Where are you going with this vision?
Ultimately, the goal is to create the leading company in the book publishing industry that incorporates AI.
And that's where I'm headed. So far, it's looking pretty good.
One of the biggest challenges that AI specifically is facing, and I think you're probably aware of that, is the ethics issue.
Sure.
Have you incorporated that in your process of using AI?
Well, philosophically, that's a big question. Like ethically, how does AI fit in with kind of everything we do?
And it's also an issue in book publishing in smaller ways.
Like, for example, an ethical issue that we deal with is when authors will ask us, is it ethical for me to use my own name with a book that AI has technically written?
And I try not to answer ethical questions, because I think like that's something that people need to think about on their own.
Like, I don't want to be the moral or an ethical guide for other people in this industry.
I mean, that's not my place, I don't think.
But I kind of ask them to think about some of the implications. Like, do you think it's misleading?
How much of the work did you actually put into this book? Like, how much of it is yours versus AI?
And based on that, that's how I think you should make the decision.
Another ethical question that comes up, and this one I kind of have a pretty firm answer to, but of course I let the authors make their own decisions.
When the author comes up with a pen name for the work, very often that's what people choose to do because they don't want to take credit for AI's work.
Is it ethical to give that pen name credentials and like degrees like Phil Johnson, PhD? Like, is that ethical?
And for me, I'd say no. I say that's crossing the line. I don't think you could come across it.
You can say a PhD wrote this when a PhD did not actually write it.
Similarly with any kind of designations after the name, I think that definitely crosses the line.
But again, I offer my guidance. I'm not the morality police. If somebody wants to do that, then they could do it and deal with the consequences.