New Study Underscores the Existential Impact of AI on the Book World

Hard to believe, but AI models capable of producing novels (from stolen works of literature) have only been around for a scant few months—not even an eyelash blink, really, in the timeline of human endeavours. 

And yet, their application is already so widespread and disruptive, it threatens the extinction of human creative works—specifically, the writing and publishing of books. In fact, the disruption of the book industry has been so insidious and rapid that people are only now beginning to study, and talk about, this existential threat in real terms. 

In an article published in The Bookseller just yesterday, journalist Heloise Woods cited a new Cambridge University-led study in which hundreds of authors and industry professionals predict the speedy demise of the book world. 

Genre fiction in particular was cited as particularly vulnerable to this shift: “two-thirds (66%) of all those surveyed listing romance authors as “extremely threatened”, followed closely by writers of thrillers (61%) and crime (60%).”

But while AI ‘authored’ works propose to be much faster and cheaper to produce, and are already flooding the super-saturated book market, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the books produced—again, by duplicating copies of copies of millions of stolen books used to train those AI models—will be endearing to human readers. 

“the core purpose of the novel is to explore and convey human complexity”

In fact, as Wood reports, the Cambridge study “reveals a sector-wide belief that AI could lead to ever blander, more formulaic fiction that exacerbates stereotypes, as the models regurgitate from centuries of previous text.”

(Let’s be clear: AI regurgitates and reinforces human biases. This has been proven with AI facial recognition software used in security applications.) 

Taken to an extreme, this will lead to “a fraying of trust between writers and readers” according to the study authors—a consequence whose importance cannot be understated, just as “many novelists felt uncertain there will be an appetite for complex, long-form writing in years to come,” according to study lead Dr. Clementine Collett (Woods).

On the other hand, and sounding a more positive note, some respondents felt this could lead to wildly innovative forms of the novel. A resistant literary movement could launch a postmodernist renaissance, for instance, à la Donald Barthelme or Italo Calvino. 

Cheaper books? 

At the very least, it’s worth exploring some of the economic prognostications made by study respondents: “Some respondents predicted a dystopic two-tier market in which the human-written novel becomes a “luxury item” while mass-produced AI-generated fiction is cheap or free” (Woods).

That human-written novels might still exist, and become a luxury, is predicated on a simple truth underscored by Collett: “the core purpose of the novel is to explore and convey human complexity,” she cites, while “AI cannot understand what it means to be human.” 

At the same time, the study fails to explore one of the core reasons why the market is being flooded with cheap, poorly-realized AI-produced books: human greed. 

People with no expertise in literature are trying to make quick bucks off of what they assume are easy marks (ie. readers). This is the crux of the AI-gen book market. And yet, if AI-derived works continue to overtake the book space, ALL books are devalued. Human authors will make no money; but AI-hucksters will likewise find their livelihoods threatened by their AI competition. Books will be worthless. And so it goes. 

Meanwhile, large publishers like Faber, Woods reports, are already starting to fight this trend by rolling out “human authored” stamps as proof that their works are conceived by humans. I suspect Indie authors will soon do the same. 

But the “human” badge underscores the ways that the game of publishing is not one of anonymity. Let’s be clear: it would be easy for a huckster to slap a ‘human-authored’ label on their AI-produced works, and get around system checkpoints on book platforms that are trying (and failing) to discourage book theft.

Yet, readers actively seek out book recommendations and authors on social media platforms. Parasocial relationships are part of the author-reader dynamic, because (human-authored) books represent the fragile complexities of the human experience: love, loss, death, pain, challenge. Increasingly, authors attend book conferences to get in front of their intended audiences and promote their “author brand” as means of cultivating and enriching those parasocial bonds. 

How will AI-hucksters compete with these trends? Live appearances are costly, and they create a need for deep investment in their ruse (I sense a comedy in the making, with a human actor hired to play the author). 

Additionally, operating in human spaces exponentially increases risks for those hoping to make their quick, quiet bucks. As the study’s authors point out: even the hint that an author has used AI in their books is enough to seriously harm their career and forever ‘end’ a brand. 

Counter Predictions

So here are some of my counter trend predictions: (real, human) authors are going to have to increasingly rely on author networks, reader events, and direct sales platforms on their websites, to cut through the noise. Readers will need to seek them out, and will develop systems of checks and balances to uncover which of their authors are real (putting much more emotional and actual labour into the act of reading—which can and will discourage readers).

Authors are going to have to lean in to producing more (free) content to help develop their brands and prove to readers that their work is interesting enough to spend money on. And they are going to have to be authentic about it all.

More established authors are going to have an easier time of this. And age will matter. New authors, on the other hand, or unknowns, are going to have to ‘prove’ their worth. And what of the industries built up around book culture? What of radio shows on literature, creative writing degrees, heck—English degrees? Writing federations? Book clubs?

These items are likely to become more entrenched in elite circles in which ‘traditional medias’ are honoured on principle. AI art and literature will become the entertainment of the masses, and those without cultural literacy, which is itself (and has been for time immemorial) a cultural currency.

Death By a Thousand Paper Cuts

Finally, the idea that human authors might need to “prove” their humanity every step of the way to add value to their works’ higher cover prices is undercut by the myriad ways in which generative AI is already having an outsized economic impact on authors. 

According to Tom McMurdle’s Nov. 20 Telegraph article on the same study, “more than a third (39 per cent) [of authors are] reporting their income being negatively affected by AI.” 

In a crowded marketplace saturated by AI works, authors become invisible. And the cheaper works will sell first (especially in this economy).

Adding insult to injury, the very system that purports to replace human authors is doing so by profiting off their work. Nearly 60% of authors in the Cambridge study reported having their books illegally used to train AI. (I don’t have stats, but I suspect the percentage of stolen works is even higher for North American authors). Few of those works will be compensated. 

Lawsuits such as Anthropic AI—which could pay authors up to $3,000 for a work ingested into their AI learning model from pirate book sites—will not be the fair compensation so many believe. 

While it’s true that the amount of money per title probably represents more royalties than an author will typically see for a single book (yes, authors make that little), most authors will be forced to split that payout with their publishers, and potentially, with their agents, too.

Additionally, Anthropic is just one AI system; how many more of them are out there, scraping us of our free content? 

Besides, that measly payout does nothing to truly compensate authors for the impact on decades of their creative production, as they are pitted in direct competition with…themselves. 

Works cited: 

“Novels written without AI will become ‘luxury’: Romance, thriller and crime writers most ‘at risk’ as technology hits their incomes.” Tom McCurdle. The Telegraph. (Online). 20 Nov 2025 https://apple.news/AsLhHDxKmQJqMwsOKfGnhMA

“Authors believe AI will ‘entirely replace’ their work, according to University of Cambridge research.” Heloise Woods. The Bookseller. (Online). 20 Nov 2025 https://www.thebookseller.com/news/published-novelists-believe-ai-will-entirely-replace-authors-work-according-to-university-of-cambridge-research?fbclid=IwY2xjawONQLlleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeJkHanDH6IPT1jKr8dMfeIcZSQVgqKwmlEpbP2LdkMYww9ESzLqdbf9_TdQk_aem_o5vZiQ3SxAr4xH8W9daJOg