact checkers to cover artists.<\/p>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781262731_124_default.jpg\")
A book catalogue contains a word search book that was partially created using artificial intelligence. (Grey Butler\/CBC)<\/p>\n