AI and Authorship
The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) Fall 2024 AI Webinar Series, co-produced with Thad McIlroy, is our ongoing exploration of artificial intelligence and its impact on the book industry.
Description
Throughout our Fall AI series, we’ve looked more closely at publishing than at authoring. For our final program of the series, we’re focused on authoring in the age of AI.
Specifically, the lens for this session will be poetry and AI. Poetry is arguably the most complex and demanding form of creative written expression, and yet it is here where AI seems to be making the greatest inroads.
Our first speaker, Brian Porter, will present the results of a rigorous study
where the machine poets beat the human poets.
Our second speaker, Sasha Stiles, is herself a poet and artist, who has embraced AI technologies and brought them fully into her work.
Our host, Thad McIlroy, will lead the discussion.
Speakers
Research Associate & Data Analyst, University of Pittsburgh
Fellow, The Center for Philosophy of Science
Brian Porter is co-author of the paper, “AI-generated poetry is indistinguishable from human-written poetry and is rated more favorably,” published in Nature in November, 2024.
The study “examined whether non-expert readers could reliably differentiate between AI-generated poems and those written by well-known human poets... participants performed below chance levels in identifying AI-generated poems... Notably, participants were more likely to judge AI-generated poems as human-authored than actual human-authored poems.”
Sasha Stiles is a first-generation Kalmyk-American poet, language artist, and AI researcher exploring the nexus of text and technology. Widely recognized as a pioneer of generative literature and next-gen poetics, her work has been featured by MoMA, Art Forum, the Washington Post, Christie's, Art Basel, Gucci, Poets & Writers, the Prix Ars Electronica, the Lumen Prize, the Sigg Art Prize, and the Future Art Awards.
Thad McIlroy is a digital publishing analyst and author based in San Francisco. His site, The Future of Publishing, provides in-depth coverage of book publishing industry trends, currently focusing on the intersection of AI with book authoring and publishing.
A well-established expert in the technology and marketing issues surrounding digital publishing, he has authored a dozen other books and over 500 articles. McIlroy is also a partner in Publishing Technology Partners, and a contributing editor to Publishers Weekly covering artificial intelligence, publishing innovation, and book publishing technology startups. His latest book is The AI Revolution in Book Publishing: A Concise Guide to Navigating Artificial Intelligence for Writers and Publishers.
Sponsors
Thank you to our Presenting Co-Sponsors for their support of our Fall 2024 AI webinar series!
- Association of American Literary Agents (AALA)
- Association of Catholic Publishers (ACP)
- Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi)
- Association of University Presses (AUPresses)
- Authors Alliance
- Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP)
- Copyright Alliance
- Creative Pro
- Educational Book and Media Association (EBMA)
- Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA)
- Protestant Church-Owned Publishers Association (PCPA)
- PubWest
- Women's Media Group
Recordings and slide decks will be made available to all registrants within a week of the event.
Previous webinars included:
BISG Members:
Your BISG membership grants you complimentary access to this four-part AI webinar series. Simply log in to your BISG profile to register for free.
Nonmembers:
- Single Webinar Ticket: $19
- Series Ticket: $49 (a $27 savings!)
A series ticket provides admission to the fourth webinar and access to recordings of the three preceding webinars.