Posted by Maleeha Mir on 30 November 2023, in Event reports, News
Photos by Amelia Kyazze, Words by Maleeha Mir
You can listen to an audio recording of this event via this link.
Byte the Book's November panel focused on the interesting and hotly debated topic of AI or artificial intelligence technology and its impact on the publishing industry - How Can AI Help Publishers and Authors? Byte the Book founder, Justine Solomons led this fascinating discussion as the event’s chair, and she was joined by Michael Bhaskar (Writer, Publisher and Co-Author of The Coming Wave), Nadim Sadek (Founder & CEO of Shimmr AI and Author of Shimmer Don't Shake – How Publishing Can Embrace AI), Jon Plackett (Senior Creative Technologist + Creative Developer at Wieden + Kennedy and Author of Gender Swapped Greek Myths and Gender Swapped Fairy Tales) and Tom Cox (Co-Founder of Veristage AI).
Our panel from left to right: Tom Cox, Nadim Sadek, Justine Solomons (panel chair), Jon Plackett and Michael Bhaskar.
Justine kicked off the evening with a question that resonated with the buzzing curiosity of the audience: What is AI? Tom Cox, a seasoned expert on the panel, wove a narrative around the complexity of AI, emphasizing its ever-changing nature. “AI in the simplest terms is categorized as artificial intelligence or a form of a technology that has the ability to function without human support or interference. But this definition develops very quickly into a myriad of other complicated explanations as AI is now being used across all industries in different forms and systems.” Tom reiterates that AI is constantly changing and that “it’s hard to define AI in basic terms these days as its definition can be as fluid and ever-changing as AI itself.” In terms of its potential impact on the publishing industry and its future, he concludes that “AI has the power to change the publishing industry from top to bottom, across all areas of work” he stated, setting the stage for a captivating discussion.
Tom Cox sharing his insights on how publishers can efficiently use AI as a tool to improve their publishing processes.
Although the main focus of the evening revolved around the potential impact of AI on the publishing industry, our expert panel shared their expertise from their own work in other creative industries too. Nadim Sadek shared insights into ShimmrAI's approach, stating, "in the simplest terms, we use AI to help us make ads for books at ShimmrAI”. Nadim adds, “the more complex version of it is that we do that with the intent of producing durably, higher revenues for titles that suit the publisher. It gives greater reach and recognition and overall a higher discovery chance for the authors.” Nadim goes on to share how his company and team use AI to further enhance their work. “We're an AI native company. So we start with AI, and we do everything essentially, with AI. And what we do is employ large language models and fusion models. We're sort of a convergence of thinking about advertising where many of us in the team come from with an understanding of the business model of advertising and of publishing.” Tom Cox echoed this positive sentiment, emphasizing how AI can be the driving force in publishing. "AI can be used to do the heavy lifting in publishing. It can be used to analyze the sales and marketing trends, so we can look at forecasting what's going to serve well at a particular point. It’s also very useful when supporting sales data, it can take into account seasonality and we can update metadata for backless titles. So you can take advantage of world events going on as well” he explained. “In my experience, AI does a really good job at writing marketing copy and supporting these functional tasks.” Tom’s forward-thinking attitude showcased AI as a valuable tool for streamlining tasks and boosting efficiency.
Nadim Sadek detailing his experiences of using AI for his work as founder and CEO of Shimmr AI.
Jon Plackett introduced a novel perspective, emphasizing the potential for AI to extend beyond traditional tasks. “I think there's a whole opportunity with these very creative people writing books to create surrounding content for books. AI has the ability to help authors and publishers to do their work in a more efficient and manageable way - it is definitely something that this industry has to accept as a key part of creative life for the future.” He envisioned AI as a catalyst for creativity, stating, “I am more interested in what you could add around the book using the power of AI - that potentiality is quite interesting and opportunity that AI creates is something impossible to ignore”. John explains that AI could not only add to the actual product aspect of a book but enhance the experience it creates for a reader. “There are various book series that are hugely popular that could be supplemented if they had a book published in between the main series titles of each book. So AI could potentially create a kind of smaller book that keeps you going while you're waiting for the next book. I think AI could really push this idea and quicken the process.” John also reflects on the reading experience and how artificial intelligence can create a newfound sense of awe in readers. “Deeper into this world, if you imagine an AI that has the ability to read the whole book, back to front, and then can share the whole plot with you, tell you about the characters, name the books that are similar, and give you a more in-depth background of the books that you're reading - it could take you into the book at a deeper level.”
Jon Plackett sharing his ideas on how the publishing industry can use AI to generate more creative content.
The discussion broadened further as Michael Bhaskar emphasized the importance of the human touch in publishing. In his experience “what people are usually thinking about in terms of AI impact on the industry is its ability to perform tasks. It always comes back to this jobs debate and people will say that the AI is always going to be better at tasks than people. But actually, it's not good at roles. What most people in publishing do are roles with a larger system that act with initiative and change rapidly.” He adds the importance of the human aspect that is lacking in currently in AI systems. “For any role in publishing, there's a kind of multifacetedness to roles that means that an AI could never encapsulate or take over the industry in the way that people fear it might one day. Humans still need to monitor and check the work of AI because it’s not faultless” Michael goes on to quell the fears of many writers in the room, adding, “Right now, no AI system can write a novel and I don’t feel any AI system will be able to write book a well as a human being. But I think we have to be ready to face a world of these capable agents (AI) that will mean that hugely complex jobs can be done by AI systems.” Jon Plackett also acknowledged the hurdles AI faces, pointing out the need for ethical considerations and diverse perspectives in AI development. “There are so many things to consider before we develop AI to become as autonomous as possible. For example, I know companies like Adobe are going out and setting up ethics boards so that they have a range of people who have different perspectives, ethnicities, genders, opinions, and ideas sharing their input into AI.” He reiterates that “as we create AI or use AI, these biases need to be addressed and AI needs to be representative of people using it. We’d still need to look into enforcement learning from human feedback - people still need to fine-tune these systems so that they would know to be more inclusive and knowledgable about the world it reflects.”.
Michael Bhaskar sharing his knowledge of the different AI systems he has used to get a better idea of how it might impact the publishing world as a whole.
Nadim Sadek concluded the insightful evening by contemplating the future of AI. He acknowledges its impact while we try to maintain autonomy and agency. " I think it's inevitable that AI will impact our future in many different ways, but we should be positive and able to maintain its discourse, and purpose, and address it," Nadim asserted, leaving the audience with a sense of optimism. “We're only beginning to learn to command the power of AI. I think as a society, we're going to become less all-struck. It is awe-inspiring what AI is doing and achieving. But we're going to have to become less all-struck to take back our agency and our command and control over artificial intelligence.”
Our attendees, including Jasmine Richards (founder of Storymix) asking the panelists questions about how AI will impact the future of publishing across large companies and smaller publishing houses.
Upon reflection, this insightful and eye-opening event not only revealed the intricate facets of AI in publishing but also highlighted the evolving relationship between technology and creativity. As AI continues to shape the publishing landscape, this insightful panel discussion sparked a collective curiosity about the endless possibilities that lie ahead. The journey of AI in the publishing industry is just beginning, and the narrative it weaves promises to be as captivating as the stories it helps create.
Thank you to Vearsa for sponsoring our event!
You can see more photos from our brilliant photos from 'How Can AI Help Publishers and Authors?' event here!
