You may have heard the news about the recently released IBM study that claims “40% of workers will have to reskill in the next three years due to AI.” Whether you feel that percentage is too high (or too low) or whether you’re energized and excited by this news or you’re dreading it, AI is here in a big way and will likely have (or already had) an impact on your work product or your workflows.
For every article that describes the perils and pitfalls of AI, there are still more that tout the benefits and ways in which it can be helpful. Then there are those grappling with how to create policies for your organization around the use of AI or how to use it ethically. While there will be so many more think pieces to come, each organization is going to have to muddle its own way through until the dust settles and we reach an understanding of how and when to use AI tools in our work.
Though this conversation seems new, back in 2019 at BookNet Canada’s Tech Forum conference, we ran two sessions that looked into the future of AI for book publishers. Revisit these presentations to see which concerns and opportunities are evergreen
How can AI champion great storytelling?
Can machines work alongside humans to improve the storytelling process? Monica Landers, CEO and Mary Brendza, VP, Strategy at StoryFit share how an AI-powered analysis can help storytellers visualize and understand their stories — including character network, personality traits, emotional valence, and whether or not you’ve got a dynamic protagonist leaping from the pages. StoryFit identifies features applicable to all stages of book development, from acquisitions to marketing, in this session Monica and Mary provide real-life examples to support publishing decisions.
Find the video and other related content here.
Cybernetic ebooks: A panel on machine learning and AI in book production
This panel of experts (Monica Landers, CEO at StoryFit, Jens Tröger, CEO at Bookalope, Wendy Reid, Senior QA Analyst at Rakuten Kobo Inc., and Joshua Tallent, Director of Outreach and Education at Firebrand Technologies) share their different approaches to applying ML/AI at their companies and their outcomes, highlighting both strengths and limitations, as they consider a vision of a more automated publishing workflow.
Find the video and other related content here.
Do you want to know more about how publishing professionals are using AI? If so, what specifically do you want to know? Who do you want to hear from? You can fill out this form and let us know. We’ll do our best to get answers.
And, if you’re looking for more professional development content outside of AI, you can browse the content library from our newly improved Tech Forum website. We now have a repository of all the content we’ve created and shared as part of our event throughout the years in one centralized, searchable place.
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In this podcast episode, we talk to Simon Crump to discuss the EUDR and its impact on the book industry.