Penguin Random House CEO Nihar Malaviya said that he hoped AI would make it easier to sell more book titles without hiring more people in the future, reported The New York Times this week.
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The report was a profile of the chief of Penguin Random House - one of the ‘Big Five’ global publishing companies that employs thousands of professionals and dominates the English-language mainstream publishing sector.
The piece noted that Malaviya was focusing on growth, with the company laying off around 60 people last year as well as using voluntary buyouts.
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Penguin Random House tried to acquire fellow Big Five publisher Simon & Schuster in 2020, but was blocked on antitrust grounds, leading to the deal being dropped around two years later.
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Publishers in India are also looking at artificial intelligence to help book production. Harper Collins India CEO Ananth Padmanabhan noted last year that AI narrators could bring about quicker releases of translated novels.
While publishers worldwide explore the use of large language models and the AI tools they power, some readers worry they will be used to make creators redundant or automate book acquisitions in a sector already known for its lack of diversity.