Look back over the history of books. Formats for the written word have continually evolved. We are nearly a century removed from only physical manifestations of texts. Consider a few examples:
- In 1932, nascent audiobooks arrived when the American Foundation for the Blind started a recording studio. Fast-forward a few years later to 1975 when Books on Tape launched. Now, audiobooks are everywhere, even if distributors sometimes use untoward means to disseminate them.
- The first ebook arrived four decades later. In 1971, Project Gutenberg launched to create and support open-source books. Cue obligatory Stewart Brand reference.
- Although rare today, you can still purchase certain titles as CDs, like Zoom For Dummies. Different strokes, right?
Against that backdrop, it doesn’t take a genius to see read the tea leaves: Thanks to AI, it’s only a matter of time before truly interactive books arrive. (Google’s Talk to Books initaitve began in 2018.) For a glimpse of what’s coming sooner than you think, check out Now You Can Read the Classics With A.I.-Powered Expert Guides (gift link).
Book formats continually evolve.
Rather than just search for keywords and add comments, imagine being able to ask a book questions in natural language—and the book responds. Maybe [insert name of future book format] can translate the author’s horrible writing. Regardless of what it can do, expect a new tab for it on Amazon pages in the not-too-distant future.
Traditional publishers will increasingly package their content as interactive learning repositories. I can see them creating offerings like Cengage Unlimited. They have also begun licensing their back catalogs to tech companies for beaucoup bucks. If you think that authors get nothing out of these deals, trust your judgment.
What You Need to Know
Books have always morphed, and authors are often left holding the bag. In this way, AI changes absolutely nothing.
On the other hand…
The race to build data-intensive large language models is on. Think very carefully about signing contracts with traditional publishers without adequate protections around your intellectual property. (Expect more startups that license authors’ IP such as Created by Humans to pop up in the next few years.) Among the myriad arguments for hybrid and self-publishing these days, this one is becoming the most compelling.
Finally, if you don’t mess around with AI, you’ll likely ignore or pooh-pooh key developments. To that end, keep experimenting with these tools. Better to know than not know.
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