The publishing industry is facing immense uncertainty and pressure amidst the rise of AI usage. It was the majorly hot-topic at London Book Fair 2026, where authors and publishers alike addressed the threats and opportunities AI poses to the industry at large. While milling around the book fair, I kept seeing hundreds of copies of the same book titled Don’t Steal This Book. Organised by campaigner Ed Newton-Rex, this ‘empty’ book contains over 10,000 authors’ names in protest of AI stealing information from authors (Spanoudi, 2026). What was most striking to me was seeing this book passed and carried around while I would head into panel after panel where speakers (mostly publishers) would advise other publishers that they should be open to the use of AI in the workplace (London Book Fair, 2026). While publishers are navigating how to ethically use AI in the workplace, authors are left terrified about their work being stolen and are trying to come up with their own safeguards for their work.

Image Source: Society of Authors 2026

At London Book Fair 2026, Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl with the Pearl Earring (HarperCollins) announced a new scheme launched by the Society of Authors (SoA): the “Human Authored” scheme (Brown, 2026). The SoA partnered with the US Authors Guild to create this campaign, which aims to recognise human creativity “in a world of generative AI” (The Society of Authors 2026). This scheme includes a logo that identifies that an author’s work has been created by a human, not generative AI. The scheme is free for those who are members of The Society of Authors (The Society of Authors, 2026). While this may seem like a positive protection for authors, it makes me question who this actually protects.

© Shutterstock

According to Jane Friedman (2026), publishers do not seem eager to disclose when they use AI, which was reflected in the few panels I attended at London Book Fair. At many panels, publishers would offer vague descriptions of using AI for ‘non-creative’ or ‘tedious’ tasks, but it made me wonder: where exactly is this line drawn and, more importantly, who draws it? Even when clear lines are drawn, like when five US publishing houses sue Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg for ‘alleged wilful copyright infringement’, in May 2026, publishers like Youngsuk Chi –chairman of Elsevier – still defend the ‘promise of AI’ within the creative industries (Brown, 2026). While this statement likely does not represent all publishers, it represents the overarching issue of the vagueness surrounding when AI is permissible for publishers, whereas authors are continuously advised not to use AI tools for submitted manuscripts (Brown, 2026), alongside fearing for their livelihoods with the increased usage of AI (Snow, 2026).


The power dynamics between authors and publishers within the industry is further imbalanced by this double standard. In the face of so much uncertainty surrounding AI safeguards, publishers hold much of the power in determining when and how to demand for such safeguards, forcing authors to take actions to defend themselves. Why must authors prove that their work is ‘Human Authored’ when publishers continue to ‘embrace’ the ‘promise of AI’? The relationship between publisher and author is an essential part of the industry (Davies, 2004), and there needs to be more defined methods of protecting authors and their work.

Bibliography:

Brown, L. (2026) ‘Literary agents urge writers to avoid AI as they see “change in nature of submissions”’ The Bookseller [Online] Available at: https://www.thebookseller.com/news/literary-agents-urge-writers-to-avoid-ai-as-they-see-change-in-nature-of-submissions (Accessed 26 April 2026).

Brow, L. (2026) ‘SoA launches Human Authored logo in response to “flood of AI-generated books’ The Bookseller [Online] Available at: https://www.thebookseller.com/news/soa-launches-human-authored-scheme-in-response-to-flood-of-ai-generated-books (Accessed 26 April 2026).

Brown, L. (2026) ‘Meta and Mark Zuckerberg sued by US publishers for copyright infringement to develop its AI’ The Bookseller [Online] Available at: https://www.thebookseller.com/news/meta-and-mark-zuckerberg-sued-by-us-publishers-for-copyright-infringement-to-develop-its-ai (Accessed 8 May 2026).

Davies, G. (2024) Book Commissioning and Acquisition. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.

Friedman, J. (2026) My Concerns About the Authors Guild Human Authored Certification—and Their Comprehensive Response’ [Online] Available at: https://janefriedman.com/my-concerns-about-the-authors-guild-human-authored-certification-and-their-comprehensive-response/ (Accessed 24 April 2026).

London Book Fair (2026) ‘Future of Publishing’. London. 12 March 2026.

Society of Authors (2026). ‘Human Authored scheme launched as generative AI threatens authors’ livlihoods’ [Online] Available at: https://societyofauthors.org/2026/03/11/human-authored-scheme-launched-as-generative-ai-threatens-authors-livelihoods/ (Accessed 23 April 2026).

Spanoudi, M. (2026) ‘Around 10k authors protest AI commercial research exception with publication of empty book’ The Bookseller [Online] Available at: https://www.thebookseller.com/news/around-10k-authors-protest-ai-commercial-research-exception-with-publication-of-empty-book (Accessed 29 March 2026).

Snow, M. (2026) ‘SoA reports for new regulatory framework for AI as 86% of authors report reduced earnings’ The Bookseller [Online] Available at: https://www.thebookseller.com/news/society-of-authors-report-calls-for-new-regulatory-framework-for-ai-as-86-authors-report-reduced-earnings (Accessed 8 May 2026).

Images:

Image 1: Society of Authors (2026). ‘Human Authored scheme launched as generative AI threatens authors’ livlihoods’ [Online] Available at: https://societyofauthors.org/2026/03/11/human-authored-scheme-launched-as-generative-ai-threatens-authors-livelihoods/ (Accessed 23 April 2026).

Image 2: © Shutterstock Accessed: Brown, L. (2026) ‘Meta and Mark Zuckerberg sued by US publishers for copyright infringement to develop its AI’ The Bookseller [Online] Available at: https://www.thebookseller.com/news/meta-and-mark-zuckerberg-sued-by-us-publishers-for-copyright-infringement-to-develop-its-ai (Accessed 8 May 2026).

Main Image: © Immo Wegman (2025) Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/a-piece-of-cardboard-with-a-keyboard-appearing-through-it-vi1HXPw6hyw