Frankfurt Book Fair 2023: Panels Take on AI, Sustainability in Publishing

In one panel, agents and publishers acknowledged the need to protect the future of creativity, but took a generally positive view of what AI technology might offer. Moderated by Thomas Cox, managing director of Arq Works, a company that offers software solutions for the publishing industry (and has recently integrated AI into its content management and discovery tools), the panel suggested that fears over AI's misuse should not deter the book business from exploring the opportunities the new technology offers.

AI will have a "profound transformative effect on all of us," Cox said, adding that because AI excels at routine, predictable tasks, it could release people from having to do them, leaving us more time to spend to spend on being creative. In five years, he predicted, we would all have "constructive" AI companions. Still, Cox urged companies to put policies in place for the handling of AI, so that employees have a clear understanding of its implications.