Proponents of artificial intelligence are excited about the technology's ability to write — but now, many of them want it to become a publisher too.
New AI-centered startup Spines hopes to publish 8,000 books next year, with the entire process — from editing to proofreading, formatting, design, and distribution — managed by AI, The Guardian reported. The company will charge authors between $1,200 and $5,000 for these services.
In a Bluesky post, independent publisher Canongate criticized Spines, saying that its founders "don't care about writing or books" and labeling their approach as one with "the least possible attention, care or craft."
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While Spines CEO Yehuda Niv is adamant that the platform is simply an accelerated publishing model — rather than an overpriced, self-publishing one — many experts have advised writers to stay away.
"We would warn authors to think extremely carefully before committing," Anna Ganley, chief executive for the United Kingdom's largest authors' trade union, The Society of Authors, told The Guardian. "If it also relies on AI systems there are concerns about the lack of originality and quality of the service being offered — even if there are guarantees (which we suspect are unlikely) that the AI system in question was not developed by using unlawfully scraped copyright content."
AI is no stranger to controversy; in the publishing world, as Ganley alluded to, there have been several scandals wherein AI companies illegally fed published works into their systems without authors' permission, effectively stealing their work and using it for their own ends.
To add to this, AI is incredibly pollutive and energy-intensive. It requires numerous enormous computer banks, and those computer banks need large, climate-controlled warehouses. Even the noise of such warehouses has driven neighboring residents to move by actively threatening their daily lives.
Yet despite this, Spines will pursue its goal, stating that it wants to help publish the works of one million authors. It sounds worthwhile, but many are skeptical of its leaders' true intentions.
"These aren't people who care about books or readi9ng or anything remotely related," author Suyi Davies Okungbowa said. "These are opportunists and extractive capitalists."
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