Major book publishers are hiring AI engineers to improve business operations—such as sales forecasting, marketing, and workflow optimization—while publicly committing not to use AI for writing or editing books and protecting authors’ intellectual property. Despite ongoing legal and ethical debates, publishers see AI as a valuable tool for efficiency, even as many authors remain strongly opposed to its use in the industry.
Major book publishers such as Penguin Random House, Macmillan, Sourcebooks, and Wiley are actively hiring AI engineers, according to job listings reviewed by Forbes. While many authors are vocally opposed to AI—filing lawsuits against AI companies for allegedly using their copyrighted works without permission—publishers are taking a more pragmatic approach. They are not currently using AI to write or edit books, but instead are leveraging AI to improve business operations, such as forecasting which books will sell well and optimizing pricing strategies.
For example, Pan Macmillan is hiring AI solutions managers to identify potential use cases and design products that address complex business challenges. These roles involve building prototypes, designing new workflows, and integrating AI tools into daily operations. The company has publicly stated it uses AI for tasks like keyword tagging to enhance book discoverability, document summarization, translation, and content moderation. However, Pan Macmillan emphasizes its commitment to publishing “human stories by human writers.”
Penguin Random House is also investing in AI, hiring a senior AI solutions engineer to develop systems for book marketing and discovery, as well as to improve inventory management and print run decisions. Its parent company, Bertelsmann, announced plans to roll out OpenAI’s ChatGPT Enterprise to employees. Despite this internal adoption of AI, Penguin Random House has started adding disclaimers to its books stating they cannot be used to train AI models, reaffirming its commitment to protecting authors’ intellectual property.
Authors remain outspoken critics of AI’s role in publishing. Notable writers like Margaret Atwood, Zadie Smith, and George R.R. Martin have publicly criticized AI-generated writing, calling it hollow or even likening it to plagiarism. Tensions escalated when Amazon introduced an AI feature on Kindle that allowed readers to interact with books via chat, prompting backlash from authors and the Authors Guild over concerns about unauthorized use of copyrighted material. Amazon clarified that book content was not used to train the underlying AI model.
Legally, AI companies have seen some victories, with courts ruling in favor of fair use for training AI models on copyrighted works, though downloading pirated books remains illegal. Some publishers, like Wiley, have opted to license their backlist and academic titles to AI companies, generating significant revenue. However, smaller publishers are wary of the risks involved in licensing all their titles. Despite ongoing legal and ethical debates, publishers are eager to experiment with AI tools to streamline operations, such as sorting and analyzing the large volume of manuscripts they receive, recognizing AI as a tool that can enhance efficiency in the industry.