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Barnes & Noble was turning the page on the chain’s history of declining sales, but recent comments have created a sour climate for the bookseller.<\/p>\n
Chief executive James Daunt, credited with breathing new life into the retailer, is clarifying the store’s stance on stocking its shelves with AI-generated books, saying it is not true that it is adopting books written by AI. <\/p>\n
The controversy stems from Daunte’s Monday appearance.”Today<\/a>” with Jenna Bush Hager. In a viral clip of the interview, Daunt said, “I don’t really have a problem with selling any book, as long as it doesn’t pretend or pretend to be something it’s not. So, as long as an AI-written book says it is an AI-written book, we will stock them. <\/p>\n By Wednesday, thousands of calls to boycott the bookseller flooded social media. <\/p>\n Kaitlyn Finn, a writer and former employee of the series, Posted on social media<\/a>Writing, “Hey Barnes & Noble, I worked for you and supported you, but your latest AI decision is extremely disappointing. I will not be purchasing or promoting B&N until you change your AI policy.”<\/p>\n Author Kristin Bishara wrote<\/a>“As a writer this is the most disappointing news. I’ve been saying this was coming for a long time. People told me I was overreacting. And I had a feeling it would start with a beautiful round table in front of B&N.”<\/p>\n Another social media user said, “The CEO of Barnes & Noble saying they’ll stock AI generated books as long as they’re labeled and aren’t ‘ripping off anyone else’ is ridiculous, considering all the generator AI is doing is screwing someone else.”<\/p>\n Daunt told The Times that the wave of reaction was based on a misinterpretation of what he said, and that only a “heavily edited version” of what the bookseller “actually said” had been circulated.<\/p>\n In an emailed statement, he said booksellers do not sell AI books, “as far as we are aware.” Barnes & Noble “demands that publishers label any AI-generated books,” and the chain takes “proactive measures to exclude all AI-generated books.” <\/p>\n Daunt further said that Barnes & Noble “will sell AI-generated books if there is clear demand” and “will not ban reputable books published by reputable publishers, even if AI generated, should these be published, labeled and have clear evidence of customer demand.” <\/p>\n He also said the retailer thinks it is “very unlikely” that there will be customer demand for AI-generated books or that reputable publishers will publish them.<\/p>\n He said, “The argument is subtle, and perhaps even nuanced, but there are important principles that must be balanced and I believe we do this as sensibly and thoughtfully as possible.” “Banning books is a clear and present danger, so we are very cautious about calling for any book to be banned” while also being cautious “not to sell AI generated books that pretend to be written by real authors.”<\/p>\n I spoke to Daunt last year BBC<\/a> On the issue of AI in publishing and book selling, he said there is a massive proliferation of AI-generated content, and “most of it is not books we should be selling.” He told the broadcaster that, as a bookseller, the company sells what publishers publish and that he would be surprised by efforts to put out “AI-generated nonsense”, but ultimately, the decision on reading material will be up to the reader. <\/p>\n “We don’t dictate around books and we don’t dictate around politics or any other particular issue,” he said. “We leave it to the reader to decide.”<\/p>\n