AI authorship has arrived — and publishing isn’t ready. Books can now pass through the entire editorial process without anyone being entirely certain how they were made. The question is no longer what we’re reading, but who — if anyone — truly wrote it.

When books become “content units,” AI becomes irresistible. But in a market flooded with synthetic biographies and algorithmic slop, trust — and visible human authorship — may be the only things that endure.

What happens when decades of creative labour are repackaged as “the start of an idea”? An industry explainer on attribution, acquisition-led growth, and why visible human authorship matters more than ever — especially in the age of AI.

One still lives by the pitching of ideas and editorial meetings, perhaps dog-eared manuscripts in canvas bags are long gone.