Penguin’s approach to generative artificial intelligence

Over the past few years, at Penguin we’ve published a range of titles about AI, helping readers to think critically about how these emerging technologies might change their lives. Readers’ appetite for these books – from computer scientists and moral philosophers, as well as novelists – affirms a deep human curiosity in the possibilities and risks of AI.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, we’ve been doing our own critical thinking. How might generative AI push forward our mission as a publisher, and how could it hold us back?

Today I want to share our initial thinking. It comes with an obvious proviso: this field is developing at break-neck speed, and I have no doubt we’ll need to adjust our approach as these technologies proliferate and mature.

Some context: at Penguin, we’ve been using AI of one kind or another for a decade or more. Our data science teams, for example, have been developing machine learning tools for sales forecasting and stock management. More recently, we’ve seen rapid expansion in the availability and use of generative AI tools that appear to ‘produce’ content – text, images, speech, video – in response to a prompt. These tools generate some very particular challenges for creative businesses like ours.

To be frank, one part of the challenge is to make a judgement on whether these new tools are friend or foe; will they help or harm publishing? Our answer, for the moment, is both. We are simultaneously enthusiastic about the possibilities of these new technologies, and mindful that they entail significant risk.

That position is also a tension, so we’ve set out some principles to guide our approach to the responsible use of AI at Penguin Random House UK.

First principle: Penguin champions human creativity. We seek out and enable talented people from all walks of life to tell their stories, and make sure they are heard by the widest possible audience. We do not see any technology as a substitute for human imagination.

Second principle: we must advocate for intellectual property. We are a major investor in human creativity, and our investment – together with our authors’ – rests on a basic principle – that as a society we value creative work and have mechanisms to reward it. We will vigorously defend the intellectual property that belongs to our authors and artists.

Third principle: we will innovate responsibly. We have a long track record as an innovator in the publishing industry, and we will use generative AI tools selectively and responsibly, where we see a clear case that they can advance our goals.

There are many complexities around the application of generative AI within a creative business like ours and I want to provide an assurance. Whatever AI tools we choose to use, every Penguin Random House book will be shaped and nurtured by a team of highly talented humans, from beginning to end. That human creativity and care will remain the essence of our mission to make books for everyone.