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<\/p>\nIs artificial intelligence an “existential threat” to traditional book publishing?<\/p>\n
That’s the impression we get from the headlines: online sellers flooded with AI “slop” books, publishing houses inundated with AI-generated submissions, book deals falling apart, and three literary prize winners so far this year being accused of using the technology.<\/p>\n
Louise Doughty, a judge on the 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize whose winner was accused of AI use, thinks so.<\/p>\n
“We’re only at the beginning of understanding the depth of that threat, and how we can combat it,” she said.<\/p>\n
Readers can still discern whether a text is AI-generated through certain “tells”. (Getty Images: imaginima)<\/p>\n
Readers struggling to ‘keep up’ with evolution of AI text<\/p>\n
How do we even tell whether a book is AI-generated?<\/p>\n
ABC Radio National’s Critics Corner spoke to Matthew Rubery, professor of Modern Literature at Queen Mary University, trying to answer this big question plaguing some readers.<\/p>\n
He said individual readers could still broadly discern whether a text was AI-generated, through “tells” including:<\/p>\n
“It’s not X, it’s Y” constructionsAlways giving three examplesLaboured metaphors<\/p>\n
But Dr Rubery said the signs of AI usage “change a lot” and it was “very tough to keep up with it”.<\/p>\n
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Matthew Rubery spoke to Radio National’s Critics Corner about AI disclosure. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
One potential solution to the issue is a “human-authored” certification.<\/p>\n
Many certification schemes are gaining traction around the world, using a range of methods including interviewing the author, asking for their edit history and using AI tools to analyse their work.<\/p>\n
Trevor Woods, CEO of the human-authored certification company Proudly Human, said he expected the AI tools to get less and less effective over time.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, however, the service has attracted a spike in interest which Mr Woods said could birth a “brand new industry”.<\/p>\n
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He predicts the certification industry could be worth “hundreds of millions or billions of dollars” at its height, adding that individual authors, publishers and writers’ groups would be footing the bill.<\/p>\n
When asked whether big tech companies or governments should be paying for the schemes, he said that was not a realistic aspiration.<\/p>\n
“It’s like asking the bad guys that have robbed you of everything to then give you a little bit of money back to try and make you feel better about it,” he said.<\/p>\n
Beyond the issue of writers bearing the cost of relieving readers’ uncertainty around AI, Ms Doughty expressed concern about the emerging trend of using AI tools to detect AI-generated writing.<\/p>\n
She said the tools were used to level accusations at this year’s Commonwealth Short Story Prize winner, despite the prize’s own investigations finding the winning work was human-authored.<\/p>\n
“It’s important for the industry to be aware of and guard against frivolous or malicious accusations of AI being used to derail a writer’s career,” she said.<\/p>\n
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Louise Doughty was a judge on the 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
She said the accusation “will always be easier to level at new authors” who did not have a body of work that AI tools could refer to, producing false positives and degrading reader trust.<\/p>\n
“Absolutely, we must not end up with books written by AI, but we must also view AI diagnostic tools with the same level of scepticism,” she said.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, Dr Rubery says, “there will be too many challenges for this to be successful” in the long run.<\/p>\n
But advocacy groups have tabled another solution at last week’s Joint Select Committee<\/a> hearings on artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n Groups like the Australian Publishers Association say the government should enact laws requiring the disclosure of AI use in texts, among other improvements.<\/p>\n However, there are fears that the government is going the other way, favouring the interests of tech companies over authors and publishers.<\/p>\n Copyright changes to ‘displace’ authors from the book market<\/p>\n A proposal leaked last month revealed the government was considering watering down copyright law to create an “opt-out” system where tech companies could train their AI models on authored work without permission until rights holders told them to stop.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the Joint Select Committee hearings last week, writers and publishers urged the government not to pursue the changes.<\/p>\n “AI companies seeking an opt-out model are asking government to reverse a basic principle: if you want to use someone else’s work, you should first seek permission,” Hachette Australia and New Zealand head Louise Stark said while fronting up to the committee.<\/p>\n Louise Stark spoke at the committee this week. (Supplied: Hachette Australia and New Zealand)<\/p>\n “An opt-out model shifts the burden onto the very people whose rights should be protected.”<\/p>\n A submission by the Australian Society of Authors noted it was not a future issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tech companies have already scraped vast amounts of authored work in what a Microsoft executive termed “the largest theft of labour in human history”.<\/p>\n The ASA also cited a UK report<\/a> which found 86 per cent of authors surveyed reported a drop in income due to generative AI.<\/p>\n Kylie Moore-Gilbert, author of The Uncaged Sky, attributes a drop in income to AI-generated summaries and knock-offs of her memoir posted online.<\/p>\n Kylie Moore-Gilbert says her memoir was scraped and reproduced with AI. (Supplied)<\/p>\n “If someone wanted to read a condensed version of my book in a couple of hours without paying for it, they could listen to this instead,” she said.<\/p>\n “Each time a reader watches or listens to such a clip rather than reading or listening to my book is a sale I lose and royalties I don’t receive.”<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/b21d7894061a23ddc98c36e0e9018cdf.jpeg\")
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