AI-written books at Barnes & Noble? CEO clarifies statement that stirred calls for boycott

Barnes & Noble was turning a leafage connected the chain’s past of declining sales, but caller comments person stirred atrocious humor for the bookseller.

James Daunt, the main enforcement credited with breathing caller beingness into the retailer, is clarifying the store’s stance connected stocking its shelves with AI-written books.

The contention stems from Daunt’s Monday quality connected “Today” with Jenna Bush Hager. In a clip from the interrogation that went viral, Daunt said, “I person really nary occupation selling immoderate book, arsenic agelong arsenic it doesn’t masquerade oregon unreal to beryllium thing that it isn’t. So, arsenic agelong arsenic an AI-written publication says it’s an AI-written book, past we volition banal them,” Daunt said.

By Wednesday, thousands of calls to boycott the bookseller had flooded societal media.

Kathlin Finn, a writer and erstwhile worker of the chain, posted connected societal media, writing, “Hey Barnes & Not Noble, I worked for you and person supported you, but your latest AI determination is highly disappointing. I volition not beryllium buying oregon promoting B&N unless you alteration your AI policy.”

Author Cristin Bishara wrote, “As an writer this [is] the astir depressing news. I’ve been saying for a agelong clip that this was coming. People told maine I was overreacting. And I had a feeling it would commencement with a cute circular array astatine the beforehand of a B&N.”

Another societal media idiosyncratic added, “The Barnes & Noble CEO saying they’ll banal AI generated books arsenic agelong arsenic they’re labeled and aren’t ‘ripping disconnected idiosyncratic else’ is chaotic considering each generative AI is ripping disconnected idiosyncratic else.”

Daunt told The Times that the question of backlash is based connected misinterpretations of what helium said, and that lone a “highly edited version” of what the bookseller “actually said” had been aired.

In an emailed statement, helium said the bookseller does not merchantability AI books, “as acold arsenic we are aware.” Barnes & Noble “demand[s] that publishers statement immoderate books that are AI generated,” and the concatenation takes “active measures to exclude each AI generated books.”

Daunt further stated that Barnes & Noble “will merchantability AI generated books if determination is wide demand” and not “ban reputable books published by reputable publishers, adjacent if AI generated, should these beryllium published, labeled and determination beryllium wide grounds of lawsuit demand.”

He besides said that the retailer thinks it’s “very unlikely” that determination volition beryllium lawsuit request for AI-generated books oregon that reputable publishers volition people them.

“The statement is nuanced, and possibly implicit nuanced, but determination are important principles that person to beryllium balanced and I judge we bash truthful arsenic sensibly and thoughtfully arsenic is possible,” helium said. “Book banning is simply a wide and contiguous danger, truthful we are precise cautious with demands to prohibition immoderate books” portion besides remaining vigilant “not to merchantability AI generated books that masquerade to beryllium by existent authors.”

Last year, Daunt spoke with BBC connected the contented of AI successful publishing and bookselling and said that there’s a immense proliferation of AI-generated content, and “most of it is not books that we should beryllium selling.” He told the broadcaster that, arsenic a bookseller, the institution sells what publishers people and that he’d beryllium amazed by efforts to enactment distant an “AI-generated portion of nonsense” but that, ultimately, the determination connected speechmaking worldly would prevarication with the reader.

“We don’t dictate, and we don’t dictate astir authorities oregon immoderate different peculiar issues astir books,” helium said. “We permission it up to the scholar to decide.”

In June 2025, much than 70 authors issued a telephone to enactment to big-five publishers Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group, and Macmillan, asking the companies to pledge that they volition ne'er merchandise books that were created by machines. Authors Lauren Groff, R.F. Kuang, Emma Straub and Emily Henry were among the petitioners.

“At its simplest level, our occupation arsenic artists is to respond to the quality experience. But the creation we marque is simply a commodity, and our satellite wants things quickly, cheaply, and connected demand,” the missive read.

“We are rushing toward a aboriginal wherever our novels, our biographies, our poems and our memoirs — our records of the quality acquisition — are ‘written’ by artificial quality models that, by definition, cannot cognize what it is to beryllium human. To bleed, oregon starve, oregon love. ...

“Every clip a punctual is entered into AI, the connection that bot uses to respond was created successful portion done the synthesis of creation that we, the undersigned, person spent our careers crafting. Taken without our consent, without payment, without adjacent the courtesy of acknowledgment.”

In March, Hachette pulled “Shy Girl” from work aft wide allegations that the fearfulness caller appeared to beryllium AI-generated and was swiftly scrubbed from Amazon and the Hachette website. The book’s author, Mia Ballard, denied that she had relied connected AI to pen the publication but said an acquaintance she had hired to edit the caller utilized AI.

“Hachette remains committed to protecting archetypal originative look and storytelling,” a Hachette spokeswoman said, per the New York Times.