‘Plutonium, or Salt?’ When It Comes to Books, How Much AI Is Too Much?

PeterT · 06-18-2026, 07:02 PM

From the pen of Michael Tamblyn, CEO of Kobo

https://publishingperspectives.com/2...i-is-too-much/

Quote:

“This AI moment—in the industry, in the world—is revealing a lot about what we believe to be important,” observes Rakuten Kobo CEO Michael Tamblyn, “and about why we all do the jobs we do.”

I want to tell you about an argument that happened recently in my office—a messy, multi-sided, very vigorous debate.
We were having our regular meeting, where we get together to solve the problems that need more than one or two people to solve. The people at the table are responsible for pretty much every facet of our work at Kobo—finance, marketing, publishers and authors, products, technology, sales, operations, and legal. Some of us come from the book business, some from the tech side, different backgrounds, different countries. And we like each other. We are not only colleagues, but friends.
...

Comfy.n · 06-18-2026, 09:27 PM

That meeting could have been an email

PeterT · 06-18-2026, 09:52 PM

I sense it's just a regular meeting / open discussion of Kobo leadership

ZodWallop · Today, 12:06 AM

I know I don't want to read books written with AI. But I have a decent amount of self-published books with pretty crappy covers. I have used ChatGPT to create new covers for those books and the covers are pretty decent.

I don't want to see the major publishers using AI to replace artists. But indie books that use AI on their stuff doesn't bother me or prevent me from purchasing.

JSWolf · Today, 04:43 PM

The only AI allowed is to look something up and then the author double checking that it's correct. But not using the info the way the AI wrote it.

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06-18-2026, 09:27 PM	#2
Comfy.n want to learn what I want Posts: 2,278 Karma: 7971785 Join Date: Sep 2020 Device: Libra Colour	That meeting could have been an email

06-18-2026, 09:52 PM	#3
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 14,000 Karma: 82524140 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Libra H2O, Libra Colour	I sense it's just a regular meeting / open discussion of Kobo leadership

Today, 12:06 AM	#4
ZodWallop Gentleman and scholar Posts: 11,586 Karma: 111339656 Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Space City, Texas Device: Clara BW; Nook ST w/Glowlight, Paperwhite 3	I know I don't want to read books written with AI. But I have a decent amount of self-published books with pretty crappy covers. I have used ChatGPT to create new covers for those books and the covers are pretty decent. I don't want to see the major publishers using AI to replace artists. But indie books that use AI on their stuff doesn't bother me or prevent me from purchasing.

Today, 04:43 PM	#5
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 83,839 Karma: 153649587 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	The only AI allowed is to look something up and then the author double checking that it's correct. But not using the info the way the AI wrote it.